Narduzzi on legendary coaches, impacting players, the depth chart and more

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Pat Narduzzi reflected on the impact of Frank Broyles, his own legacy, the current depth chart and more Tuesday morning.

NARDUZZI: Geared up for number 13 today. I just want to start off, it’s been a tough month, really for college football. You look at Ara Parseghian, Dick MacPherson and yesterday, Coach Frank Broyles passing away. Growing up in the coaching profession, it’s tough; there’s three legends that I’ve had communication with all of them. Dick MacPherson was a Cincinnati grad, so we always had him out to practice there. Ara Parseghian coached my dad at Miami of Ohio back in the day. And then Frank Broyles - you know, got to know him out in Little Rock for the Broyles Award and had breakfast with him. Just an intimate breakfast with four coaches and him and it was like, whoa, you hear some of the stories. So my condolences go to all of their families. I just think it’s right and those are some great people that will be here forever and impacted a bunch of people. You think about all of the players out there. I mean, they went thousands of players that they impacted. So I just wanted to throw that out there.

Great day of practice yesterday. We were in shells yesterday; today we were back out in the pads. We’ll go pads the next two days and then try to lighten it up before the scrimmage on Saturday. And we just keep stepping forward and doing some good things.

THIS FAR INTO PRACTICE, ARE THERE ANY POSITIONS THAT YOU’RE STILL WAITING FOR A GUY TO EMERGE AT YET?
NARDUZZI: We’re waiting on everybody. It’s like, at the team meeting last night, I threw up the depth chart and said, hey this thing can continue to move. We’re at practice 13 and this is the dog days of camp right now. This is when some guys will fall flat on their face and some guys will rise to the top. So there’s still stuff going on. Otherwise, we’d just give you the depth chart and say let’s go and stop practicing. But there’s still a lot of work to do and I think, you know, who can you trust for the long period of time? You don’t gain trust in a week and say, okay, let’s go. It takes time to develop plaeyrs and develop a trust in players to get the job done.

IS CENTER A TWO-MAN COMPETITION OR COULD IT BE MORE THAN THAT?
NARDUZZI: I would say there’s three, four. Bookser took snaps yesterday at center. A.O., we know, can do it. And obviously Morrissey and Connor are working there. So it’s - we’re always going to find our five best guys.

WITH THE EXTRA WEEK OF CAMP, CAN SOME OF THOSE POSITION BATTLES STRETCH OUT EVEN LONGER THAN THEY MIGHT HAVE IN THE PAST?
NARDUZZI: They could. It’s a week. We’re going to take another week to evaluate and make sure we’re getting the right guys at the right spots. Certainly, another week is another week for us to evaluate and for things to come out a different way, if that’s possible.

YOU MENTIONED THOSE OTHER COACHES AND THEY IMPACT THEY HAD; HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE REMEMBERED 25 YEARS FROM NOW?
NARDUZZI: Great question. Golly. You’re getting me here. I didn’t expect that one. You know, I want to be remembered for being a players’ coach, one that did everything they could for the players in whatever I could. That’s why we coach, is for those guys out there. It really is. Today the word of the day is ‘enthusiasm,’ and practice 13, some of the guys start to lose their enthusiasm, but I want to be known for an enthusiastic coach that had fun going out to practice every day and impacted kids’ lives.

HOW’S FLANAGAN TAKEN TO THAT F-BACK OR FULLBACK ROLE WITHOUT GEORGE IN THERE?
NARDUZZI: You know, he’s playing tight end right now. He’s not a fullback. I don’t know where that got out. But he’s a tight end. Just like last year, Orndoff was used as a tight end; it doesn’t matter if he’s back five yards or up tight. We do everything the same.

WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN FROM THE FRESHMAN TIGHT ENDS?
NARDUZZI: I’ve seen a little bit of everything. A lot of good from Tyler Sear all the way up to Charles Reeves and Carrigan; they’ve done a great job. They just continue to learn the playbook and they each have different strengths. Some are bigger, some are smaller, some are faster, some are quicker, some have better hands. They’ve got an assortment of everything.

WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN FROM THE LONG-JUMPER (KOLLIN SMITH)?
NARDUZZI: The long-jumper? He looked good in shorts yesterday and he’s fast. The first thing I like about him, he’s got a good personality: he’s paid attention in meetings that I see and he’s got a smile on his face. That’s the first test.

DOES THAT EXTRA WEEK MAYBE ALLOW FOR THE FRESHMEN THAT MAYBE BEFOREHAND WOULDN’T HAVE HAD ENOUGH TIME TO BE READY FOR OPENING WEEK?
NARDUZZI: It gives you an extra week. It does. But it can also wear you out and tear you down in different ways. But they were here all summer - I shouldn’t say all summer; I think on June 26 they got here - so our kids did a great job of coaching them up during the summer, so they had that time whether it was with us or with them. They were going to get that time football-wise anyway, I think.