It’s the 11th practice, feels like 15. We’ve had some good walk-throughs as well, but you don’t necessarily call those a practice. But we just had another good one today, we had a great week. We talked last week about just getting our minds right and getting 99% of guys maybe 98% are and from what you see on the field are locked-in and ready to go. You still have guys out there working, but again it’s a positive I guess when your guys are still out there working and again, we got off the field 45 minutes ago. So it’s a great deal.

Your offensive line and running back positions have some experience and some guys that are going to gain experience this year. How are they shaping up and who are the guys that are sticking out right now?

Narduzzi: I love that question, I love starting out with a football question. It’s a great question and I’ll start with the O-Line. We’re so much deeper right now on the O-Line and at times you get guys banged up. Gabe Houy has been guy coming off a postseason surgery, so we’ve been very careful with him and not throwing him right out there in the first live period. Let’s hope that shoulder is good and we’re slowly integrating those guys into pads. I think it’s so important in how you do that and not just throw them out there and hoping he’s good, so just weening him into it. It’s given other guys an opportunity to step up. So you look at Matthew Goncalves, a kid from New York out in Long Island, New York - he’s really done a nice job. Again he’s playing a little tackle, little guard. Owen Drexel has really, really stepped up and I’m not just talking with the two’s, but with the one’s. We’ve given him some opportunities and taken Jimmy out,we know Jimmy can play. So we’ve really developed more depth there. Keldrick Wilson’s continues to progress, obviously it’s a different deal with some of those ends rushing off the edge. He had his best day yesterday, I’ll put it that way, so he’s progressing. The other guy is Blake Zubovic, who has been playing a little bit of right tackle and right guard as well. He’s really getting better, just the reps that he’s getting out there. We’ve gotten a lot of reps. So those are the guys right off of not having a two-deep sitting in front of me that stick out. Then there’s the normal guys. Carter Warren is doing great, and obviously Jimmy Morrissey, so you’re talking younger guys.

Then in the backfield, A.J.’s been doing well. He got dinged up a day ago, so he was out today. He’ll be fine for game day. Obviously Izzy, you guys saw him in the spring. He’s progressing, I’m interested in seeing what happens tomorrow in the scrimmage with him. Todd Sibley has had a great spring, and he’s our best pass-protector by far. He does an outstanding job there and Daniel Carter’s really - Daniel Carter’s gotten some meaningful reps with the one’s. Just a big back and we did some short-yardage period, goal line period yesterday. So he’s done a nice job. The other guy that you talk backfield is so I’m going to give him a shoutout because he’s really been impressive, and I haven’t done this in the last couple of years, but when he started to show some things. As a defensive coordinator I always said, ‘Whose the darkhorse?’ As we sat in the defensive staff room. Whose the dark horse? Whose the guy that’s going to surprise you? Jake Zilinskas has done an outstanding job, playing a little tight end, playing a little f-move guy and the whole deal. Jake has made some major improvements. He’s stayed healthy and I’ll knock on some wood, but I’ve been impressed with Jake as well. You’re going to see him play this year, I’ll put it that way. He’s done a nice job.

Is he still a walk-on?

Narduzzi: He’s still a walk-on right now. He’s still a walk-on, but like I said he’s done a great job. He’s stuck with it and he’s gotten job offers. He could have left already and could have gotten a job, but he loves the game of football. He’s a football guy and obviously his dad is a football coach, for at least was but a long-time great coach.

You kind of had Daniel Carter working as a fullback of sorts last year, would you consider that still his role or do you see him more as a tailback?

Narduzzi: He’s doing both. We call it defensively: 20 personnel, meaning two backs and zero tight ends. 21 personnel is two backs and one tight end. 11 personnel is one tight end and one back. So 20 personnel its for the opponent to figure out what it is. What is he? He’s a big back. He can be a fullback because he’s tough enough, but he’s playing tailback and he’s playing fullback - he’s doing everything. Are people going to call it 20 personnel? It’s just what you call it, but he’s a hybrid and he can do it all. Might move him over to linebacker, he can probably do that too. No, he ain’t tough enough (laughs). He’ll be coming over to my office tomorrow. No he’s tough.

The eligibility rule that looks like is going to get approved today with basically this fall and spring being a wash counting towards eligibility. Is that something that you and Heather are in favor of?

Narduzzi: No question about it. I think anything that’s in favor of those kids like that. When you talk about education and opportunities to play another year, I think it’s a no-brainer. I think you guys probably saw if you’re on Twitter, tweeted out a cool, was it a week ago? When I first heard about it, it was a heck of an idea. Right now as we talked last time, there’s so many questions in these kids’ heads right now: Should I practice? We might not have a season. You see what’s happening to Notre Dame and North Carolina and people can’t stay out of the parties. I was driving around campus last night looking for a party. I couldn’t find one in Oakland. I’m kidding. Hopefully our student-athletes and our students at the University of Pittsburgh are behaving and doing things right. I think it’s a great rule and I think it just gives them comfort and they’re not going, ‘What if I played two games? Is that my season?’ I think when this whole thing landed last week with the Big Ten cancelling and it just gave a lot of kids questions like, ‘what are we doing and what does that mean for me?’ Because everyone wants to know what it means for them and I think it’s a great rule, I really do.

