Here's the full rundown of everything Pat Narduzzi said about Kenny Pickett getting drafted by the Steelers.

What was it like for you to get the news of your first first-round Draft pick as a Pitt coach?
Narduzzi: It was probably as emotional as it was for Kenny, to be honest with you. It’s kind of like winning a championship at the end: you don’t remember what happened. Does that make sense? I’ve had some first-round players, but not as a head football coach. But to have one and be there with him at the same time was emotional. We love the pick. We love everything he’s done at Pitt. You were just engulfed in everything, and I’ll tell you a funny story. I don’t know if it’s funny, but you got so engulfed, I think there was some tape delay in what we were getting on that TV, like everybody probably compared to what was in real time.

As that whole thing was going on, Kenny got the call and he’s bent over and it’s like, ‘Okay, it’s the New Orleans Saints, right?’ I mean, that was about the time…he bent over and you’re like, ‘Okay, it’s the Saints.’ The Saints were still on the clock; it wasn’t like, the pick is in. He got the call so we thought he was going to the Saints.

So I never looked back up at that TV. So we’re all hooting and hollering and you’re just like, ecstatic about what’s going on. Then, my phone rings at 10:12; it’s Coach Tomlin, and I’m like, why is Coach Tomlin calling me? So Coach Tomlin calls and he’s like, ‘Hey, did you see whose got him?’ I said, ‘Yeah, the Saints. You’re one off.’ He’s like, ‘No, we got him.’ I was like, no, I just saw - it was like we were in a movie. He was like, ‘No, we got him.’ Then we find out it was the Steelers and then all of a sudden he’s got a baseball hat on with the Steelers. That’s kind of how the whole thing went.

So if you talk about just in a moment, that’s what it was like. It was wild.

Did you have any inkling it would be the Steelers? I know we talked about other teams, but the Steelers were kind of on the back burner a little.
Narduzzi: They really were on the back burner, but they do a great job. I mean, the NFL is not letting anybody know. I saw Coach Tomlin out on the deck two days ago, out on the patio out back, and I just said, ‘Hey, good luck in the Draft.’ I didn’t say, ‘What’s going to happen to Kenny? What do you think? Where do you think he’ll go?’ I didn’t ask any questions, and he didn’t ask any questions, so it was just like hush-hush. That’s kind of the way the NFL does their business, and I like it. But as a head coach, as a player, for any of these guys in the next days, I feel bad. It’s an emotional moment for them, it’s intense and it’s not easy. It’s not easy for a coach. Usually I’m sitting on my couch watching it going, ‘When’s he going to get picked?’ Whether it’s James Conner, Nathan Peterman, on and on, Avonte Maddox, all the guys; as a coach, you agonize with them, but being there up in person, looking down at him, looking at him hold onto that phone and have white knuckles and all of that is like, you know, wow. This is crazy stuff.

I know there are two sides to this. Is it more comfortable, do you think personally, for him to be in his hometown? Or do you think there is maybe more added pressure on him?
Narduzzi: I think the atmosphere that he had last night there was outstanding. I think he did the right thing, he did it for his family, he stayed home; that was a perfect decision. I think, going out there in Vegas or wherever the next NFL Draft would have been more chaotic, more pressure. He’s got his family and friends, he’s in his hometown, he’s in his background. I thought it was - I don’t think it could have been any better than what he did.

I meant drafted by the Steelers. Do you think it’s going to be more comfortable for him to stay in his hometown, essentially, or do you think there will be added pressure on him being a Steeler now?
Narduzzi: I think both. I think both. I think the pressure is always going to be there. But it will all be good pressure, because he’s a competitor and he wants to compete. But when you look at playing in Heinz Field, how familiar it is - he’ll know where to park. Now he gets to park in this lot. They won’t throw him out. Chris LaSala won’t throw him out. He’ll get to park in this lot now and not have to park on the other side of the indoor. He knows where he’s going, he knows the landscape. There’s not going to be this, ‘Where am I going to live?’ He knows the area. So there’s a little bit of both, but that’s what Kenny is: he’s a quarterback. He’s good at dealing with pressure.

