After the football is snapped, Pitt offensive linemen's goal is to survive '6 seconds of hell'

At first, Pitt center Lyndon Cooper was too much of a gentleman to accurately describe what happens when the football is snapped and 300-pound men start crashing into each other. In the end, there were no other words.

“Six seconds of hell, if I can say that,” he said. “Block your guy for six seconds because you don’t know what Eli (Holstein) can do. He can scramble out of the pocket. He can scramble down the field and pick up big yards.”

In the violent world manned by offensive and defensive linemen, six seconds is a long time, Cooper said.

It’s a time frame demanded by Pitt offensive line coach Jeremy Darveau, who knows how difficult playing the position can be, especially when the quarterback drops back to pass. His message: “I want to see toughness. I want to see finish.”

“I want to see six seconds of work and not giving up on blocks,” Darveau said, adding he recognizes the difficulty involved in going backwards while an opponent charges at you, face first.

“Pass protection is the hardest thing that’s done out on a football field, in my opinion,” he said. “It’s a marathon when you talk about pass protection. It’s something that we put a lot of effort into and, quite frankly, we need to put more effort into it from a technique standpoint.”

Pitt has allowed 12 sacks in four games, one more than the Panthers have recorded on defense.

“That’s not where I want to be as an offensive line,” Darveau said. “What else can you do? You can dwell on it or you can move forward and say, ‘Here’s what we have to do to continue to get it fixed.’ That’s what we’re doing right now.”

Pitt does not field an inexperienced offensive line, but left tackle Branson Taylor is the only regular who had double-digit starts (15) prior to this season. Right tackle Ryan Baer had nine, left guard Jason Collier seven and right guard B.J. Williams and left guard Ryan Jacoby six each. Cooper started five games prior to transferring this year from N.C. State, but Darveau said he now ranks among the best centers in the ACC.

“I can’t speak highly enough of Lyndon Cooper and the job he’s done and where we’ve come from with him,” he said. “When we first got him, he was a little bit passive in pass protection and he was a little unsure of what to do. We built his confidence up, and we build his technique up until now he’s one of the dominant centers in the conference, I think.”

Jacoby, 24, transferred from Ohio State prior to the 2021 season, but he missed all of last year and two starts this season because of injury.

“He’s had some injury issues that have kind of held him back over the past few weeks, but he’s fully released right now,” Darveau said. “I look forward to watching him continue to play.”

Collier has played in Jacoby’s place and is second on the team in pancake blocks in which the defender is knocked to the ground. Baer is the team leader with 20.

“He’s stays active. He’s always looking for work,” Darveau said of Collier. “If something happens and somebody’s looping over there free, he’ll go chase him down and knock the crap out of him.”

Williams, a sophomore, started six games last season to become the first Pitt freshman to start on the offensive line since Dorian Johnson in 2013.

”B.J.’s got the most violent hands I’ve ever seen a guard play with,” said Darveau, who’s been coaching the position at seven schools since 2008. “His ability to put his hands on you and strike you and create separation is unparalleled on our offensive line. He’s hungry. He’s always in there trying to learn, study tape and see what he can do better at. He’s asking questions. He’s not just going out there assuming that he knows everything.“