All-105 is a Pittsburgh Sports Now series profiling each of the 105 members of the Pitt 2024 training camp roster.
Ryan Baer, redshirt sophomore offensive tackle from North in Eastlake, Ohio
2023 season: Baer played in 11 games last season, starting nine games at tackle (eight at right tackle and one at left tackle)
Stats: Baer recorded 583 offensive snaps last season and allowed 23 pressures and four sacks
Camp outlook: Baer will enter camp as a full-time starter for the first time in his career and work heavily with the 1s in the offense
Projected role: If the Pitt offense is to bounce back, a breakout season from Baer will go a long way in helping to achieve that goal. He’s going to play a lot of football in 2024
Baer (6-foot-7, 330 pounds) arrived as the highest-rated offensive lineman in the Pat Narduzzi era, a four-star recruit out of North in Eastlake, Ohio.
He announced his return to Pitt via Alliance 412 earlier this offseason and will enter camp in his first season as a full-time starter. He sat behind new Indianapolis Colt Matt Goncalves to start the season but was inserted into the starting lineup following Goncalves’ season-ending injury.
He took 583 snaps, the second-most of any Pitt lineman last season and lined up primarily at right tackle. It was an eventful season for Baer, as he allowed 23 pressures and four sacks, according to Pro Football Focus, but he was a young starter thrust into a tough situation. He has the physical tools and natural ability to emerge as an All-ACC caliber lineman and potential NFL Draft pick down the line.
“Whenever you’ve got athletic tackles like (Baer and Branson Taylor) are, it opens up your run game,” Pitt offensive line coach Jeremy Darveau said in February. “Now 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. So, it allows us to be a little more multiple in our playbook and multiple in our run game and multiple in our protection.
“If we need to do something special with them, we can because one, they’re experienced, and 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 of them.”
Baer’s development throughout the offseason will be a key factor in the resurgence of the Panthers’ offense, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he puts together a breakout campaign.
The o line is young and talented. No one could have protected Phil last season. In Nate we have a guy that can process quickly. The offense will be much more fun to watch. Last season was a disaster. Nate could have won us at least 6-7 games. H2P.