Before the Draft, were you hoping that Kenny would get picked in the first round, and at all were you hoping that he would get picked by the Steelers? And when you look at it in retrospect, where do you get the most joy - from the fact that he was picked in the first round, or that he was picked by the Steelers?
Narduzzi: I don’t hope for anything. I hope for the best for our guys. I pray that it’s just the right situation. Again, I love Coach Tomlin. I love that staff over there. I get to look out my window - it’s hard enough having an office where it overlooks the fields and I’m always looking out my windows; now I get to go look at Kenny Pickett. I used to look at James Conner out there. There’s nothing better. It’s going to be hard not to look out those windows when they’re practicing when I’ve got work to do and I’ve got to focus on my job.

So it didn’t matter where he went. We wanted him to go in the first round. He was the first quarterback taken, the only quarterback taken in the first round. That’s who I thought he was. I was adamant that he is the best quarterback. Obviously, every NFL scout, GM, owner thought the same thing. That’s what it’s all about. It’s also about need: if someone doesn’t need a quarterback, they’re not going to take one. So it worked our perfectly, not only because he’s a first-rounder but he’s going to stay here at home in Pittsburgh.

Before you saw Mike out there on the deck a couple days ago, did you talk to him and Kevin a lot about Kenny? Or did they not need to ask the same kind of questions that other head coaches would?
Narduzzi: The last time I had a conversation with either one of them was on the turf in the indoor facility and you guys had all your cameras out there at Pro Day. That’s it. That’s it. They didn’t make those calls. I won’t share with you what GMs called me or talked to me, but they know. They see it every day. They know who he is. And that’s the benefit for Pittsburgh.

Kenny was extremely emotional at that time in that room. What was his demeanor like after that initial shock? What was the mood there?
Narduzzi: It’s hard to explain, because I I was emotional, too. I just remember him bent over. You didn’t know what was going on. You didn’t know what area code it was. I thought it was coming from Louisiana; lo and behold, it’s coming from Pittsburgh. So it was just emotional. I think it’s an emotional time. You think about it, this is what he’s dreamed about his entire life and it’s coming true and he’s going to be right here in a place he’s familiar with. It’s a dream come true.

His demeanor is always solid.
Narduzzi: Well, I’ve seen him in the locker room after a game. You see him in the locker room after a loss, after a win, you see that. That’s how he is. He’s an emotional guy, but not on the field. That’s business on the field. That last night was life-changing, and after games, that’s when people - coaches, players, fans - let their emotions come out.

If you went back to last April and someone told you what everything in the next 12 months would be for Kenny - ACC championship, Heisman finalist, first-round Draft pick - would you have been surprised? What would have been your reaction?
Narduzzi: I would not have been surprised at all, but that’s hard to do what he did. It’s a trifecta. He did it all. He maximized everything. Probably should have won the Heisman, too, I’ll throw in. But he did everything he could possibly do.

I wouldn’t have said, ‘Oh, there’s no way he can do that,’ because that’s why he came back. That’s why I thought it was important and smart for him to come back. But he works. He’s a worker. He’s a competitor. He’s probably got a notebook in his hand right now on the flight over here, working on the next step.

You were the one guy that stuck with him, even when people were questioning him after this sophomore year. You stuck by him and said, ‘He’s our quarterback, he’s our starting quarterback.’ How did you know back then that he was going to be this good, or potentially this good?
Narduzzi: You just know. He’s got the ‘it.’ I’ll never forget sitting on the field looking down at Max Browne when he’s got a dislocated shoulder up in Syracuse, New York. When I was looking down, you know, I’m a strategist, I’m like, ‘Kenny Pickett’s gotta play.’ That’s why he played the last play of that game, the last couple plays, whatever it was.

I knew back when he was a freshman. I knew when I watched him on the scout field. We’ve known for a long time. Do you always have the parts around you? Do you drop passes? Do you drop touchdowns? Do you fall down? All of those things - that all goes on a quarterback’s record. But who Kenny was in 2021 was who he really was in 2020 without a little bit of practice and Covid and all of those other things.

