All the attention seems to be on the offense. Which really is typical for the first week of camp. There are concerns. There have been articles about players or spots of concern on the defense. But there just doesn’t seem to be nearly the angst. If anything, a bit of swagger on the defensive side that things will be fine.

Even at cornerback, where Saheed Imoru has not grabbed the starting cornerback spot like everyone has expected from the JUCO transfer. Ricky Gary struggled early as well (“…somewhat of a disaster as neither Saheed Imoru or Ricky Gary has played particularly well. In fact, this morning both were beat several times each on long passes by insert-receiver not named Jonathan Baldwin’s-name-here”), but is now getting lauded (or puffed).

“I feel like I have to step up,” he said. “I’ve got to compete harder.”

Gary is working opposite junior Antwuan Reed as the Panthers break in two new cornerbacks following the departure of Aaron Berry, a two-time all-Big East pick, and Jovani Chappel.

Gary was one of the defensive heroes of Pitt’s practice Wednesday when he helped break up a pass intended for Jon Baldwin on a fourth-and-5 red-zone drill to end practice. As Gary was mobbed by his defensive teammates, everybody in white jerseys (offense) did 10 up-downs for losing the drill.

“He’s competing right now like I’ve never seen him go,” Pitt defensive backs coach Jeff Hafley said of Gary. “This is it for him. This is his last year here.”

Not that Imoru is the only guy that is vaguely disappointing right now. Buddy Jackson has been at Pitt seemingly for 7 years, yet never seems to make an impact after training camp.

An interesting thing has happened at corner – it appears as if the coaches have made the decision to send Buddy Jackson a little bit of a message by letting freshmen K’wuan Williams and to a lesser extent Brandon Ifill take snaps with the second team. Jackson may be the most physically gifted player on the team – and that includes Baldwin – but something just has not clicked with him and it is clear the coaches want him to get it together. Jackson is a redshirt junior which means he is in his fourth year so it is time for him to step up and be the kind of player his talent would dictate.

Jackson has the size as well to be able to cover the big receivers.  Still he doesn’t climb the depth chart.

Maybe it’s the deeper stress and angst (and the annual rite of passage for Pitt football that it is) over the O-line that simply overshadows all other concerns for fans. Leading to a more relaxed feel about what will happen on defense.

So the theme when covering defense by the beat writers is that players are stepping up to the challenge.

“I talked to the coaches before the spring and they told me point blank, ‘You should have been stepping up before this and if you don’t get it done this year, we’re not sure what we are going to do with you,’ ” [Tristan] Roberts said.

“So it was a do-or-die kind of thing for me this year.”

Whatever the exact message was that coaches gave to Roberts, it certainly came through.

He was a completely different player in the spring than he had been in any of the camps or spring drills in his previous three years.

In fact, he played so well he actually replaced redshirt junior Greg Williams — a two-year starter — in the starting lineup and has remained at the top of the depth chart at the weakside spot since.

The same applies for the players taking over inside on the defensive line, where there is depth.

Even though Pitt was hit hard by graduation at defensive tackle, losing Big East co-defensive player of the year Mick Williams and Guz Mustakas, the coaches don’t expect a drop-off in production this year.

That’s because the Panthers have recruited well along the defensive front and have redshirt juniors Chas Alecxih (tackle) and Myles Caragein (nose guard) to step into starting roles. And redshirt freshman Tyrone Ezell has emerged as a swing tackle and should see plenty of playing time this season.

In fact, we’ve read very little about any problems on the D-line. Instead, there is already drooling over the potential of the freshmen.

Another Penn Hills graduate, Aaron Donald, has been making a lot of noise at camp and it is presenting quite a dilemma for the coaching staff. That’s because the coaches would love to be able to redshirt Donald but he continues to make the case each day that he is one of the four best defensive tackles right now. Donald is just so quick off the ball that he is very hard to block. … Dave Wannstedt has continually compared Donald to former Panther Mick Williams, which is high praise considering it is only five days of practice and Wannstedt is usually very cautious about praising freshmen.

Coach Wannstedt has been practically giddy.

Defensive ends T.J. Clemmings and Bryan Murphy and tackles Aaron Donald and Khaynin Mosley-Smith looked the part of future stars during Pitt’s afternoon practice Saturday as training camp got underway.

“I’m really excited about our freshmen defensive line,” coach Dave Wannstedt said. “I can’t help it.”

As for the new starting middle linebacker…

On the first play of drills, [Dan] Mason chased down Dion Lewis on a sweep and tackled him behind the line of scrimmage — then popped up and had some choice words for the offense. It is that kind of swagger and leadership that has coach Dave Wannstedt excited about Mason this season.

“We all knew he was a great athlete and a tough-guy player,” Wannstedt said, “but now he is starting to be confident in what we are doing defensively enough that he is showing some great signs of leadership for a young player, a sophomore. That has been very encouraging.

Well, he’s always been outstanding in run defense. It was the passing downs that were the problem.

“If you make a mistake, you better not make that same mistake again,” Mason said. “Learn from it and get better at it.”

Mason’s growth means less thinking and more what comes naturally — being intense and vocal. During Wednesday’s practice, the first in full pads, the 6-foot, 235-pound Mason was the clear-cut leader of the defense.

“He’s a competitor and he helps elevate everybody around him,” Bennett said. “You watch some plays he made (Wednesday) and you go, ‘Wow.’ ”

Coach Dave Wannstedt and Bennett both used the same term to describe Mason’s strides in pass defense — “night and day” — from last year. There was some tinkering with the defense to “make his life a little simpler.”

“He will be fine,” Wannstedt said. “(Pass defense) won’t be an issue.”

That would be nice.