Pat Narduzzi met the media Wednesday morning to talk about practicing in pads, the linemen and more. Here’s a rundown of what he said.

Narduzzi: Practice number five. We get full pads today. Got to teach them out to put their thigh boards in, their knee pads, butt pads, hip pads. It’s great to protect these guys. They finally put the gear on and it’s always a challenge. We’re probably sending someone back to the locker room today. Guarantee you’ll see someone straggling back here who doesn’t have their gear on.

But, first day in pads. I’m excited, I think the kids are excited. They had a much-needed, probably, day off yesterday. When I say much-needed, it’s not like a two-week grind but we’ve kind of got it where we’re not going seven days in a row and then a day off. We’re trying to make sure we pace it and keep these guys fresh.

How hard will you go with full pads?
Narduzzi: Live. It’s live today. We’ll have some live periods near the end of practice, for sure. That’s where we get an opportunity to do it. We’ll go live today, go some more tomorrow, go a little lighter on Friday and then Saturday scrimmage and go live.

It always shows more with linemen when you put the pads on; are there any guys on either side that you’ve been interested in what they’ve done so far and you want to see what they do in pads?
Narduzzi: The big thing will be, you know, tackling from day three to day four defensively got a lot better. I can say that. When I say tackling, I mean thudding up and wrapping. All summer, they’ve been tapping off and not hitting anybody and being smart; the first two days of practice, we did the same. So the defense made a big improvement from day three to day four, just thudding it up. Today it will be a different thing; now you have to get them on the ground when we do go live. So I’m sure today will be sloppy; it always is. And then tomorrow will be a little bit better with that.

But up front, two days ago we were able to watch our offensive line and I’m impressed, really, with where we are with the O-line. I know probably where our biggest questions are, as far as just with a young group and a lack of experience. But Nolan Ulizio has done a nice job. Really, all of those guys. Gabe Houy. Obviously, Jimmy. Bryce and Carter Warren, really, that group that’s running with the one’s right now. They’ve done a nice job. And Jaylen Twyman has really been impressive inside. I’m impressed with those guys up front and we’ve been able to see that for two days.

On the preseason depth chart, Keyshon and Jaylen were listed as an “OR.” Do you view those three with Amir as the three starters? Or is there competition?
Narduzzi: Well, there’s competition because on game day at Heinz Field when they name the starters, there’s going to be two guys that get named; we’re not going to name all three of them. I think there’s always competition to who that name is, but they know they’re all going to play equal reps, I think, at this point. But as the season goes on, who knows if that changes? There’s always competition. But we do believe we have three starters inside, for sure, just like we do at corner and, really, safety, with Stocker and Paris and Damar.

I assume you saw Jeff George Sr. throw the ball back in the day. How does his son compare with the throwing arm?
Narduzzi: I’m not going to evaluate Jeff George Sr. He was obviously a pro and was a master of his craft, and I’ve never lined them up side by side. But that’d be a great video for you, put them side by side. I mean, I don’t know. That was back in the day, so I couldn’t go back that far. I wanted to hit quarterbacks back in the day.

Well, how is Jeff George Jr. doing?
Narduzzi: Jeff’s doing great. He’s competing his tail off, him and Nick Patti and, really, Kenny. All three of them. I think they’ve all gotten some reps with the one’s, floating them around in there. Obviously, Kenny’s our starter right now but they’re all competing and getting better.

The two freshman running backs, Vincent and Daniel, what have they shown? Obviously it’s a little early and they haven’t gone in pads yet.
Narduzzi: Yeah, but we saw enough. They’ve both done some nice things. Practice four, Vince right down on the goal line had a nice jump-cut to the left, come up, spin around, kind of a touchdown run, but that’s where that tackling-slash-thud goes into effect there. But it was impressive. And Daniel’s done some of the same things. The day before, you noticed him more. So they’ve both been impressive and they both have ability and we’re happy they’re here.

Do you feel like this is one of the better wide receiver groups you’ve had since you’ve been here? And what have you liked out of the competition in that group?
Narduzzi: I love the competition. I sat here last year, a year ago, so I’m going to say they stink. At 9:56 on August 7, my oldest daughter’s birthday today, that they stink because a year ago about this time, I was impressed with the receivers. We had really good receivers last year, we have really good receivers this year. I’m impressed with them. Now we have to get them the ball. I’m impressed with the whole group, they’re competing, we’ve got guys that can play and we’ll see where they are. Right now, they aren’t where they need to be, how about that? But last year they were. That didn’t help.