In his 6th season at Pitt, Brandon George leads a young group of linebackers

To hear Brandon George spread the word, Pitt’s linebackers bring the complete package to the field.

“We have some athletes,” he said. “We have guys who, for all intents and purposes in other defenses, might be fast enough and quick enough to play safety. It’s not something you see all the time. And the knowledge that they have grants them the ability to do that.”

OK, Brandon, but Dick Butkus didn’t play safety. What about the physicality of your group?

That’s when his eyes widened.

“We like the idea that we can come up and try and knock somebody’s teeth out every play,” he said. “It gets that little itch, that little tingle.”

Clearly, George is eager to make his sixth season at Pitt — yes, six, that’s no typo — his best season.

“The team has a different feel than it’s had in the past,” he said. “There’s an edge that we haven’t quite had in a while. Defense (is) showing what it is to be a Pitt defense.”

How that translates to an ACC schedule is yet to be determined, but it appears Pitt — after going 3-9 in 2023 — has a long climb to regain respect among its conference peers. Pitt was chosen to finish 13th in the 17-team conference by a poll of 170 journalists.

“We understand the task at hand,” George said. “People are counting us out. Everybody in this (team meeting) room, in these walls, know what we practice for, what we prepare for and how we’re going to come out this season.”

So far, there has been an eagerness bordering on violence among linebackers, who have adopted a name and a slogan that they believe reflects how they play the game.

They call themselves sharks, and their goal is to (this is a bit graphic) “eat face.”

“It doesn’t matter if you (have) bumps and bruises. You’re going to get up and attack every single day, ” linebackers coach Ryan Manalac said. “We’re going to take shots. If one shark misses, the next one’s there. They rallied around it and are having fun with it. It’s an aggressive mindset they have to live up to as well.”

Linebackers meetings include wildlife videos of sharks as they search for food in the oceans and a zebra being attacked in the face by an alligator.

“It’s cool to actually watch the sharks in the wild and see how they hunt prey and attack,” Manalac said. “See if (players) can embody those characteristics a little more.”

Freshman linebacker Jeremiah Marcelin is responsible for the “eat face” slogan.

“Everybody laughed and was bright-eyed,” Manalac said. “If you’re going to attack somebody, go right at their face and be aggressive. It looks like we’re fighting every day (in practice), going face to face, eating a guy’s face. That’s our mentality.”

Which, of course, pleases George.

“We’re going to hit somebody in the face and try to come out their rear end,” he said.

Practically speaking, George points out that’s how you’re supposed to tackle.

“Eyes up, chin up, face-to-face. You want to see the fear and soul leave their eyes.”

The goal is to improve a run defense that allowed Syracuse tight end Dan Villari to rush for 154 yards and a touchdown last season at Yankee Stadium. Overall, Pitt gave up an average of 150.2 yards per game on the ground after keeping opponents under 99 for the previous three seasons.

“You had to bring that up,” George said. “Yeah, it definitely causes some hard feelings. But at the end of the day, the past is the past for a reason. We learned a lot since those games. We learned a lot about ourselves since those games. We learned a lot on what not to do and what to do in order to prepare better for the season.”

George, a 23-year-old college graduate, said there is back-and-forth accountability in the meeting room.

“Sometimes, I have a tendency to be almost too straight forward,” he said, “and those guys sometimes take a moment to light me up. Sometimes, I’m a little too serious.”

Manalac said George is the right player to lead.

“He comes to work every day with a smile on his face, great personality,” the coach said. “He’s going to try to lead the charge with his work ethic, and he’s certainly not afraid to speak up vocally. He’s been ready for this opportunity. He’s been in that fight for several years, prepared himself to be that guy for several years. Now, that opportunity is here. He’s had a few dress rehearsals and he’s eager.”

George entered the transfer portal at the end of last season, but Manalac stayed in contact with him before he decided to return.

“I don’t want to dig too deep,” the coach said when asked about their conversations. “Just stayed in touch. Made sure he knew I wanted him here.”

George said the group has a strong sense of camaraderie, which all teams need to survive. That’s especially important with young players such as sophomores Braylan Lovelace, Rasheem Biles and Jordan Bass, redshirt sophomore Kyle Louis and Marcelin learning at the same time.

“When one of us knows something that the other one doesn’t, it’s not supposed to be a secret,” George said. “We’re supposed to explain that to the rest of the room. We’ve all invested a lot of time in perfecting what we’ve built here and what we’re trying to rebuild.”

Said Manalac: “If you look your brother in the eye and ask him to do something better, you better be walking a certain way, too. Spines are stiffened and everybody moves forward.”