Running backs coach Andre Powell seeks standouts for Pitt's ground game

In this complicated time when people are fearful of something as simple as a handshake, Andre Powell has learned not to sweat too much.

“I control what I can control. The rest I let go,” Pitt’s running backs/special teams coach said Tuesday, minutes after the first practice since covid-19 concerns forced the postponement of the Georgia Tech game.

“They say we’re going to play, get prepared to play. They say we’re not playing, I go fishing.”

So he did, throwing his line in Shenango Lake on Saturday.

Coaching Pitt’s running backs isn’t nearly that simple, especially when — for most of the season — no one has stood out in a crowd of five players.

“The problem you get into is there are only so many snaps,” Powell said. “We’re probably the only team in the ACC that was rotating (four) backs. That’s because there’s no guy that’s just clearly better than the other.”

Yet, Powell, who’s been a coach every year since he was a student assistant at Indiana in 1988, has learned to employ simple logic when deciding who plays and who doesn’t.

“No matter how you slice it, at the end of the night, someone’s going to get (fewer) reps than someone,” he said. “There’s a potential for someone to get mad. ‘Why didn’t I play more?’

“I always respond the same: ‘Practice better. Play better. The more plays you make, the more you play.’ ”

While Pitt prepares to play Virginia Tech on Saturday in the season’s last scheduled game at Heinz Field, Powell hopes he’s found two backs — Vincent Davis and A.J. Davis — who can provide the punch Pitt’s ground game has lacked all season.

“It looks like Vince probably has the total package a little bit better than the rest,” he said.

Vincent Davis, a 5-foot-8, 175-pound sophomore, is Pitt’s leading rusher with 313 yards in eight games. Senior A.J. Davis, 6-foot, 215, is next with 140.

Overall, the Panthers are 13th among 15 ACC teams with an average of 104.2 rushing yards per game. Pitt also has the shortest long run in the ACC this season (Vincent Davis’ 28-yarder against Florida State).

By contrast, Virginia Tech running back Khalil Herbert, who is sixth in the nation and second in the ACC with 852 yards, has rushed for 188 more than the total of five of Pitt’s backs (664).

“They’re learning. It’s a process,” Powell said. “You wish you could speed it up. But everybody progresses at a different rate of speed.

“It took (Qadree) Ollison a while, (Darrin) Hall a while,” he said, referencing Pitt’s most recent 1,000-yard rushers in 2018.

A big key all season, but especially in recent weeks, has been pass protection.

“The Florida State game, the focus mainly was protection,” Powell said. “Kenny was coming back, his first game after ankle surgery, and we wanted to make sure, no matter what, we were going to keep him healthy.”

That’s why Davis and Davis played most of the game on the way to Pitt’s 41-17 victory.

“A.J., being the veteran who’s seen pressure for four years now, and Vince is pretty heads up, pretty tough and has pretty good fundamentals when it comes to pass protection,” he said. “Those two guys were the best at understanding all the pressures, how we adjust the protections to pick up certain blitzes.”

Vincent Davis has received the bulk of the work while injuries have hampered A.J. Davis, junior Todd Sibley and redshirt freshman Daniel Carter. Meanwhile, freshman Izzy Abanikanda is learning his craft.

“We all wish they were All-ACC candidates, but they’re not,” Powell said. “So, we’ll just keep coaching and stay the course.”

Powell said his conversations with players have been “real frank.”

“This is why (you’re not playing). This is what you need to do. Pretty simple. Until you do it, status doesn’t change as much.”

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