It’s not unfair to say that Kyle Louis hasn’t come anywhere near reaching his potential yet. He hasn’t had the chance to do so.
Louis has never had a true spring season at the college level. He suffered an injury during his senior season at East Orange that held him off the field until the fall of his freshman season. He suffered an injury playing basketball last winter that forced him to miss the whole spring season of his sophomore season.
He’s finally healthy and making the most of the opportunity before him. Unlike either of the last two seasons, Louis has a legitimate opportunity to carve out a starting spot in the linebacking corps.
“Last year, if you recall, he was playing basketball in February and hurt his knee, so he didn’t get to go through spring ball,” Pat Narduzzi said last month at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “So, this is his first spring, but he’s flying around, he’s physical and he’s active. I like what I see out of him.”
Louis played in eight games last season, starting back-to-back games against North Carolina and Virginia Tech before missing time with an injury, and he showed promise. In 177 defensive snaps, he racked up 19 tackles (five solo) and 1.5 tackles for loss.
He’s not exactly old, with fewer than 200 career defensive snaps under his belt (just 177 snaps last season), but he is entering his third season. He feels blessed to be in the position he’s in, considering it is his third season at Pitt, so he’s approached the spring with a renewed urgency. He’s healthy, and he’s competing for a starting spot.
“It makes me really appreciate every play,” Louis said.
Louis is able to play either outside linebacker spot, but he’s honing in on that Star spot. If needed, he could slide across to play the Money spot, since just about all Pitt linebackers are cross-trained. Ryan Manalac doesn’t want his linebackers to see the whole defense through a straw, which is an excellent way to describe cross-training.
But Louis is a Star linebacker. Even if he wasn’t technically a Star linebacker until he arrived at Pitt, his time as a safety at East Orange prepared him for what he needed to do in Pittsburgh.
“I always tell people back at home, Star isn’t a regular linebacker position in this system,” Louis said. “It’s really almost like a nickel back because you got a lot of RPOs, quarterback staring at you. You got a fast-paced offense, so you gotta hurry up and go fill the run lane or hurry up and go read the quarterback and help with the safeties and corners. You gotta be fast over there.”
The Pitt defensive scheme asks a lot of its linebackers. It’s a system designed to stop the run and rack up tackles for loss and sacks. The defensive backs don’t have an easy go of it, but that sort of trial-by-fire has allowed more than a few Panthers to be selected in the NFL Draft. The linebackers are the unspoken heroes.
The Star linebacker is the bridge between the linebackers and the defensive backs. Louis — who stands at 6-foot, 220 pounds — wants to help stop the run. He wants to prioritize the run while still watching opposing RPOs, but it’s a fine line to walk.
A Star linebacker has to be sure of his fits — his run assignments especially. But in the modern age of college football, stopping the RPO is more important than ever.
It helps to have a new offensive scheme at Pitt that utilizes RPOs consistently.
“Usually as we teach, we want to be a run-first defense, you wanna make sure you stop run, make sure you get in your gap,” Louis said. “But it’s really helping me get comfortable and not just doing my job but doing my job plus trying to help the safety once the RPO get off. The safety is feeling comfortable that I got his inside and helping him rally to the ball.”
Louis is one of the leaders in the linebacking corps now, filling a void left by the departures of Shayne Simon and Bangally Kamara. He’s working on the field, stepping into the starting Star spot, and off the field.
Now that he’s finally healthy, able to put in a full spring season, Louis is making sure that he puts in the work on the field to strive for his true potential.
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