Pitt Spring Camp Primer: Five Offensive Storylines to Follow

In the blink of an eye, college football spring camps are here. Pitt football opens up camp on Monday with 15 practice sessions scheduled throughout March and early April before the Blue-Gold Spring Game on Saturday, April 11.

The last two months have been focused on retooling the Pitt roster for the 2026 season. 16 scholarship transfers and 16 more freshmen were added to the roster in January, while Pitt saw a bevy of players graduate and depart for the portal.

With plenty of player movement to go along with returning pieces, Pitt will look to build its offense in the third year under offensive coordinator Kade Bell and second with returning quarterback Mason Heintschel.

With that, let’s take a look at five storylines surrounding the Pitt offense in spring camp.

Heintschel Development, Backup Pitt QB

Heintschel proved himself as one of the top young signal callers in the country last season. He had the sixth-most passing yards per game by a freshman nationally with 235.40 yards.

The 6-2, 215-pounder came out firing with five wins in his first five starts. During that stretch, he surpassed 1,500 passing yards, tossed 12 touchdowns and ran for another.

Heintschel flashed a lot of promise throughout his nine starts, but also showed signs of a rookie. He threw eight interceptions on the year, lost three fumbles and put six more on the ground that were recovered by the Panthers. A number of those turnovers were preventable. He was also sacked 34 times — many of which fall on the shoulders of the offensive line, but some were of his own doing.

As an early enrollee last year, Heintschel utilized the spring to help pave his way into a good position to take over the starting role. He got to work learning the playbook, connecting with the receivers and emerging as a young leader.

This time around, Heintschel will look to elevate his game and create chemistry with new-look receiver and tight end rooms. Another primary focus will be to protect the football and avoid pressure.

Heintschel has a real opportunity to rise as one of the top signal callers in the entire country as a sophomore, and it starts with spring ball.

While Heintschel has the starting job secured, Pitt is in desperate need of a reliable backup.

Texas State transfer Holden Geriner comes to Pitt for his fifth and final season of college football. He spent the first three seasons at Auburn before transferring to Texas State in 2025. He has just 21 pass attempts in his career with just nine completions — a 42.9 completion percentage. He has yet to throw a touchdown in his career.

Geriner has been around college football for quite some time and went up against some good competition with an SEC program, but his inability to start a game and throw more than one pass at Texas State draws plenty of concerns.

Incoming true freshmen Corey Dailey and Angelo Renda have real possibilities to compete for that QB2 role.

Dailey stands at 6-foot-6 and 195 pounds. He brings a pocket presence with a strong arm. The Seguin High School (Texas) product was viewed as a late-bloomer and a potential project piece. But now that he’s grown into his frame and become more comfortable, he looks to compete right away in the quarterback room.

Renda — a 6-foot, 180-pounder — fits more of the Kade Bell prototype with dual-threat abilities. Much like Dailey, Renda was highly-productive at Southlake Carroll High School in Texas. Renda passed for 8,197 yards in his career, while adding 1,559 rushing yards.

Geriner, Dailey and Renda will all look to make strong early impressions in spring camp.

Question Marks at Wide Receiver

As Heintschel looks to make progress early in his second season, he will need weapons to throw the ball to.

Pitt saw three of its top four wide receivers depart from the program in the offseason with Raphael Williams and Deuce Spann to graduation, while Kenny Johnson transferred to Texas Tech.

Redshirt junior Cataurus Hicks returns after catching 24 passes for 422 yards and four touchdowns in 2025. He has the speed and solid ball skills to develop into a top two receiver for the Panthers, but it all depends on his ability to stay on the field consistently throughout a game.

Beyond Hicks, Pitt has a lot of questions surrounding the receivers. Censere Lee is back for his redshirt senior season after spending most of 2025 rehabbing an injury. The 5-11, 165-pound Lee caught 19 passes for 254 yards and three touchdowns back in 2024 with Pitt. Lee has a lot of promise as a key playmaker in the Pitt offense, but it all depends on how he looks fully healthy.

Despite needing some serious immediate help in the receiver room, Pitt only secured one receiver from the portal with Western Carolina’s Malik Knight. The redshirt senior has a good frame at 6-1, 180 pounds and brings speed to the room. He had a productive 2025 season with 47 receptions for 774 yards and seven touchdowns.

Now can that play translate to the Power Four level? It did so for Desmond Reid, Williams and partly for Lee after starting their careers at Western Carolina.

As Hicks, Lee and Knight are the eldest trio in the room, the majority of Pitt’s receivers are extremely young and inexperienced. The Panthers signed seven high school receivers in the past two recruiting classes.

