PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – When Brennan Marion took over as the receivers coach at Pitt he noticed senior receiver Taysir Mack was a bit of a loner. The new coach from Greensburg suggested, maybe demanded, Mack share his wisdom with the rest of the group.
It's helped not only transform Mack as a player, but given him a new life outlook.
"When you lend a hand, you always reap the benefits of it somehow," Mack said. "Knowing those guys trust me, it makes me feel better when I go out there. I'm not leading by saying. I'm leading them by showing what I do."
What he does is take meticulous notes. After practices, he will do his own walk-through correcting his mistakes. The redshirt senior will do it at least 25 times to make sure he gets it right. He wants to know he will be just where he needs to be during games.
"Being a good teacher allows you to understand the things you do better," Mack said. "The moment I started to teach the younger players why we run this route. How we run this route. Why our splits are important. How they are rotating. Based on the downs, is this a possession catch."
Marion said with Mack's help, along with Jordan Addison, players meet more than they ever have. They are cultivating a position group that he believes will take them to the top. He called it extraordinary how the Panthers receivers are approaching their roles.
"Coach Marion made me fall in love with the process again," Mack said. "Sometimes we all sit here and worry so much about the outcome. He always tell me to control the controllables. My ability to be able to dive in and trust his process. Trust his plan."
In his first game under Marion, a big drop against UMass and only three catches for 34 yards for the man hoping to find himself in contention for the Biletnikoff Award as the nation's top receiver. Then, against Tennessee last Saturday, four catches for 100 yards.
"I think the biggest thing we talked about after the first game," Marion said. "In the box score, it doesn't say how you catch the ball. It says catch."
"I think he corrected the mistake he made in the first game. He was trying to make it perfect. It's about just catching the ball when the game is on the line. He did that the second time."
Mack says he not only leans on Marion but stays in contact with his former receivers coach Chris Beatty. He talks with another old man on the team, seventh year receiver Tre Tipton. They discuss the mental struggles with the game he calls humbling at times. Their relationship is deeper than that, also sharing personal struggles on and off the field.
Mack says failure isn't finite, but failure to change may be.
"I actually feed more off of those guys than they feed off of me," Mack said of his fellow receivers. "Even though they say I am a leader, I look to them when I'm in my own head and struggling with stuff. They just want to see me do good. They care for me because of the effort and time I put into them."
"The biggest thing with Taysir is just keeping him positive," Marion said. "Keep his mind right, feeling good. Against Tennessee we went against defensive backs with two-three years starting experience and he was able to make quality plays for us."
Mack has dyslexia, has learned to become a Division 1 student-athlete. Now after years of waiting, he's learning how to share his knowledge with others.
"Can't say the sky is the limit when people have walked on the moon."
He's a different man than when he came here from Indiana. Now he's working to consistently show it.
