The Pitt Panthers have enjoyed success since the start of the 2024 season. After a 7-0 start and an eventual bowl game that year, they’re now off to a 7-2 start in 2025.
A big reason for that success has been the team's defense. While the team name is the Panthers, a different predatory animal has come to symbolize the dominance of Pat Narduzzi’s unit:
A shark.
Pitt’s linebacker corps has earned the nickname "The Sharks," thanks to a group of standout players at the position. From shark costumes in the stands to "fin-up" celebrations after big plays, the Shark moniker has been attached to Pitt linebackers since 2024.
Here’s what you need to know about the "Sharks" nickname for Pitt’s linebackers.
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Pitt football Sharks nickname
Pitt has bounced back after a rough 3-9 season in 2023. In 2024, the team started unbeaten through seven games, and in 2025, the Panthers enter a huge matchup against No. 9 Notre Dame ranked 22nd in the AP Poll.
The team’s success has gone hand-in-hand with the performance of Narduzzi’s defense, specifically, a standout linebacker unit. By midseason 2024, the nickname "Sharks" began to stick for that group of linebackers.
The nickname started with Kyle Louis, a junior linebacker. According to the Pitt News, when Louis played at East Orange High School in New Jersey in 2021, he and his teammates began calling themselves "the Sharks" while using the "Fins Up" celebration when they made big plays.
“The whole state was referring to us as sharks,” Louis said, per the Pitt News. “We just kept going undefeated … we all making plays.”
When he was then a Pitt Panther later on, Louis' reputation as a "Shark" carried into college. The team's linebackers coach, Ryan Manalac, began to refer to his entire unit as the "Sharks," for the tenacity they brought, naturally comparing it to the predator mentality.
It only caught on from there, with players taking pride in it.
“We pride ourselves on being called ‘The Sharks,’” Louis said, per the Pitt News. “If you come in here, you better learn how to swim.”
As the "sharks" moniker has caught on, it's appeared everywhere from signs and costumes from fans at Pitt games, to t-shirts and "Jaws" theme music being heard when the defense takes the field.
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Who are the Sharks on Pitt's defense?
The "Sharks" nickname has referred to Pitt's linebacker unit. It began in 2024, with then-redshirt sophomore Kyle Louis, sophomores Rasheem Biles and Braylan Lovelace, and sixth-year linebacker Brandon George.
Those players helped fuel Pitt's 7-0 start in 2024 with their "shark" mentality — between them, three Panthers linebackers ranked among the ACC's top 12 tacklers through the unbeaten start.
While the "Sharks" nickname hasn't been quite as prominent in 2025 as it was in 2024, it still refers to the same players: the linebackers.
Lovelace and Biles, in their junior seasons, and Louis, in his redshirt junior season, have all led Pitt in tackles throughout 2025, living up to their "Sharks" name.
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Why do Pitt fans wear shark costumes?
As part of the Pitt linebackers' "Sharks" nickname, Panthers fans have occasionally dressed up in shark costumes at home games, playing into the fun of the linebacker group's success.
SHARKS. SHARKS. SHARKS. Https://t.co/p0rMDWDJQv pic.twitter.com/vURwFVCtI1
— Pitt Panthers Fanatics (@PittFanaticsFB) October 25, 2024
Panthers 🤝 Sharks
— Pitt Panthers (@Pitt_ATHLETICS) October 25, 2024
PITT WINS‼️ pic.twitter.com/jMJuOw4aZM
Pitt linebacker stats
Pitt's linebackers have once again been a key aspect of the team's defense in 2025. Loveland, Biles and Louis are the Panthers' three leading tacklers entering Week 12, while those three have also combined for four interceptions.
ANOTHER BIG PLAY BY THE SHARKS 🦈@BraylanLovelace with the pick!
— Pitt Football (@Pitt_FB) September 13, 2025
📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/K5muLZw2fm
As a team, Pitt ranks eighth in the ACC in scoring defense (21.8 points allowed per game) entering Week 12, also fifth in the conference in interceptions (10).
Here's a look at the individual numbers for Pitt's three leading linebackers this 2025 season:
| Player | Total Tackles | Sacks | Passed Defended | Interceptions | Forced Fumbles |
| Braylan Lovelace | 55 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Rasheem Biles | 52 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Kyle Louis | 52 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Is Pitt 'LBU' in college football?
College football fans tend to afford the "[X position] university" label to any program who consistently produces star players at a certain spot on the field. While Pitt is certainly in the conversation for the best linebacker unit in the 2025 season — PFF ranked the Panthers' linebackers third in the country entering the year, behind LSU and Texas — the program may have some work to do historically to earn the moniker "Linebacker University."
In 2023, ESPN ranked Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Penn State and USC as the top-5 "LBU" schools, per On3. Each of those schools has produced accomplished NFL linebackers.
In the past, star linebackers at Pitt have included Scott McKillop, H.B. Blades, Jerry Olsavsky, Ezekial Gadson, Sal Sunseri and Joe Schmidt . Still, while the Panthers have built a terrific linebacker room in recent years, it may take more of a track record of star linebackers to live up to the "LBU" conversation with other high-end college football programs.