Narduzzi on freshman corners, third-down defense and more
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Can Jason Pinnock see the field this year? How does Pat Narduzzi rate Pitt's third-down defense? Narduzzi covered those topics and more Thursday morning.
NARDUZZI: I guess we’ve got about seven more days of training camp. I think we have a total of 16 days until game day. Something like that. But we’re getting a lot of good work done. We’re getting some scout-team work as well, which is good; teaching our scout-team guys how to service the offense, defense or special teams, which I think is critical to teach this time of year. We can’t wait until Week One to finally say, hey, we need to get a look. So that’s something we’ve focused on probably the last three days. Yesterday our scouts were a lot better and what we expect. Every guy out there is critical. It’s not just the starter, it’s not just the backup; it’s the entire team. That’s why they call it a team.
WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST THINGS YOU LOOK FOR IN THIS LAST WEEK OF TRAINING CAMP?
NARDUZZI: We’re looking for something - we’re looking for the guys to get better every day. Three-percent better has kind of been our motto, and you’re looking for those guys that can hang in. You get into the 15th day of fall camp; can they continue to progress or do they just hit the wall like, ‘Coach, I’m tired, I’m exhausted’? Some guys will just be like, ‘I’ve got no more for you, Coach.’ And it’s understood. But the tough guys can push through it. So we’re looking for that toughness and that guy that can be with you every day.
IS THERE AN AGE DIFFERENCE THERE WHERE THE YOUNGER GUYS TEND TO BE THE ONES WHO GET TIRED AND THE OLDER GUYS ARE THE ONES WHO CAN HANDLE IT A LITTLE BETTER?
NARDUZZI: You know what, I don’t think age has anything to do with it, because I don’t get tired and I’m an old guy. You’d be shocked that it really doesn’t come down age. Sometimes the young guys are so hungry that they don’t get tired and the older guys are like, ‘This is my fifth camp, I’m going to shut it down.’ So our guys have shown no sign of that. They’ve shown great resilience and I’m happy with where we are. We just have to keep pushing. That’s our job as coaches, to push them.
YOU’VE TALKED ABOUT MATHIS; HOW MUCH OF A CHANCE DOES PINNOCK HAVE TO GET IN THERE AND HELP YOU AT CORNER?
NARDUZZI: Pinnock keeps getting better. He’s a young guy. Those two guys - you talk about getting tired - those two guys don’t get tired. A lot of times, freshmen are like, after five days, if they’re not mentally exhausted, physically they’ve had enough. But they’ve shown a lot of mental and physical toughness throughout. Jason’s got a chance, too. He’s a good football player and we’re not saving anybody. We’re not redshirting anybody to redshirt them. If he can help us on special teams, we’re going to use him.
IN YOUR FIRST YEAR, YOU STAYED WITH THE PLAYERS IN THE DORMS. HAVE YOU DONE THAT THIS YEAR, TOO?
NARDUZZI: Yeah, we’re doing the same thing. I stay down - I walk every morning. So if you wake up sometime between 5:30 and 6, you can watch me walk down the sidewalk. I don’t drive. They walk; I walk. I could very easily take my car - it’s a white one parked over there; it might be out of gas, too, I don’t even know the last time I’ve been in it - but it’s sitting over there parked and stale right now.
SO YOU’RE THERE EVERY DAY WITH THEM?
NARDUZZI: Yeah.
WHAT’S THE LIVING ARRANGEMENT LIKE?
NARDUZZI: It’s a hotel. It’s much better than it was in the hotel, I can tell you that. It’s beautiful.
YOUR LONG-SNAPPER COMPETITION, HAS THAT BEEN WHITTLED DOWN SINCE THE START OF CAMP?
NARDUZZI: It’s been whittled down. It’s for sure been whittled down. Nate Bossory and Cal (Adomitis) are both working at it right now. We’ll decide. It’s still a battle. Robert Hill - I probably didn’t mention and you guys didn’t even ask - Robert Hill, he left camp. I think he didn’t see - a transfer from Tulsa, he didn’t see himself in that top three, had troubles protecting and he chose find some place else to see if he could snap and earn a scholarship.
IS THIRD-DOWN DEFENSE AN AREA YOU PARTICULARLY WANT TO IMPROVE FROM LAST YEAR IN THAT DELTA PACKAGE?
NARDUZZI: Yeah. You know, we want to improve everything. But if I look back at it, that was probably one of our brighter spots. When we got them to third down and medium, third and long, we were pretty good, I believe, probably winning 65 to 70-percent of the time. I think it’s a tough package to go against. But it’s that first and second down that probably were - let’s get them to more third down and longs. I think we’ve got a shot when we do that.
WHAT MAKES IT SO TOUGH TO GO AGAINST?
NARDUZZI: You’d have to ask those other guys. I don’t know.
WHEN YOU LOOKED AT SHAWN WHEN YOU WERE HIRING NOW AND YOU LOOK AT HIM NOW, DO YOU CONSIDER THE WAY HE’S BEEN ABLE TO ADAPT TO HIS PERSONNEL AS ONE OF HIS STRENGTHS?
NARDUZZI: No question. When you look at where he’s coached and who’s mentored him through his career, he’s got a ton of knowledge and he always refers back to it. But that’s an experienced coach of 30-plus years; I mean, he knows how to use your players. I think that’s nothing special about him; that’s a given. There’s a lot more special things.