Narduzzi discusses Pitt's pro day
The Pitt football program held its annual Pro Day on Wednesday afternoon at the UMPC sports complex in the Southside. There were 12 former Panthers working out in front of 31 out of 32 NFL teams on Wednesday to try to make an impression before next month’s NFL Draft.
Following the workouts, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi met with the media to discuss how he thought his former players performed. Here is a rundown of everything Narduzzi had to say.
Narduzzi: The one thing about Pitt pro day is our kids come out and put on a show, I think. I’m just always impressed with our kids’ attitude, the professionalism they show when they come out here. I love the fact that we had a bunch of our guys come out: Damar (Hamlin), Dane Jackson, and Jason Pinnock come back to watch their brothers. I think that’s so impressive. They didn’t have to do that. Why did they come back? It’s family and it just shows you how our guys act and they wanted to come see them workout just for a pro day. But a lot of great performances out there today, and I’ll let you guys ask me some questions about pro day.
Is this one of your favorite days of the year?
Narduzzi: Uh, no. Game days are the favorite days of the year, but I enjoy it. When it gets here it’s like, to see all these coaches out here it’s almost like a reunion with some of the coaches in here. They come in and visit. Jeff Stout, I’ve known him for a long time. Aaron Kromer, the O-Line coach for the Buffalo Bills, we were GAs together. It’s a little bit of a reunion and those guys trust you as far as who our players are. Every day is a favorite day. I’ve never worked a day in my life, Jerry. But game day is the favorite.
Is it a reflective day at all for guys like Jake Kradel, a guy who has been here six years…
Narduzzi: No question about it. When you think about these guys, they helped us win an ACC Championship. A lot of them, not all of them obviously. It is for sure, to watch how these guys grow and there’s hugs out there and when they’re done, it’s their last workout here at Pitt, really. It’s the last opportunity. We met yesterday as a group just to make sure their minds were right and ready to go. They got everything they need. It’s like you’re walking them to that bus stop, the last bus stop, so it’s fun.
Bub Means has been a guy who has had rising stock. What do you think people who don’t know about Bub are learning about him?
Narduzzi: Well, I mean he’s big and fast. I think maybe the one thing people don’t know about Bub Means is that he is a joy to coach. There’s a lot of guys who can run out there, a lot of guys that can block, and a lot of smart guys out there than know what to do. But you want to coach guys that…they enjoy the game and they come to work every day and have a smile on their face. When I go on the road recruiting I’m looking for a smile and sometimes they smile and when they get there, they don’t smile. But Bub Means has just been so fun to coach since he’s been here. There’s never any issues. It always every day is a positive day. That’s who he is and I don’t think there’s an NFL team that wouldn’t be better with Bub Means in their offense.
You’ve been coaching for a long time and speaking about Bub and athletes who make it look effortless, where does he rank up there for you?
Narduzzi: He’s up there and again, he’s a big athlete. He’s a big one. I mean, you look at Tyler Boyd he was so smooth and athletic, but Bub, we call him a monster receiver. There’s burners and monsters. I mean he’s a monster who is kind of a burner when you look at his speed at the pro day and at the combine. He ranks up there pretty high.
Who do you think turned some heads that was maybe a surprise for some of the scouts here?
Narduzzi: Everybody knows about Bub and the guys at the combine. Obviously Matt and MJ. Everybody knows those three. I would say the one guy where my head would turn is AJ Woods. I mean, AJ Woods had a great day which I knew he would. Some guys are pro day guys and they can run around the cones really good. But if you look out here what he did today and go back and put the film on, AJ Woods is a good football player.
You have had a lot of defensive backs drafted recently and thinking back, Jason Pinnock did not get a combine invite, could you see that with AJ Woods possibly?
Narduzzi: No question about it. AJ Woods has a really good chance of getting drafted. I think people would be crazy not to draft that guy, especially with all the success we’ve had in our secondary. I’ll be looking for his name called on draft day.
The press man you guys play here helps prepare guys for the next level, doesn’t it?
Narduzzi: It really does. If you think about it, that’s what they do in the NFL. They're out there pressing. They’re not playing a lot of zone coverage and letting those guys get in zone. You better be able to play man coverage and that’s why our guys have had so much success whether it’s Avonte Maddox, Dane Jackson, or Damarri Mathis. That press and what we teach and Coach Collins and Coach Sanders and the work that they put in with the structure of what we do defensively really helps them. I think there's a confidence thing, too. I mean, if you’re doing it every day for five years if you think about it and then you get there and all the sudden you go, ‘Oh, I did this my whole career’. It makes it easy when you have confidence going into that NFL camp as opposed to playing somewhere where they maybe don’t press their corners and then all the sudden it’s brand new for them when they get to the league. All the sudden they start to get nervous. It’s not easy sitting up there unless they’re pressing Jerry all day. You can’t get a release, can you?
My back hurts right now, but maybe tomorrow…
Narduzzi: It’s the confidence of doing it because you do it every day. There’s no, ‘Oh wow, what is this?’
Do you think your DBs have a certain set of mental toughness because of being put on islands all these years?
Narduzzi: Yea, I think so. I think all of our guys have some type of that mental part. You better have mental toughness and they certainly do. You have to and you have to have a short memory, too, because the media will get after you if you give up a big one when you press.
Jake (Kradel) said Goncalves only really had three full weeks to train for today after his injury and everything. What does it say that he’s able to get that type of quick turnaround and have the kind of performance that he did?
Narduzzi: I just watched him there at the end after a long day, started at 10:30 a.m. and probably started two hours before that just him getting mentally ready to go. I think he was limping a little bit at the end, which shows you how tough he is. It shows you toughness and that’s who Matt is. I mean, he’s played with injuries throughout his career. Again, that’s the game of football. Everybody gets banged up, but he's tough. He was impressive also, so throw that on top of it. There’s a little bit of favoring that toe, but it’s just a matter of time.
Bub weighed in at 227 today and weighed in at 212 at the combine. But a 15-pound difference in a month and to have that kind of body build and that kind of fluctuation in a month, what does that say about him?
Narduzzi: It tells you he was sucking weight for the NFL combine and then he was eating a lot of good food. He must have been back in Pittsburgh eating all the great food here.