Spring ball is a time for questions to be answered in advance of a break in organized team practices until August.
But some matters naturally take longer than others to become fully illuminated in the eyes of football coaches. What’s more, there are undoubtedly questions that will take through the end of August to fully resolve.
With Pitt having completed its 11th of 15 spring sessions Tuesday, one issue that remains unresolved pertains to who will be the primary backup to returning sophomore quarterback Mason Heintschel.
“It’s a good question right now,” coach Pat Narduzzi said. “Who is our backup quarterback? I think any of them could go right now. But I don’t know who the backup quarterback is going to be. There’s a major, major battle there.”
The candidates — true freshmen Angelo Renda and Corey Dailey plus Texas State transfer Holden Geriner — are all first-year players with the Panthers.
Things appear to be wide open, with Pitt inching closer to its annual Blue-Gold Spring Game on April 11.
“The jersey scrimmages, the spring game — we’ll find out what those guys have,” Narduzzi continued. “They’re all still learning.”
Narduzzi expressed confidence in whatever depth chart emerges from his linebackers room.
The departures of playmakers Rasheem Biles (transferred to Texas) and Kyle Louis (declared for the NFL Draft) left big holes to be filled at linebacker following the 2025 campaign.
As a result, Narduzzi acquired two transfers: Alex Sanford Jr. from Purdue and DeMarco Ward from Memphis, who join key returnees Braylan Lovelace and Cameron Lindsey, plus a host of youngsters and others seeking to become contributors.
Last season, before fall camp even broke, the Panthers lost two would-be pieces to the puzzle at linebacker in Jeremiah Marcelin and Jayden Bonsu, who each went down for the year with injuries.
As a result, Biles, Louis and Lovelace ate up a majority of snaps as a trio, with limited depth behind them.
The Panthers now enter a new era at linebacker and Narduzzi doesn’t foresee those same issues (barring any additional injury woes) being a factor in 2026.
“Damarco Ward and Alex Sanford are playing really good, really good,” Narduzzi said. “For them to pick up our defense so quickly, that’s probably the most impressive thing. … I really like our linebacking corps right now. We’ve got more depth there than we did last year, for sure. It’s not even close.”
Other answered questions for Pitt at this juncture appear to be at safety, where the Panthers have returnees in Steel Valley’s Cruce Brookins plus Josh Guerrier, who shined last fall as a true freshman.
As at linebacker, gone are two assets in Javon McIntyre and Kavir Bains-Marquez, both of whom graduated.
But Brookins, now a redshirt junior, and Guerrier hope to be the next impactful duo at safety.
“It’s been good,” Guerrier said of working with Brookins. “Me and Cruce are extremely close friends so I think that communication and that bond is going to be something impactful this year.”
Elsewhere, at wide receiver, for example, matters are less certain.
Minus Poppi Williams and Deuce Spann, who graduated, and Kenny Johnson (transferred to Texas Tech), who will step up alongside Blue Hicks, Pitt’s top returning wideout from last year?
Western Carolina transfer Malik Knight, the only transfer Pitt brought in at receiver, remains a fair bet to carve out a role, but opportunities for others remain up for grabs.
Bryce Yates and Tony Kinsler are two returning sophomores who got their feet wet as freshmen, while true freshmen Dylan Wester and Rodney Dunbar have caught Narduzzi’s attention.
Pitt intentionally did not lean heavy into the portal at wide receiver, instead betting that the team had plenty of internal options capable of stepping into larger roles.
Now it’ll be on the likes of Wester, Dunbar and their position mates to ensure that wager was sound.
“The Dylan Wester kid to me seems to be one of those guys — and Rodney Dunbar, as well — those two receivers are just so smooth,” Narduzzi said. “I see them lining up, I see Dylan going in motion and doing a lot of things that we ask our receivers to do and he doesn’t seem fazed by it. … I think there’s some excitement there, but they need to keep progressing.”