Are there long-term concerns with that like roster size and getting weighted numbers?

Narduzzi: The kids are more important than - we’ll worry about that. I like it because you got more scholarships on the team, we’re going to have to. We’ve got commitments and we’re going to continue to get commitments. This is a different year, it ain’t normal. So we’ll deal with that, that’s just a financial thing. And I don’t think anyone’s going to go, ‘Oh financially we can’t do that, so heck with the kids’ No, that’s the wrong decision. You bite the bullet and raise some more money and do whatever you got to do, especially in the year that you wonder if there’s going to be any fans in the stands. You just don’t know, but it doesn’t matter. Money doesn’t matter when it comes to student athletes, it’s all about the student athlete. To me, this is a great rule that hopefully gets passed today. I heard 99.9, so it made it sound like it’s a done deal. But it’s a great rule that is for the kids.

Have you guys talked about going to a bubble concept?

Narduzzi: No, and I mean if you recall it was back when camp started, but we were going to put them in a little bubble in a hotel. We were going to put them in a hotel like we normally do for the last 3-4 years whatever its been, but I just decided against that. All we do is just get a false sense of security and as soon as we break them out of the hotel, what’s happening that night? They’re going over to Will Graves’ house for a big party. Camp’s breaking and so it’s like, ‘What are we trying to do here?’ We’ve got to treat them like adults, we’ve got teach them, and we’ve got to show them how it’s done and I have no regrets doing it the way we did. And again, UPMC kind of recommends that. We can’t protect them forever, and we can try to do it and it’s kind of the same problem with the students. They went home, they’ve been home since March and they finally got back to campus and they’re looking around, ‘Where can I go next? Let’s go. Where can I go a 1:00 in the morning?’ They’re just happy to be back and happy to see people. So we’ve got to do it the right way and if we can’t do it like this, it’s going to be hard to have a season. So our kids have done an incredible job so far. And like I said incredible, not good, they’ve done incredible job and they’ve done it maturely and I’m proud of them.

By my count you have at least one scholarship open. Would you consider the idea of taking a transfer from whose team is not playing, and do you expect that to happen across the country?

Narduzzi: Yea, if we got a scholarship left and it’s the right player and right position, there’s no question about it. We always have our ears open. But I haven’t heard that there’s a lot of kids going in the portal, which is good. I’m glad that they’ve got faith in where they are and again I think that this rule today makes it a little bit easier for those kids to say I’m not going in the portal. But if a kid goes in that we like, we’re open ears and open eyes.

Have you gotten word if Jaylen Twyamn will count against your scholarships for this year?

Narduzzi: He would not be part of our 85. He left to go home. If he had stayed in school and wanted to be here to finish his degree he would have counted on our 85, but since he left he won’t be in the 85. And so he’s home, but if he was still in school he would’ve counted against the 85.

What have you seen out of Campbell, Bright, and Pine and also the guys behind them?

Narduzzi: Again, another position I’d like to talk about. First of all, Phil Campbell is like a beast. He’s been a beast lately, he’s been like, ‘woah’ He made a play yesterday that just - he looks really good. Cam is like he was last year, very good and doing a great job. I think we have two of the nicest outside linebackers in the country, really. We have two athletic guys. There’s a great battle going in at the mike. Obviously Chase Pine in there and Chase is doing a nice job. But to be honest with you, Wendell Davis is playing like he looks like the real deal. This kid came back focused and locked-in and there’s a battle going on there. Chase being a senior you’d love to see him crank it up and be the starter, but Wendell Davis is giving him a run every single day and it’s like, ‘Watch Out’ and then Brandon George is doing a nice job. The other outside linebacker probably at this point would be the first guy in at either position maybe would be SirVocea Dennis. He had two plays yesterday on the goal line and he just like flashes. He might be our smartest linebacker, so we’ll start there. I think it starts with intelligence, he knows how to step-up, so he might be our smartest guy there. For a sophomore, or whatever he is, he’s probably going to be a sophomore again next year which is nice.

