Narduzzi on the first week of camp, the Brawl sellout and more

Pat Narduzzi met the media before Friday's practice and talked about selling out the Backyard Brawl, how the linebackers are developing and more. Here's everything he said.

Narduzzi: We had a good practice 3 two days ago. Yesterday we had a day off. The NCAA has given us two extra days of camp, but they’re both for rest days. So yesterday was a rest day. So it went three days, a day off, just for health and safety, then we’ll go three or four days and then a day off again, so we’re using it strategically, just to keep our kids fresh and healthy, which I think is huge. It’s one of the good things the NCAA has done throughout the last few years.

But I’m happy with where we are. First day in shells, everybody is getting used to their pads, today will be a big day, just to find out where we are after today. There will be some major improvements. We only had one little fight, which was not worth talking about with you guys. But I’m sure there will be maybe more today.

Backyard Brawl sellout - reaction and thoughts on that?
Narduzzi: I found out probably a week ago. I guess when it opened up, 15 minutes later it was sold out. It just erupted, which we know - we kind of felt that was going to happen. And again, we know we’ve got the largest crowd in Acrisure Stadium history. So we hope to break that record, too.

When did you start preparing for West Virginia and how much work do you do in this camp?
Narduzzi: Every day, you’re working toward West Virginia. But I think the first thing is, we’re worried about Pitt. If we’re worried about something way far in front of us, we’ve got issues. Obviously, the kids think about it, you think about it, but the focus really is on Pitt right now and what we’re doing to be better. We’ve got plenty of time for that. But as coaches, we’re older, we’re more mature, we can kind of figure that out, so we’ve done a lot of mental work, film work, all that stuff, but now we’ve put that aside and we’re focusing on just getting better as a football team.

First weekend of camp, two days off for the players, is there any guidance on what they should do, what they can do - how do you guys approach that?
Narduzzi: During camp, the camp rules? Well, we just checked into the hotel yesterday. Although camp started - I didn’t mention that to you - camp started before, really, 99% of our summer finals were over today, so our kids have been juggling academics and football practice through camp here to this point. I think there might be one kid that’s got an exam here right now, but we checked into the hotel yesterday, which was a good day to do it because it was a day off. We only have two hours of football meetings on a day off. But the rules are, they’re in that facility up there or they’re here and that’s it. I told them last night: it’s true camp now. We’re really in camp mode.

You had talked on Media Day about Brandon Hill having, if not the fastest time on the team, a 4.3 40, and Erick was 4.4 somewhere. What does that do for your defense when you have the fastest guy on the team and the field in Brandon back there patrolling the secondary?
Narduzzi: It helps. Obviously speed is really important. But if you go really fast in the wrong direction, you’ve got problems. So we have to make sure - speed is great, athletic ability is great, but the knowledge and the technique that you use out there - you can have a lot of fast track guys, and the great thing about Brandon Hill is, he’s not a track guy. He’s a football player. More than his speed, I love how he plays, the attitude he plays with and his knowledge of the game.

Scrimmage tomorrow?
Narduzzi: No. We’ll have some live periods but no scrimmage. We’re only allowed to have so many scrimmages. Tomorrow we finally put the pants on and we’ll have some live situations, but it won’t be a scrimmage.

How many full scrimmages will you do this month?
Narduzzi: I believe three.

With the changes at outside linebacker, in terms of athletic ability and skill sets, how do you feel that group will look different than it did last year?
Narduzzi: It’s amazing: you look at the linebackers and just spent a lot of time focusing on those guys this week, some guys look really good in there. Just some names that you maybe haven’t heard: Aydin Henningham, I just actually walked out with him and said, ‘Hey, I’ve seen major improvements from where you were in spring.’ You see a jump sometimes, just the light clicks on. But he’s looked good here the last few days. Tylar Wiltz has really looked good. I’ve been impressed with what he can do and maybe the ability to help us at that position as well.

It’s a daily process. Shayne Simon had looked good in the spring and he still looks good - maybe better - now. There’s a lot of growth out of those guys throughout the summer.

How do you feel about the athleticism of that group?
Narduzzi: I feel really good. Those guys are athletic, they can run. Solomon DeShields is a step better than he was, and he was pretty good in the spring; started off as a starter and kind of got beat out and he’s battling back and he looks good as well. There’s some athletes there that can run. We’ve just got to get them running in the right direction.

Will you be at Acrisure at all this camp?
Narduzzi: Yes. Probably two or three times.

Is there any movement at corner yet? Anyone stand out?
Narduzzi: Not movement. You know, two days in our underwear and then yesterday the first in just shoulder pads being on their shoulders, so you’re not seeing a lot. The guys that we thought are good, are good. Rashad Battle, Marquis, the rest of those guys have all been good. The younger guys are still developing and no one’s looked bad. Put it that way.

What have you seen from the quarterbacks so far?
Narduzzi: The quarterbacks - both have looked solid. Each one of them’s got their good plays, their bad plays, just like everybody, and it’s going to be a test of time, really, to see the consistency. You need the consistency.