On a team with a Heisman finalist at quarterback and a receiver with 17 touchdowns and nearly 100 catches, it might be hard for a tight end to make an impact on offense in his first full season with the program.
But Lucas Krull isn’t your typical first-year player and the ACC champion Pitt Panthers, who will face Michigan State in the 2021 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, aren’t your typical team.
With quarterback Kenny Pickett guiding the offense, Pitt (11-2) averaged 43 points per game en route to winning its first conference title since joining the ACC in 2011. Pickett’s primary target was All-ACC first teamer Jordan Addison (93 receptions, 1,479 yards, 17 touchdowns) with Krull finishing second on the team with six TD catches and was named to the All-ACC second team.
“He fit into our program very quickly, which was nice,” interim offensive coordinator Tim Salem said of Krull. “And I think he was just one of the many, many building blocks we’ve had for our football team.”
It’s been a long journey for Krull, who suffered an injury and only played one game for the Panthers in 2020. Krull arrived in Pitt as a graduate transfer from the University of Florida, where he played two seasons with Falcons rookie tight end Kyle Pitts, and played baseball at Jefferson College in Missouri in 2017-18.
The 23-year-old Krull, a late-round selection by the San Francisco Giants in the 2018 MLB draft, believed he could make an impact with a program on the rise with established stars.
“I knew where I wanted to go, a place like this where I could come in, be a guy for them and be a leader and help this team win week in, week out,” said Krull, who completed his MBA at Pitt after earning a bachelor’s degree at Florida.
Added Salem: “One of the dimensions he did add was great leadership, a worker. He’s been around before. So at least for some of the younger kids at the tight end position they’re able to see what he did, how he acted.”
Now Krull hopes to provide one additional piece to the puzzle – helping the team with the Peach Bowl and tie the program’s single-season record of 12 victories, set by the 1976 national championship team led by Heisman winner Tony Dorsett.
“I love this team because this is something that’s so special and not a lot of teams can say they’ve done,” he said. “So we’re going for 12, and we’re not done yet.”
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