After lining up either as a guard or center over his six seasons at Pitt, senior Jake Kradel finally came to his coaches with a definitive choice.

Kradel (6-foot-3, 305 pounds) is a center and, he hopes, that will be so for a long time.

“Jake really wanted to do it. I think he has visions of being an NFL center someday,” coach Pat Narduzzi said Thursday.

Narduzzi believes that can happen.

“He’s really smart, and he knows what he’s doing.”

Kradel’s first real test of the season surfaces Saturday when Pitt meets Cincinnati and 2022 third-team All-American defensive tackle Dontay “The Godfather” Corleone (6-2, 318).

“Kradel (Butler) will have his hands full, but I have my faith in Jake and the offensive line to do their job,” Narduzzi said.

Corleone will line up next to defensive end Jowan Briggs (6-2, 297), a first-team All-American Athletic Conference selection last year.

“They’re big and they’re physical and they’re fast. Other than that, there’s no problem,” Pitt running backs coach Andre Powell said with a smile. “We just have to do a good job staying on blocks, making cracks, getting in them, taking what the defense gives us and not turning the ball over and we’ll see what happens at the end of the game.”

Cincinnati’s defensive front will try to confuse Pitt’s blockers.

“They’re going to move and twist, and our guys on the offensive line have to be really good in protection as far as some of the different stuff they’ll throw at you,” Narduzzi said. “Nothing abnormal that we haven’t seen before.”

In the end, the other team doesn’t matter as much as your own team, Narduzzi said.

“It’s about what we do. Not what they do. If we worry about them too much and don’t worry about ourselves, we got issues. It’s not who we play. It’s how we play.”

Protection will be key

After fixing some communication issues that surfaced last week, right guard Blake Zubovic said he’s ready to accept whatever Corleone and his teammates throw at him.

“Tons of pressure. They bring pressure all the time,” he said.

“(Corleone) is going to be matched up mostly over Kradel, but I’m going to do a ton of blocking him in the run and pass game,” said Zubovic, a Belle Vernon graduate. “Excited for that matchup. This is the reason you play. You don’t play to play guys you know you can block.”

Zubovic described Corleone as “a little shorter dude, really strong, really thick.”

“We have to get our hands on him before he gets his hands on us. His strike is really powerful, and it comes from a really low position so we have to play with leverage and strike before he can get his hands on us.”

Zubovic is confident, however, and for good reason. He’s seen good defensive linemen in practice every day in previous seasons.

“I had this guy named Calijah Kancey who was pretty good.”

Does size matter?

Pitt’s veteran offensive line averages 6-5, 325. Four of them check in at 330 pounds.

Sounds massive, but Narduzzi knows there’s more to playing offensive line than being big.

“Brian O’Neill came out to summer camp,” he said. “He was 305, (plays) right tackle for the Minnesota Vikings.

“Does size really matter? I don’t know.”

ACC pride at stake

Narduzzi said he was pleased to see North Carolina and Florida State defeat SEC opponents South Carolina and LSU last week.

“The whole offseason was about how much money (conferences) make,” he said. “How about winning the football game? That’s what it’s all about, and coach them better.”

Pitt gets its crack at another Power 5 conference the next two weeks against Cincinnati and West Virginia of the Big 12.

“It’s a pride thing,” Narduzzi said. “Some people think the Big 12 is bigger than the ACC right now. Well, it’s our chance on the field to (disprove) that.”

He said expansion doesn’t solve problems by itself.

“You can add whoever you want. Does it make you better? It’s about adding quality and things that make sense,” he said. “To me, the SEC did the best job because it still makes sense when you look at map. And they got quality, too.”

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