Cal Adomitis was so happy today. I kind of told him that rule was coming out today. Our quiet time today, not to get off topic, was love. We do a quiet time every morning and today was love and some kids were talking about love and we’ve got a 15 minute quiet time. Some people say, ‘I love my mom and I love this and that’ and Cal Adomitis says, ‘I love long snapping’ and everybody kind of looked at him and after practice I said to Cal you get to snap for two more years and I know you love it so much. Sorry to go off topic. SirVocea Dennis is playing really well, Brandon George we talked about and another position move that I’ll give to you is John Petrishen has moved to the outside linebacker spot. He’s really, really found a nice little home there. Breaking in the back end with Paris Ford and Damar Hamlin is not easy. Brandon Hill is playing really well. Another position move is Judson Tallandier has moved to safety as well. He can play both and he’s a swing guy, but he’s really shown a lot of things at safety and you kind of don’t know and coaches sometimes are so dumb and maybe we should have moved him a damn year ago. I didn’t really think he could be a safety and then all the sudden you line him up there and I’m talking one day of practice and you want to go and say I think that’s his spot, that’s where he belongs. For some reason he sees things better against the pass and just a rareness and he’s a better safety than he was corner right now. And again I think he can play both and it was great to see him out there as well.

Following up on Phil Campbell, you said he looks like a beast right now from making that switch from star to money. Can you talk about his approach and how you’ve seen him grow as a player?

Narduzzi: He likes moving from star to in the box. He can play both, he’s athletic enough to play both. He’s more physical than Cam is, and that’s no disrespect to Cam. Cam in another couple of years will be there. I don’t know how many years he’s got. Does he have four years left, EJ? He’s taken the change well. It’s so similar, it’s not like it’s some foreign position. He moved from one side of the field to the other side of the field, so there’s less skilled receivers over there and he’s got more of an opportunity blitz, he loves to blitz.He’s tough and he’s playing with as good of leverage as you can play with with those big dudes that he’s got to take on in the box with linemen coming up, Carter Warren was coming up and blocking him, but he plays with his pads down. So I’ve just been really, really, really impressed with what he’s done so far. That’s why I sent him to the media yesterday.

With Judson moving to safety, we haven’t seen a lot of those guys behind Mathis and Pinnock at corner. What have you seen from those guys?

Narduzzi: AJ Woods has really been playing well. Quis, Marquis Williams, both of those guys are much, much improved. We didn’t get to see. Three days in spring ball, one day in pads, might as well say it was one day. Quis and AJ Woods are playing at a high level right now. I’ve got a lot of confidence putting those guys in, and like I said they probably were starting to move ahead of Judson, so that’s why we said let’s move him back and see what he looks like back there. Low and behold we just found another player, it’s like Christmas.

By this point you guys usually have a good idea of what type of team you have heading into a season. Considering no spring and hardly any offseason, do you have a good idea what kind of team you have?

Narduzzi: I think we had a good idea before spring ball started. I don’t think you have to play the game to know what you have when you got Patrick Jones on one end and Rashad Weaver on - both of those guys and we haven’t talked about those guys because everybody knows who they are. They’re both playing really good right now. When you have those two guys and Keyshon Camp and Devin Danielson, and obviously we miss Jaylen Twyman. It would have been nice to have him. Calijah Kancey and all those guys are playing well. Our offensive line we talked about already are playing well. We have more depth at our quarterback position with Davis Beville and Joey Yellen who became eligible. Nick Patti, of course, who played for us last year. Again of course Kenny Pickett. And tailback with Vince Davis and Izzy and AJ. Jared Wayne at receiver - we got a good football team. We got to stay together, stay healthy and keep them all on the same page and that’s the hardest thing to do right now. I feel like we have a good team, it’s going to be the chemistry and how we stick together and play us a team and how we approach this 2020 crazy season. So I feel good with where we’re at.

Do you feel the chemistry is there with all the time they were away from each other?

Narduzzi: That’s the thing I don’t know. I don’t know that, it’s just - I talked about how hard it is for kids to get locked-in and focused on. There’s so many things, they’re reading Twitter and the one day everything’s good and the next day the Big Ten cancelled and they’re looking at each other like, ‘Are we cancelled?’ I feel bad for them, that’s why I said this rule today gives them a little bit of security as far as hey regardless of what happens this year it doesn’t matter, I got next year. They talk about the mental side of this for these kids that are different than what we were when we grew up. It’s not easy and the social media makes it even worse because they read stuff and they don’t know what to believe. Like guys you can’t believe everything you read on these cell phones, not everything is true. I think little by little they’re coming together. But you just don’t know, It’s day by day and what they read next on twitter. So I told them to look out for this new thing coming out today. I’ll retweet that thing tonight, it’ll probably be 10:00 at night whenever the NCAA or whoever gets to it. For some reason they make this 9 p.m. release when everyone is sleeping, at least I am.

Can you talk about the receivers and who will do kickoff returns?

