MORE HEADLINES - What do the players have to say about Penn State? | Personnel notes from the game | Conner's latest return is to the end zone | What did 2018 CB Michael Dowell think about Saturday's game? | Video: Narduzzi's post-game press conference | Video: Conner discusses his return to the field | Prospect report: Aliquippa vs. Beaver Falls

The Pitt coaches have recruited more than a few players on Penn State’s 2016 roster, but only one of the Nittany Lions they will face on the field Saturday was actually committed to Pitt.

That would be redshirt freshman defensive tackle Kevin Givens.

Givens committed to Paul Chryst and the Pitt coaching staff in 2014 but reneged on that pledge less than 48 hours prior to Signing Day, turning down Pat Narduzzi for a late offer from Penn State.

That pre-Signing Day flip is in the past now, though, and Narduzzi and company are preparing to face a player they once thought would be wearing a Pitt uniform.

“Really electric up front. He’s not a big guy; about 270 pounds, probably. But he’s very athletic, he’s very active and my kind of d-tackle. I really like what he’s doing.”

Givens had two tackle assists in Penn State’s season-opening win over Kent State on Saturday.

- Pitt and Penn State naturally meet on the recruiting trail quite often. Last year the two programs went head-to-head for several recruits late in the process, and the Panthers won more than they lost when they signed Rashad Weaver and Damar Hamlin, flipped Aaron Mathews from Penn State and held off the Lions in their pursuit of several Pitt commits.

Now that the two teams will actually meet on the field, the coaching staffs will have something tangible to use in those recruiting battles. Narduzzi knows Saturday’s game at Heinz Field will be a factor in recruiting - but it will be one of many.

“That’s part of the battle,” Narduzzi said. “It carries on off the field afterwards. It’s not a do-or-die, because we’re going to get the players we get and some people grow up blue and gold and some grow up being blue and white and it doesn’t matter. So we’re going to get our share anyway.

“But it plays a major factor, I think, in the end, because I think kids look up and they want to play for a winner and which ship is floating and strong.”

- Pitt’s offense will have its hands full with Penn State’s defense, but the Panthers’ defenders will also find themselves dealing with a new-look Penn State offense that features a mobile quarterback in Trace McSorley and some up-tempo action.

“They’re going to come in here with a spread offense, very similar to what you saw last week,” Narduzzi said. “They were kind of a slow tempo last week, you know, had almost a look to the sideline every down. We expect to get some of that, but I probably expect to see more of a fast tempo, so we will really focus in.

“It’s easy to play that, but we didn’t see it last week, so we’ll be really, really excited to play a really fast-tempo offense. That gives them advantages of trying to speed it up, but it also gives us advantages; when they go fast, we can kind of do whatever we want to do. We’re not one of those teams - I think a lot of teams around the country are one of those teams that, if someone lines up fast on you, you kind of keep it base. I think the beautiful thing about what we do is, when you go fast against us, we can do just about anything and that’s what I like. So it will be fun to go after a little bit of that and see where we go there.”

Narduzzi added that he considers Pitt to have “a no-huddle defense.”

- A key element for Pitt’s offense will be generating a rushing attack that produces more than 86 net yards, which was the total in the Panthers’ 28-7 win over Villanova on Saturday. The ground game was led by James Conner, who ran for just 53 yards on 17 attempts.

Narduzzi said after the game that Conner seemed to be looking for a touchdown on every play, and reviewing the film confirmed that approximation.

“When he hit it, he did pretty good. And when he started to kind of look for that touchdown and he’d scramble away, it wasn’t as effective. I mean, he’s a big, powerful, downhill runner. And that’s why we’re not a spread offense. We’re going to be a pro-type offense and run the football.”

- Narduzzi also talked after Saturday’s game about communication issues related to Pitt’s headsets. He was asked again on Monday how he will address those issues.

“I’m going to pound my head on this podium right here and see if I can address it that way,” Narduzzi said. “I don’t know. We’ve addressed it and we’ll just continue - I did a poor job; I’ve known it’s been a problem for a year now and I blame myself, really, just for not getting it fixed earlier. So that’s my fault. Hopefully it gets fixed. Coaches coach, players play, officials officiate and I guess our phone guys gotta do the phone guy’s job and try to get it corrected. But I just didn’t do a good job of addressing it myself. You guess, when you have a problem, that they’re going to fix it, and it just seems to not get fixed the way we want it. So we’ll do whatever we have to do. If we have to get a whole brand new set, we’ll get a whole brand new set.

“There’s a loose wire somewhere under the stadium.”

- Narduzzi’s press conference on Monday started with a shout-out to three players from the 2015 team who will are with NFL teams. Tyler Boyd naturally caught on with the Cincinnati Bengals after being drafted in the second round, but Lafayette Pitts was signed to the practice squad in Miami and Nicholas Grigsby made the practice squad for the Los Angeles Rams.

“Those are three guys that are our guys. I constantly text those guys and trhough camp and making sure that they were doing what they needed to do and working hard. Those are Pitt men that we’re obviously very fortunate to have coached and continue to watch play at the next level. That’s everybody’s dream, and right now, those guys have really fulfilled a dream. And that’s what it’s all about.”