New Pitt assistant Jeremy Darveau talks ball, offensive line with Hall of Famer Jimbo Covert
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During one of his first days on the job as an assistant coach on Pat Narduzzi’s staff, Jeremy Darveau found himself in a 15-minute conversation with a member of Pitt’s Board of Trustees.
“It was the coolest thing I’ve ever been a part of,” Pitt’s new offensive line coach said of the meeting earlier this month at the football program’s letter-of-intent day reception.
They weren’t talking budgets or curriculum or student/faculty ratios. The topic was something close to both men’s hearts: how best to move another human being from Point A to Point B against his will.
Jimbo Covert, Pro Football Hall of Famer, Pitt All-American tackle and current university trustee, was talking toughness with Darveau, the man who must teach it to his players.
“He loved to tell me some old stories about just toughness and coming off the football,” Darveau said. “To him, that was one thing he wants to see most is our guys play physical. I told him we’re going to be a physical offensive line. That’s one thing he was excited about was us getting off the ball and not playing lateral or in the backfield. Setting the line of scrimmage.
“I told him we’re going to do our best to get that done.”
Darveau is one of five assistants on a completely new offensive staff that is in the process of installing a fast-paced, no-huddle, tempo offense to a group that previously worked in a pro style, huddle-up system.
Darveau was clear on one point: “Just because it’s tempo doesn’t mean it’s not going to be tough Pitt football.”
He comes to Pitt from Western Carolina where he was offensive coordinator Kade Bell’s line coach the past two seasons. The group he inherits includes 18 scholarship linemen who, apparently, need to be prepared to “grind.”
“To me, the key to playing offensive line is it all starts with toughness,” said Darveau, a starting offensive tackle at Louisville during its nationally ranked 2004 and 2005 seasons. “You have to be a tough player, not just physically, but mentally.
“It is a grind. Going out there and hitting every day and learning the playbook. It’s a grind in the weight room. It’s a grind over in the training room with the meals and pulling back every once in a while, one less chicken wing.
“It’s always about the toughness. From there, we build into our technique and into our assignment.”
Five players with starting experience return: tackles Ryan Baer and Branson Taylor, guards B.J. Williams and Jason Collier and center Terrence Moore. The hope is that their experience will ease them into the new offense.
“These guys have been thrown into battle. They’re tested already,” he said. “They have a little bit more confidence about them. They’ve got a little bit more technique about them. Coach Borbs (former line coach Dave Borbely) did a great job developing these guys in the past.”
He likes the athleticism Baer and Taylor carry with them at 330 pounds.
“Whenever you have athletic tackles like they are, it opens up your run game,” he said. “Your protections are opened up, your outside zones, your counters. You can pull them. You can do all sorts of things with them, instead of just running straight ahead like a bulldozer.
“If we need to do something special with them, we can because, one, they’re experienced, two, they’re both really athletic and, three, they’re great people who want to be great offensive linemen so they’ll learn whatever we ask them to learn.”
In February, it’s less about the plays than it is about getting in shape for spring drills that start next month. With everyone moving fast, conditioning matters.
“We’ll have to get them into shape, and they’ve done a great job (already) just throughout the weight room and out there at practice,” Darveau said. “We’re going at a really high tempo at practice. They’re getting a lot of reps at it. (Conditioning) is something that will come pretty quick. And then they’re going have to really learn. When you play at a high tempo, things happen fast. The play call comes in and all of sudden, bang, that ball is snapped.”
Running backs coach Lindsey Lamar also spoke to reporters Wednesday, and he’s no stranger to Pittsburgh or Bell. While serving as offensive coordinator at Howard, Lamar spent the 2023 offseason participating in two NFL coaching fellowships with the Steelers and Green Bay Packers. He also was on a South Florida staff with Bell in 2019.
Lamar said he learned a lot from Steelers coach Mike Tomlin.
“He would give us knowledge every single day,” Lamar said. “It prepped me in so many ways.”
He said his running backs must be “hybrids, not just an old-school back.”
“You have to be able to pound it, catch the ball out of the backfield. You have to be able to line up in empty and run routes out of the backfield. I was that type of player myself (at South Florida).”
They also won’t get the ball if they can’t protect the passer, he said.
“No block, no rock.”