Pat Narduzzi met the media after Pitt's practice on Tuesday. Here's a full rundown of what he had to say.

Narduzzi: Alright. Day Four. We’ve had four great days of practice. Obviously had a good one on Saturday, two-and-a-half hours long, probably, one of our longer ones. It just seemed to go. But, first day of pads - you know, we had two shorts or spiders, I guess and then two pads days, Saturday in pads, today pads. I like where we are after four. The kids were working hard, playing tough. I had two many penalties Saturday and then came out today and cleaned all that up. So four days in and then we go Thursday, Friday, Saturday this week.

Last year was the first time in a long time that you’ve had a quarterback competition to through in the spring and summer. Were there lessons you learned from going through that last year that kind of impact how you approach it this year?
Narduzzi: A little bit. I don’t know if we learned any lessons going through - I mean, there’s competition at every position. If there’s something that we should have learned, let me know. Maybe I’ll learn it now. But competition is competition. We have competition at every position; it’s no different than the quarterback position that we have now. I mean, that room is loaded. We’ve got some really good players in that room. Besides a Kenny Pickett-type guy, that room is as deep as it’s been. I mean, you walk out there and look at them and you’re like, ‘Wow, that looks like a group of guys there.’ So I don’t know what we learned, but…

What’s a room where you’re really happy with the depth and competition?
Narduzzi: You know, depth and competition are two different things. I think the defensive ends, you look at Haba, who’s here today, is leaving and Deslin, that position is wide open. You’re going to talk to Nahki Johnson today, who’s really had four really good days. I’m assuming today is good. He’s had four really good days and it’s nice to see him step up. I think he had good bowl practices, as well, going into that UCLA game. So he has started off spring ball where he left off.

I’d say that D-end room. Dayon’s playing really well, but when you’ve got Nahki and Sam and Bam Brima, all of those guys, there’s a battle going on there right now. Nate Temple. There’s a battle going on there. Dorien [Ford] moved over from D-tackle to guard, so he’s getting a ton of reps with the two’s today - didn’t get as many Saturday. But it’s every spot. I feel good with our depth everywhere. We’re not shy anywhere, as far as not having enough guys to practice, which is good. We’ve got to stay healthy through spring.

How has Elliot looked so far?
Narduzzi: Elliot looks good. He’s playing a little defensive end, a little D-tackle, you know, just growing. But I think some guys, they just want to automatically come in and be the guy and it takes time. But he’s developing, he’s getting better and Elliot’s doing a nice job, too.

This might be the second offseason where you didn’t lose any assistant coaches. How important is that to the overall program?
Narduzzi: I know it’s important for my sanity, I can tell you that. Having to go through that and do that - that’s a job. It just adds to your job as head coach. It’s not easy as it is dealing with all the other things you have to go through, but when you don’t have to hire a coach and you have that continuity, I think it’s huge. I’m not coaching the coach. I’ll say, for example, just watching the receivers in the second year and watching the guys play hard and play with effort out there. There were some things I threw in the team meeting today, just with the receiver play and how hard they’re playing now compared to last year. Last year, Coach ‘Wood’s figuring it out and receivers are figuring out what they’re supposed to do; now it’s like, you know, a well-oiled machine, I guess, after two years, and three years will be even better. So continuity is always really important.

Bangally is a guy that you guys were excited last year to see what he would do with more starting time. Now he’s gotten all that experience; what have you seen from him and his growth so far?
Narduzzi: You see good stuff. You know, I think we got after him as far as loafing the first two days. Maybe he thinks he’s the guy and he got enough reps and ‘I’m the guy,’ but he’s really stepped it up the last two days. He came out with an attitude on Saturday. He had too many loafs. I think we had him for five loafs; he should have zero loafs. You’re supposed to be the leader.

He’s a football player, we know for sure, and he’s better right now that he was, certainly, at the end of the season last year.

It seems a pretty healthy mix of old guys coming in from last year versus new guys coming in this year. How have you noticed some of those older players ushering in the new faces to get them going with the program?
Narduzzi: I think we have a lot of good leaders on the team, so the older guys are always going to take those young guys, whether it’s mid-year guys, whether it’s Donovan McMillon and Derrick Davis and whoever they are, freshmen, Izzy Polk - but just bringing those guys in and teaching them. The young guys have learned from the old guys, and that’s kind of how we do things.

With the way the transfer portal works now, is there more of a readiness within them, just stepping into spring ball knowing they’ve done that whole thing before?
Narduzzi: You know, they’re not rookies, so definitely they’re ready and they’re ready for a fresher start. I’m sure they’ve learned from where they were and how they’re going to start a new life here at Pitt. We’ve been happy with those guys so far.