Bryce Yates made a solid impression in his first season with Pitt as he racked up 11 catches for 202 yards and a touchdown. His work came primarily in the slot. Sophomore Tony Kinsler was a special teamer last year, but looks to make a leap as another slot weapon for Pitt.

Redshirt sophomore Tyreek Robinson, redshirt freshman Cam Sapp, 6-5 freshman Rodney Dunbar, freshman Dylan Wester and freshman Demetrice McCray all have their sights set on improving their stock this spring.

Competition on Left Side of Offensive Line for Pitt

Pitt’s offensive line is in need of significant upgrades to its left side. Jeff Persi earned the starting role at left tackle in 2025, but a few weeks out with injury gave starting time to Kendall Stanley. Both were far too inconsistent as blindside blockers.

At left guard, Keith Gouveia received the starting nod but was lost for the season four games in against Louisville. Ryan Carretta stepped in and was dependable, but also missed some time as Stanley slid over to guard in his absence.

This spring, Carretta will look to fill a need at center. Gouveia is back after receiving a medical waiver, but that does not necessarily solidify him as the starter at left guard.

Pitt brought in Akron transfer Keylen Davis to compete for a top spot. Davis, a redshirt senior, started 22 games over the last two seasons — all coming at right guard. So far since arriving at Pitt, Davis says he’s been primarily working at left guard, so a battle may be underway there.

The more important competition will come at left tackle. Penn transfer Netinho Olivieri comes to Pitt as a fifth-year with 28 career starts. He’s a lean tackle at 6-4, 305 pounds and is best in pass protection.

Olivieri will battle with Stanley, who also enters his fifth season of college football. Stanley stands at 6-5, 295 pounds and made seven starts a year ago.

Spring camp will help identify some of the top combinations and potential starters for the fall on the left side. As for the right, BJ Williams at right guard and Ryan Baer at right tackle are both returning as longtime starters for the Panthers.

Who Emerges as Depth Running Back Options?

Ja’Kyrian Turner established himself quickly as the future of Pitt’s running back room in 2025 with 745 rushing yards and seven scores.

As Turner will work as RB1, Pitt looks to fill out the depth behind him at the running back position.

Western Kentucky transfer La’Vell Wright looks to be a quick answer as the potential backup. He brings a power running element to the room as 5-11, 215-pound back that scored 10 touchdowns a year ago.

Along with Wright, redshirt senior walk-on Justin Cook and redshirt freshmen Synkwan Smith and Jaylin Brown hope to make some noise in camp.

Head coach Pat Narduzzi stated an several occasions last season that he believes Cook can make an impact in 2026. The former East Stroudsburg (D-II) transfer transitioned to running back last spring after starting his career as a wide receiver. Although he preserved a redshirt, he managed 31 rushing yards and 44 receiving yards on 17 total touches.

Pitt will look for Smith, who stands at 5-7, 170 pounds, to develop into a Desmond Reid-esque weapon, while Brown — a 5-10, 190-pounder, is a downhill option with more size.

Pitt’s New-Look Tight End Room

Pitt brought in four new assistant coaches this offseason, including tight ends coach Brent Davis. He’ll have the task of rebuilding the Panthers’ tight end room that saw a complete overhaul in its options.

Justin Holmes, Jake Overman and walk-on Josh Altsman graduated, while Malachi Thomas transferred to LSU. The lone scholarship returner is redshirt freshman Max Hunt, who appeared in three games last fall.

The Panthers hit the portal to sign Oklahoma transfer Carson Kent and UAB transfer Elijah Lagg to go along with true freshman Wyatt Villarreal.

Kent stands at 6-4, 245 pounds and enters his redshirt senior season. Last fall, he played in 13 games with three receptions for 26 yards. He brings some winning experience after the Sooners clinched a berth in the College Football Playoff. Kent began his career at Kennesaw State with 21 games that led to 32 receptions for 382 yards and three touchdowns.

Lagg on the other hand began his career at the JUCO level with Copiah-Lincoln CC. The 6-2, 245-pounder then went to UAB in 2025 where he caught 20 passes for 164 yards.

Kent and Lagg look to solidify top roles in the tight end room as a possible one-two combination.

However, Hunt and Villarreal plan to have a say in that competition. Hunt brings more athleticism to the room as a 6-4, 215-pound option. Villarreal is a true freshman out of Celina High School in Texas. The 6-5, 230-pounder amassed 46 receptions for 601 yards and three touchdowns as a senior.