Narduzzi: So Maurice is gone. So right now, obviously Jordan Addison is playing really well. That guy, people need to watch out for him early. Jordan Addison a freshman from Maryland came in at the mid-year and we saw him do some nice things and the spring. He’s come out and he’s got soft hands. Really, he’s starting in the slot right now as a true freshman. I think he’s a special kid. We got Jared Wayne, we got Taysir Mack, those guys are playing well. Obviously you’ve got Lucas and Danny Moraga, really had the last two days and has been really good at tight end. Shocky’s been really good and playing at a high level and staying healthy. Vardzel had a solid week, but probably not as good as I’d like it to be. I think he’ll have a great week next week.

As far as returner goes, it could be Izzy, it could be Jordan Addison, that’s kind of who has maybe got the inside track right now, I’d say those two guys. They’ve got great speed and good ball skills and same thing at the punt returner. It could even be Vince Davis as a punt returner with Jordan Addison, those would be the guys there as well.

Does Kancey have the inside track on that Jaylen Twyman spot?

Narduzzi: I think it’s still wide open. He’s just got a little different gear to him. Devin Danielson’s really got the hold on that right now, with Tyler Bentley. I don’t know who it is, they’re all pretty solid and David Green. For me to say this guy’s a starter right now, I’d have a hard time. David Green, Danielson, I would say those three guys with Bentley have the inside track, but Calijah Kancey is going to play a lot of football for us as well. We rotate those guys and keep them fresh and that’s how they get sacks, when they’re fresh and someone else is tired. You don’t see too many guys rotating guards and tackles on offense. So I think Kancey’s kind of got a different knack so we’ll find a way to put him in when it’s to his advantage. So we’re excited about that. So we’ve got some depth in there.

Are you designing the rest of your preseason schedule as if you’ll play on September 12th or 19th?

Narduzzi: We’re still working on that, but right now we’re full steam ahead. I told our kids you have to practice like and talk about players’ minds. A player came up to me midway through practice and was like, ‘yea that’s if we play coach’ What do you mean if we play? I wouldn’t be out here today if we weren’t going to play and that’s the - they read stuff and they think if some guy in someone’s basement tweets something out that they believe it. I told the team after that we’re playing on the 12th, expect to play on the 12th. We’re preparing for that day, be ready to go. If you have it your mind like yea I’m not sure and that shouldn’t be in their minds, but that’s what we’re dealing with and that’s what worries me. We have to stick together as a team and we all have to believe there’s going to be a season on the 12th. I told them I have no question we’re playing on the 12th. Like we’re playing, don’t think that we’re not to and all the sudden we got to game week and ‘I didn’t think we’d get here’ and I think you better get your minds right now, ready to go. Because we’re playing on the 12th.

Are you close to identifying an opponent?

Narduzzi: I think we’re getting closer. I think we’re closer than we were the day before. How close are we? I have no idea. It’s amazing. There’s a lot of things going on with the testing that they have to do. So we’ve got to find the right time and we’re not jeopardizing anything. Our kid’s safety is the most important thing. So we have to find someone we can trust and know who will do the right thing and get it done based on ACC protocols.

Has the ACC talked about increasing the testing?

Narduzzi: I hadn’t really heard what the SEC and Big 12 are going to do. We’ve talked about this all along so I don’t think we’d be following them. We’re talking about the PCR test twice a week and also the antigen test. Are some people three times a week? PCR?

Yes, three times a week.

Narduzzi: We’re talking about it two times a week with either Sunday or Monday, a Wednesday and then a Friday antigen test. So that’s what the ACC is talking about, but again in some way three days a week. It’s hard to test on a Friday if you’re on the road too. That PCR takes a while, so if you test on a Friday morning before you left and you jump on a plane and by the time you get there you might have a plane full of guys - and that wouldn’t be good. I don’t know how people are going to do it three times a week, but I just kind of know what we’ve talked about and again I don’t think that’s been solidified yet. Don’t see Narduzzi guaranteed we’re doing it, but I just have heard rumors of that.

You said you’re confident you will be playing on the 12th, but what if the chancellors meet and pull the plug?

Narduzzi: They could, but we can’t go on practicing everyday wondering or else we might as well shut it down until the presidents make a decision. So we’ve got to practice to play and have the attitude that we are playing. I truly believe that we’re going to play. Our kids are safe here on our campus and in this facility as you could be. I have no doubts about that. I told our guys have one girlfriend, don’t have 2 or 3, I think that’s a dangerous thing. Our guys need to be smart up on campus and that’s what Im scared about and that’s what will shut things down. But I am really, really confident and I’m not just blowing smoke. I am very, very confident that we will be playing on the 12th.

Even if every single campus his closed to the student body?

Narduzzi: I’m just a football coach. I’ve heard campuses are already shut down and said we’re going to be virtual. I know six months ago they talked about if the kids aren’t on campus and they aren’t in-person classes that there’s going to be no football season. It seems like I don’t hear about that anymore. I don’t have an answer for those questions. We’re just full stem ahead and we’re preparing for a football season on the 12th.