I knew it back when he was a true freshman.

Not all of Steeler nation is from Pittsburgh, so for Steeler fans who didn’t watch Kenny here, tell them what kind of player Kenny is?
Narduzzi: It starts off, I think, what are you doing before the ball is snapped? And the first thing I’d say is, Kenny’s a leader. He’s going to make the team better and he’s a natural leader. He was, by far, our best leader last season. He’s the guy - I’ve met with almost every player on our football team in the last month here, just talking about the team, what do we do to repeat it, leaderships, captains, all of those things, and he’s, by far, our leader.

So they’re going to get a great leader. A passer: he can throw the ball, he can put it right where it needs to be, he’s accurate. He can read coverages. And then he can make plays with his feet. So he’s got the whole package. And more than all of that, you can be talented - he’s a worker. He’s going to put the effort in and do whatever it takes, which was really his motto: whatever it takes, guys; let’s go. That’s Kenny Pickett.

You know better than anybody, for the last four seasons and change, he’s been playing, working constantly, and every game, his body is getting beat up. The Steelers signed a veteran player this offseason; could a year away - obviously, Kenny won’t want this; he’ll want to compete - but could a year to sit back and watch and learn help a guy like that?
Narduzzi: There’s only one guy up above that knows what that plan is, and maybe a guy next door. But that’s not for me to decide. Could a year help everybody? I think every freshman that comes into college, a year helps everybody. I think every year you get older, you’re going to be a better football player.

Would sitting out a year help? Yeah. But that’s not what his plan is. I can tell you that right now. He wants to come compete right now. That’s what he wanted to do.

I mean, he’s still mad at me. If you guys asked him today, he’s still mad that I didn’t play him in his freshman year every game. Like, ‘Coach, what were you doing?’ Even when Max went down, he was like, ‘I should have started all of those games.’ We just wanted to wean him in, but he’s still mad. He wants to go now. So that’s just his makeup, which is what you want in a football player. You want a guy that wants to go play now.

That being said, is he ready to start as a rookie?
Narduzzi: I believe so, but I don’t make those decisions. I used to make that decision, you know? I wanted to wean him into it. Everybody’s got to make a decision. We wanted to save him, to be honest with you, because we thought we had a solid quarterback.

But he’s ready, as far as what he’s been coached to do, how he can read coverage. That’s why, the style of offense we run, pro-style, him reading coverages, he’s been trained properly. We’re not running RPO’s and he’s reading one outside linebacker and the linebacker steps in and he throws it over his head; it’s not that. He’s a drop-back passer that dropped back and threw the ball, if you looked at when it’s a ball game, probably 85% of the time. His job was made hard at times, in my opinion, because everybody knew we were going to throw the ball and we weren’t going to run. I think it made everybody’s job - it made the O-line’s job hard because it was like, people had their ears pinned back and they’re going after Kenny.

Having a run game, which I know Coach Canada’s going to have because he’s the best, it will be great for him.

What does this mean for the program, for kids thinking about Pitt? It’s the highest-drafted quarterback out of Pitt ever.
Narduzzi: Ever. I didn’t know that.

Every little bit that happens like that, whether it’s an ACC championship, a Coastal championship, Biletnikoff, Heisman finalist, first-round pick, second-round pick, whatever it may be - all of those things matter and it means a lot. It tells you that we’re building a program here and we just try to get better every day.

Is he allowed to throw to a Penn State guy at tight end?
Narduzzi: Hell yeah.

You coached against Mitch Trubisky and you, of course, coached Kenny. Now that they’re competing, how would you compare the two quarterbacks?
Narduzzi: I can’t compare. That’s not my job. My job is, I know Kenny is prepared, he’s ready to go, I know he’s a competitor. I know Mitch is good, but I don’t know where Mitch came from. I don’t know what he did at North Carolina, I don’t know what happened in Chicago; I’m not fit to discuss that.