Pitt Holding Three-Man Competition to Replace OT Carter Warren
PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers had to lead off Week 8 by revealing some devastating injury news. Pat Narduzzi announced that Carter Warren, a three-year starter at left tackle, would be sidelined for the rest of the 2022 season with a knee injury.
Warren had missed the past two games against Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech and was trying to get back on the field, but ultimately made the decision to commit fully to a long-term rehab process, end his career at Pitt and begin preparations for a run at the NFL.
Now the Panthers have to prepare for life without Warren, a consistent presence for years. To do so, offensive line coach Dave Borbley is holding a three-man competition for the open open snaps between three players that had filled for Warren over the past three weeks.
“It certainly hurts," Borbley said about losing Warren. "I know he’s disappointed, I’m disappointed but we take the next man up mentality so it’s been that way for a couple weeks while he tried to rehab an ankle and then he had the MRI on the knee. So those tackles - Branson Taylor, Matt Goncalves and Gabe Houy - have filled in admirably.”
Taylor, the youngest of the bunch, has been the starter in Warren's absence during the first two weeks of ACC play and because he impressed Borbley with his ability and poise over that time, appears to have the inside track on the majority of snaps. Houy and Goncalves will contend for time at left tackle, but they are more occupied with other matters for the time being.
Houy was listed as the starter during Week 1 but is still working his way back from an achilles injury. He didn't see the field until Week 4. Borbley still has Houy on a snap limit - it started at 15 against Rhode Island and jumped to 25 last week against the Hokies.
"But he was obviously a starter a year ago so as soon as he's ready full-time, I want to get him back in the lineup," Borbley said.
Goncalves, a veteran reserve on the offensive line for a couple of years now, has shown through the first half of the season, he's capable of giving the Panthers quality play, but they still need a right tackle and Goncalves has played well in that spot. If nothing else, he gives Pitt a sure thing on one side of the line.
True freshman Ryan Baer will be brought along slowly. He's played sparingly so far this season, but Borbley wants to keep the possibility of a redshirt in his back pocket and to do that, Baer will have to play four games or less. He won't throw Baer into the fire unless he is desperately needed.
“I really probably could have played him from the very beginning but at that time, I didn’t need to because I had Carter, I had Branson, I had Gabe, I had Goncalves," Borbley said. "So it’s like let’s find four games that we can play him in. I didn’t want to do that early in case we had injuries. I didn’t want to get him to two games and then only have two left if we want to redshirt him.”
No matter how the share of available snaps shakes out, expect each of Taylor, Houy and Goncalves to play. Borbley said that Warren's workload - sometimes as many as 95 snaps per game during certain points of his career - exact an extreme physical toll, so the three tackles will all have to mix in to keep each other fresh.
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