Lots of stories about the defense abound. Very little about the man in charge, Matt House, but that’s my problem.

Time to run through what’s there.

At the defensive end position it looks like Ohio State transfer David Durham is putting himself solidly in the starting spot. He started out at OSU as a DE, but moved to fullback. Now at Pitt, he’s back at DE.

Durham said he expects the defensive line to increase its presence in opponents’ backfields this year. But he also said that, especially against Boone and other mobile ACC quarterbacks, he may have to pull back that aggression a bit.

“We have to know when we can turn it loose,” he said. “We do face a lot of mobile quarterbacks in this league, and that’s a challenge. It’s a challenge when you play spread teams because you have to be able to, not rein things in, but be smart.”

Through a week of training camp, Durham said the little details — footwork, play calls and fundamentals — have been his focus so far. He credits new defensive ends coach John Palermo as having a big impact on his game the past six months.

Ultimately, Durham is ready to finally get his chance on the field Sept. 2 in Pitt’s opener against Florida State.

“I’m hungry, man, I’m hungry,” he said. “I just come out every day and try to be the best player I can be for this team.

Sitting out a year as a transfer can do that to you. With a name like Durham, it’s just a coincidence that he is a North Carolina native.

The other DE spot was looking to go to Bryan Murphy, but injuries and a fast coming Ejuan Price seems to be on the verge of changing that.

But young tackles Tyrique Jarrett and Darryl Render and ends Shakir Soto, Devin Cook, LaQuentin Smith and Ejuan Price are pushing for playing time.

Price, a sophomore from Woodland Hills, has caught Palermo’s eye.

“He has bought in to what we are trying to do,” Palermo said.

“He started out as a second-and-long, third-down guy at defensive end. He has worked himself up to possibly playing on first down. I am getting to the point of where I trust him.”

David Durham and Bryan Murphy are the starting ends, with one exception, Palermo said.

“That exception is Ejuan. Ejuan could very well be a starter against Florida State if he scrimmages well. I’ll be honest with you. If any of them don’t scrimmage well, they will wake up the next day as part of the second team.”

It’s easy to forget that in the lost year of the Fraud, that Price was a revelation at linebacker with his athleticism. He missed all of last year with an injury. Now at DE, he is once more making an impact.

Not that Price or Murphy, Cook or Soto won’t get a chance in the rotation. I think all will get time. It’s just a matter of who tops the depth chart.

In the secondary, it is clearly K’wuan Williams and Lafayette Pitts as the starting corner backs.

Williams and Pitts return to their starting spots in the secondary, joining senior strong safety Jason Hendricks and junior free safety Ray Vinopal. Together, they comprise the most experienced unit on the team, with a total of 63 starts.

“We have some guys who have played a lot of football,” coach Paul Chryst said.

The two of them will have to be on an island a lot in this defense. Between their talent and the concerns with the linebackers against the run, I expect the safeties will be very busy helping closer to the line.

Jahmal Pardner is trying to get back from his season ending injury to be the first cornerback off the bench in nickel and dime defenses. He’s not there yet. His main competition is redshirt freshman Trenton Coles.

For all the talk about the lack of experience on the offensive line, the linebackers have similar issues. Only 19 starts among the players with Shane Gordan responsible for 11 of them. Gordon spent most of last year playing through a neck injury among other ailments. But he’s feeling much better, now.

Bam Bradley has been coming on strong for one of the starting linebacker gigs (likely, strong side).

In another interesting development at the linebacker position, redshirt freshman Bam Bradley once again spent pretty much  the whole day with the first team. He certainly has a high ceiling, and it looks like he’s at least starting to realize it. Given his athleticism, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him on the field against Florida State.

Bradley missed some time earlier in camp to attend a relative’s funeral, but has gotten right back into the swing of things.

“I thought he was doing some good stuff early, and he’s got to get back in the swing of things,” Chryst said. “I liked the way he started camp and I feel like he’s kind of getting back into it now.”

The outside linebacker positions have the chance to be something special — especially against the pass. With Thomas, Bradley and Anthony Gonzalez that’s a lot of athleticism to throw out there.