Vincent Davis accepts 'old-school' lessons from Pitt assistant Andre Powell

Andre Powell smiled when he heard Pitt running back Vincent Davis called him “old school.”

“It means I’m old, and I went to school,” said Powell, Pitt’s 53-year-old running backs coach/special teams coordinator.

It was a joke, of course. After 33 seasons of continuous service as a college football coach, Powell knows what it means to be an “old-school” coach.

“I think it means you tell the truth,” he said. “Tell it the way it is. ‘That was good. That wasn’t good enough. That’s not the bar.’

“You just teach and coach and really just be yourself.”

Players don’t come in a cookie-cutter shape, so Powell knows how to handle different personalities.

“For Vince, the way I reach him may be different than the way I reach (Todd) Sibley,” Powell said. “You have to figure out which guy responds to what method best and go with that. Some guys you need to hug. Some guys you need to be very stern with.”

Powell, one of three assistants who have been with coach Pat Narduzzi since he arrived in 2015, might have the most complicated job on the Pitt staff. He also coordinates special teams – where he’s mentoring freshman returner Jordan Addison – while juggling what appear to be five capable running backs.

All five had at least four carries and four scored touchdowns in a 55-0 victory Saturday against Austin Peay. Davis collected the most carries (11), yards (43) and touchdowns (two). Sibley also scored twice, one on a return of a punt he blocked.

When asked about playing for Powell, Davis said, “That dude’s tough.”

He said Powell reminds him of former NFL fullback Donnell Bennett, his coach at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

“Those guys are on me heavy,” Davis said. “(I said) ‘Give me a breather.’ But it’s worth it. I don’t need a breather. (Powell) is building me into a great guy.”

Davis has the ability to make defenders miss, but he said it’s not simply based on athletic ability.

“It’s instinct, but it’s the work, too, that I put in with coach Powell,” he said. “Coach Powell pushes us to make these extra moves.”

How will Powell, who played fullback at Indiana in the late 1980s, sort out all the bodies?

Powell said he likes two types of backs: “Big, old good ones and good, old big ones.”

But Davis (5-foot-8, 175 pounds) said there’s one sure way to earn playing time. “You have to make something happen,” he said.

Powell demands his backs master three skills: protecting the football, pass blocking and gaining yards against unblocked defenders.

“If you can do those three things, you’re going to play more than guys who don’t,” he said. “If a guy gets hot in a game, we’ll ride him.”

Pitt opens ACC play Saturday against Syracuse at Heinz Field. As the opponents get tougher, it won’t be as easy to give all five running backs playing time.

“Saturday, we just wanted to let the guys play,” he said. “It will be more streamlined now, I would imagine. I’m not for sure you’ll see five every week.”

Three days of practice this week will help determine who gets the first opportunities Saturday among Davis, Sibley, A.J. Davis (the starter last week), Daniel Carter and Izzy Abanikanda.

Vincent Davis, a 19-year-old redshirt freshman said Abanikanda, a first-year freshman from Brooklyn, N.Y., already has set himself apart.

“Everybody brings something different to the table. Everybody gets the job done,” Davis said. “But, with Izzy, I ain’t going to lie, that kid’s a freak. He’s different. He’s powerful. He’s strong. He’s fast.

“He can go from 0 to 100 real quick. He hits his top-end speed very fast. He can run through you, make a person miss or run past you.”

Powell said it takes freshmen time to master the complexities of college football.

“If a kid gets 12 plays in practice, for example, he’s probably only, at the best, (going to) do half of them right,” Powell said. “Because they just don‘t know. The transition from high school to college, the volume of things you are required to know is so much greater. They memorize things, but memorizing is not knowing. Until you know the whys of what you’re doing, you really don’t know.”

Still, he said Abanikanda is “different.”

“He runs with great power and leverage. We have to invest more time with him, getting him caught up in the passing game, but when you turn around and hand him the ball, he can figure it out.”

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