Pewter Report’s JC Allen caught up with Pittsburgh defensive line coach and assistant head coach Charlie Partridge the day after the Bucs drafted Panthers defensive tackle Calijah Kancey to get the scoop on what Tampa Bay’s first-round pick will bring to Todd Bowles’ defense. Partridge coached Kancey for three years and saw him develop into a consensus All-American last year and the 2022 ACC Defensive Player of the Year.

“He’s a special young man,” Partridge said. “He came in and has carried a chip on his shoulder since the beginning of this thing. Even as college football evolved and he could’ve gone elsewhere at the end of his career, he remained loyal to those that were loyal to him. That quality in him – his loyalty, his work ethic, the chip on his shoulder – makes him a leader through his actions. He’s the kind of guy from a leadership standpoint, he’s going to pick his timing and he picks it well.

“He garners a ton of respect, tremendous work ethic, and understands the game. Understands and knows the value of overtime. He studies film and knows protections. He knows formations because he’s worked really hard at it. He’ll ask for time – at 6:00 a.m., 10 p.m. – it doesn’t matter. He knows how to put his own game plan together within the game plan and structure of the team. He’s special. He’s got all the qualities of a first-round pick and I actually exchanged a congratulations text with [Bucs defensive line] Coach [Kacy] Rodgers this morning and told him how excited I was that he gets a chance to coach him.”

Bucs DT Calijah Kancey Photo By: USA Today

Partridge saw Calijah Kancey’s leadership grow as he asserted himself as one of the best defensive linemen in the country over the last two years where he notched 14.5 sacks and 27.5 tackles for loss.

“Not a rah-rah guy, but not just a leader by example,” Partridge said. “Sometimes I think the leader – there’s somewhere in between, and I think that’s what he is. He works his tail off and when he recognizes when someone around him isn’t. He has zero problem calling him out on it. That’s the cool quality about him. He’s got a great timing, and he knows when it’s time to encourage if they’re not living up to the standard. He knows when it’s time to be more demonstrative, and he’s got just a really good knack for timing as far as a leader. And I think in today’s day and age that matters.”

Can Calijah Kancey Hold Up In The NFL At 280 Pounds?

Charlie Partridge addressed the obvious question about his undersized, one-gap penetrator up front. Is Calijah Kancey big enough and strong enough to hold up in the trenches in the NFL?

“First thing is he came in, in the 250s and we knew he could get up in the 280-pound range,” Partridge said. “But he did it, he had to work at it and did a great job of that. I think his biggest growth was the consistency. Like most high school kids that think they’re working hard, they really learn how to work hard all the time consistently. He made tremendous growth in that and by the end of his career he had one of the best motors I’ve ever coached.

Bucs DT Calijah Kancey – Photo courtesy of Pitt

“I’ve been very fortunate, with having the opportunity to coach J.J. Watt at Wisconsin, etc. He’s in a very, very high small percentile of guys in terms of how hard he works, and how hard he runs to the ball – that’s where I saw a lot of growth. He wasn’t lazy when he came in. He just learned how to work like a first-round draft pick.”

Partridge said that Kancey has already proven that he can hold up against the run and take on double-teams despite being undersized.

“The cool thing about Calijah, he asked me about that about a year and a half ago,” Partridge said. “I said ‘Calijah, you’re not going to grow any taller, you can put a little more weight on but you’ve got to be able to carry it.’ The biggest question he had to answer in our minds this year is when they run the ball right at him and double team him. He’s a 3-technique and they double him with the backside blocker he has to prove that, and many guys have.

“Ed Oliver one of the best as a similar size guy – obviously, Aaron Donald, who he gets compared to ad nauseum. It just takes technique and strength and power, and he has all three of them. And this year, when you look at the film, he really did a hell of a job against double teams. We understand the competition goes up but he’s so technically strong and sound, he’s proven that his size is not going to create a problem in the NFL.”

Calijah Kancey Has Power, Speed, Quickness

Charlie Partridge said a big step in Calijah Kancey’s growth came in the film room understanding the scheme and honing his techniques. Not only did Kancey play in the B gap and A gap inside, he would occasionally move outside to the edge and rush the passer from there as well.

“I think he continued to grow and learn the scope of our whole package and different angles and different lanes,” Partridge said. “It seems simple to go from an inside 3-technique to an outside 5 [technique] or 9 [technique], and on paper it is. But there are different angles and there are different lanes and things like that. And once he started to understand the big picture, we knew he had the talent base to be able to do both of those.

Bucs DT Calijah Kancey and OT Darnell Wright – Photo courtesy of Pitt

“It was the understanding of what really changes when he’s back and forth between them. It was fun to see him grow and be able to handle all those aspects. That’s going to be cool to see those lessons carry into Tampa of what it takes to truly be versatile.”

While Kancey has the athleticism and the 4.67 speed to rush from anywhere on the defensive front, he’s a perfect fit as a pass rusher in the B gap where he can be isolated against guards one-on-one and use his quickness and swim move to penetrate the backfield.

“I think he’s going to be a demon 3-technique,” Partridge said. “That fact that he can play outside on the edge and has the quickness to do that. He’s got the power and strength to be a nose when you need him. It’s going to be a combination of all but if you made me give you an answer as far as one thing, he’s going to be a scary thought at 3-technique – scary. His biggest strengths are what people can see – the power, the speed, the quickness, the short area quickness. He’s really, really hard to block in one-on-one situations for anyone. I’ve got to believe that’s going to carry up to that level.

“The things that people don’t see – his work ethic, his desire to keep learning, his loyalty – all those things are qualities of a high-level person. Things he needs to continue to work on, it’s really going to be just learning how to be a pro. He operated like a pro as much as you can here at the college level and to his credit he’d done that at an extremely high level.”

Partridge believes Calijah Kancey’s high character and desire to be great will aid his development at the next level.

“It’s just going to be that transition to you’re a professional now and this is your job full time,” Partridge said. “This is going to be what most rookie players go through. It’s not a strength or quickness thing, it’s not a football knowledge thing. It’s learning the Tampa Bay playbook and leaning in on those veteran guys that will hopefully assist him learning how to be a pro on a daily basis.”