Panthers' entire offensive line commits to 2022 return

The good times keep rolling for Pitt football.

December 2021 has been a huge month for the program winning the ACC Championship, being added to the Peach Bowl for a chance to get a New Year's Six Bowl win for the first time since 1981, seeing Kenny Pickett come in third for the Heisman Trophy voting, and just Tuesday Pitt landing their top transfer portal quarterback in Kedon Slovis.

And now, Pat Narduzzi knows he's getting all four of his senior offensive linemen back for another year. Carter Warren, Owen Drexel, Marcus Minor and Gabe Houy all made announcements Wednesday morning via Twitter that they would be returning to Pitt football for one more season in 2022.

The announcement came while members of the media were at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex were waiting for the next Pitt player to interview. Warren was the first to tweet, and then each of the seniors followed. Minutes later, they walked in as a group to do an interview together with the media.

The group decision had to be difficult, as that involves four players all looking at their potential professional careers beginning this season with the NFL Scouting Combine months away. But it was them talking to each other that helped them come to a resolution.

"We all had our own situations to look at," Minor said. "Everybody has their own lives alone, really personalities that they have to break down the game work that they have to break down. But bottom line, we did talk to each other about it. We do think as an O-line, having a year of playing with one another, having the chemistry, it would be great for us to come back and do it together. We were able to talk about it after we made our decisions and I felt like it was a great thing to do."

When asked who first mentioned the idea of everyone returning, Drexel quickly stepped up.

"That would be me," Drexel said as the linemen chuckled. "It's a bit surreal."

"We decided this around the time of the ACC Championship," Houy said. "We came together, agreed upon it and got comfortable with it. We're happy about it."

When asked who was the first to suggest such a possibility, Drexel stepped up and pointed out it was his idea first. But all of the linemen agreed a huge part of what played into their decisions is culture and environment they had grown within at Pitt football.

"This program is amazing," Warren said. "Coach (Narduzzi), everything he's done for us as well as coach of Borbs (Dave Borbely), what he's taught us and it is everything, you know what I mean? It's just, it's, I'm excited to come back, you know, learn a little bit more and just get up, get up, get ready for the NFL."

For Warren, that reality of the NFL might've been closer than any of his fellow linemen. He was already invited to the Senior Bowl and hype had been building around his potential as an NFL prospect. Here's analysis made from Joe Marino of The Draft Network about what he likes about Warren:

"It was really hard," Warren said when asked how difficult it was to pick not to attend the Senior Bowl. "I was thinking about it for a very long time. It came down to the boys coming back. We're stronger as a whole unit with Marcus coming in. We have a great bond and I'm excited for another year."

Minor was the newest member of the group as a senior transfer from Maryland playing his first year with Pitt in 2021. But despite being the newest to the bunch, Minor also felt comradery amongst his teammates and changed his mind about having just one year to play at Pitt.

"I'm not going to lie, I was thinking it would be just one year," Minor said. "Simply because I thought at the time that it was best for me. But after going through this season, doing well and having a good time with the boys, I thought it would be great to do it again."

Houy, a Pittsburgh native who played football at Upper St. Clair, resonated with Minor's feeling about being excited to play with the group and that their relationships with each other played a factor.

"It's huge," Houy said. "Personally for me and Marcus, we both dealt with injuries early in the season. So being able to progress together as a group for another year, and do that with our best friends were even bigger."

While Pitt's offensive line coach Borbely was thinking Christmas came early, Narduzzi was also excited for the commitments from his linemen.

"As big as they are, that's how big this is," Narduzzi said about his seniors offensive linemen returning. "That's a lot of beef right there. Those guys made that decision. There wasn't any twisting of arms. These kids got to make decisions and I'm not going to be the one in the middle of that. They made business decisions, took their times and we're happy for them."

The other starting offensive lineman for the majority of the season was Jake Kradel, a redshirt junior. He's been injured for weeks now, but did tell DK Pittsburgh Sports that when he heard weeks ago that the group was considering a return, he felt excited to keep growing with the group, calling them his best friends.

"We are all guys that are very selfless and are all about the team," Kradel told DK Pittsburgh Sports about the offensive line. We pride ourselves on the fact if we do our jobs, the rest of the team will do theirs. We all share a common goal of just wanting to win. When you have a group of guys that all have the same common goal it's easy to go work everyday and get better. Each of those guys bring a positive attitude and energy to the facility each day. That makes it easy to go to war on Saturday with these guys."

The decision might not be as big as Kenny Pickett's announcement he would return last season, but Pitt having its offensive line back for another season is another huge win for the program and a sign that maybe the Panthers could be serious contenders to be back-to-back ACC champions next season.

• Narduzzi also noted during his Wednesday talk with media that Nick Patti would be Pitt's quarterback for the Peach Bowl to replace Pickett. Patti is a redshirt junior from N.J. who's been a backup for Pickett since 2019.

"Nick is a guy this entire room trusts," Narduzzi said of Patti. "He's a good football player. He can throw the ball, and he's done it 40 times in a start before. We're excited to see Nick's chance to show Panther nation who he is. During finals week he's out there throwing the ball with all the receivers."

A source told DK Pittsburgh Sports that Patti resonates extremely well with the entire roster as both a teammate and a leader. When asked how close he is to the team, the source said "players would die for Nick," and said the quarterback makes it easy to rally around him because of how he's built relationships around the team.

Even with the addition of Slovis for 2022, look out for Patti to show what he can do in the Peach Bowl and why it might be a position battle in training camp next year.