There were a lot of good things said about Ryan Baer last season. How has he looked so far? He’s at guard, right?
Narduzzi: He looks good. He’s playing left tackle right now but he can play right tackle, left tackle, guard on either side. He’s looked well. After four days, we like where he is. He played for us a little bit last year, so we like where Ryan is.

Where are you putting Jacoby?
Narduzzi: Jacoby’s at guard as well. And some tight end, of course.

Why is it you’ve been able to retain coaches?
Narduzzi: I don’t know. You get lucky. I think a year ago, after a championship season, Heather and the athletic department stepped up, and Chancellor Gallagher stepped up and we got them paid better than they were. I think that helps a ton. I think when you take care of your staff and you’re doing something to keep them, I think that helps.

Ryland Gandy was a guy that you told us last summer camp that really impressed you guys as he was working. What have you seen from him?
Narduzzi: Ryland has started fast. He’s a football player, for sure. You watch him on special teams - we watched tape from last year when he ran down, I think he ran down in the UCLA game as a gunner on the punt team. He’s got a high motor, he plays hard, he’s smart. That guy’s going to be a really, really good football player for us at Pitt.

What have you seen from Rodney as he steps into this year as the top back?
Narduzzi: Yeah, Rodney, we know he was a good back a year ago. He’s had a good spring camp so far. He’s been good. He hasn’t made any huge, gigantic splash plays yet, but we haven’t had a scrimmage yet. But what Coach Powell says from his individual stuff, he’s a much better detailed player right now. He’s a year better. I think every year - you get amazed at how much improvement guys are going to make, even when you’re not even coaching them, you’re not even on the field, through the offseason. I had Coach Stacc’ come talk on Monday about the training and how fast they get and strong they get, how much more confident they get coming into this new spring. All our young guys, they keep growing, they’re a year better. I look at Myles Alston, he’s a much better player than he was a year ago. Some of these guys, they grow up really quick and some grow up, it takes a little bit longer. We expect a lot out of these guys, and sometimes you’re going to get it fast. Sometimes it’s going to take a little longer.

Last year, there was a lot of talk about the strength numbers being up a bit across the board in the program. How would you assess how these players entered spring drills, knowing that the standard needed to be kept up a little bit?
Narduzzi: Yeah, I don’t have the numbers on all of that. We haven’t done - we don’t do all of that stuff; that will be at the end of summer program going into fall camp that we’ll really put the numbers together. So we didn’t do anything numbers-wise. I know they’ve got a squat and a bench in, and I know they had some good days down there. But that’s just the beginning, just a small window. Instead of these small little gains that we look at, we’d rather have a big number to work with and look at from where they came from, you know, January to August.

Who are the guys taking the most charge as far as setting the example and being the louder voice and getting them going?
Narduzzi: You know, there are the guys who talk a lot, there’s going to be the guys that are doing it by example and they shut their mouth and they just work hard. But there’s a lot of them. I hear - I’ll tell you the guys I hear - sometimes you don’t see what’s going on in the locker room, but I hear David Green a lot, I hear Marquis a lot, I hear Bub Means a lot leading, Matt Goncalves leading, Phil Jurkovec, I hear him a lot. He’s not afraid to lead. He’s not shy. Then again, I see a lot of guys doing it by example.

Other than the two returning starters, what wide receivers have caught your eye?
Narduzzi: Besides Bub and Konata - Konata has had a, and so has Bub, I mean, they are really better football players right now than they were at the end of the year. They’ve taken a step. Other guys, Jake McConnachie has had a nice camp. Walk-on. He had probably about as good a day as you can have as a receiver today. We’ll look and see who he was going against. But he made some plays. He actually had a nice touchdown catch down in this corner here from Christian. But he had a nice day. I mentioned Myles already. DaeDae Reynolds has had a nice camp. He had a nice touchdown down in this corner, too. Red zone period down here at the end. I’m trying to think who else. Jahvante Royal is working at it. The young kids, you know, Polk and Seymore, are doing a nice job, two young kids coming in, you know, 17 years old, whatever they are, they’ve been good.

Those touchdowns, were they from Phil, Christian or someone else?
Narduzzi: A little bit of both. Christian, I know - no, it was Nate Yarnell was the last one here. I think Reynolds was Christian, I believe.

Are you scrimmaging Saturday?
Narduzzi: We will scrimmage, yep, at the stadium Saturday.

At Acrisure?
Narduzzi: Yeah.