Braylan Lovelace Provided Defensive Spark in Career Game Against Cal

Pitt linebacker Braylan Lovelace grew up nearly 30 miles from Acrisure Stadium in small town Leechburg, Pa. As a kid, Lovelace became fond of the team he would one day suit up for.

In his first two seasons as a Panther, Lovelace has become relied upon at outside linebacker and for the first time in his 19 years of life, Pitt is still undefeated through six games.

“It’s definitely big,” Lovelace said about Pitt’s 6-0 start. “I’ve been coming to Pitt games since I was young. I’ve always been wanting to come here and put on the script, so it’s big. All my family, they’re big Pitt people and I know they are smiling.”

The 6-2, 225-pound sophomore compiled a career day as he flew around defensively to help Pitt secure a defensive victory over the California Golden Bears.

Lovelace recorded the first two sacks of his career to go with a career-high three tackles for loss and seven total tackles — the second-most of his career.

“I’m fired up for Lovelace,” head coach Pat Narduzzi said. “Braylan needed that. He’s played good, but he hasn’t played great. He got two sacks today. He played the whole darned game pretty much. I think we put Jeremiah Marcelin in there, a true freshman, for a few plays, but Lovelace took the brunt, and I’m happy for Braylan. He’s a great kid and a great football player. He needed that for his confidence.”

Lovelace has started four games this season, but the Cal contest was different as the Panthers were without linebacker Rasheem Biles, who splits snaps with Lovelace at the money position.

“Braylan played his butt off,” defensive end Jimmy Scott said. “It’s the next-man-up mentality and Braylan played a great game.”

In a defensive struggle, every play Lovelace made left an impact. Less than 30 seconds remained in the first half as Pitt was still searching for its first sack and Cal needed to convert on a third-and-12. That’s when Lovelace raced into the backfield to record his first-career sack and push the Bears out of field-goal range.

Pitt sophomore linebacker Braylan Lovelace against Cal:

• 7 total tackles
• Career-high 3 TFLs
• First 2 sacks of his career pic.twitter.com/Dc2fsByoae

— Nathan Breisinger (@NateBreisinger) October 13, 2024

On Cal’s second drive of the third quarter, Lovelace returned to add his second sack on Fernando Mendoza pinning the Golden Bears deep at their own 5-yard line before Kyle Louis got home two plays later for an 8-yard sack.

It was a welcome sight for the Pitt defense as it has applied pressure this season but struggled to bring down the quarterback in large numbers. On Saturday, the Panthers recorded their first six-sack game of the season.

“Taking that extra step,” Lovelace said on why Pitt was successful at getting to the quarterback. “We been emphasizing all week taking that extra step, that’s why we be missing a couple times. Taking that extra step and putting our hips into it and making sure we get the sack.”

While the sacks showed up against Cal, Pitt has lived in the backfield often this season. The Panthers are tied for the 10^th most tackles for loss with 48 after adding 11 against the Golden Bears.

“We like to get downhill. We play with a little bit of edge, so we get downhill. You get paid to get TFLs. That’s our goal every time,” Lovelace said.

Pittsburgh Panthers wide receiver Kenny Johnson (2) and Pittsburgh Panthers linebacker Braylon Lovelace (0) October 12, 2024 David Hague/PSN

With Pitt’s offense failing to close out the game, the defense was called upon again to make a stop and it did so much like it did against Cincinnati and West Virginia.

“We’re always built for situations like that. We like when the game is in our hands. We like the pressure. Pressure makes diamonds,” Lovelace said.

As Lovelace grabbed the opportunity and ran with it against California, he has solidified another layer of Pitt’s linebacker unit, the Sharks.

“Blood’s in the water. Sharks, we go hunt. All three of them (Brandon George, Louis and Biles), they are great linebackers. I feel like we got the best linebacker corps in the nation. I feel like we’re going to keep doing that the rest of the season,” Lovelace said.