Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi held his daily press briefing ahead of Pitt’s practice on Wednesday. Narduzzi talked up some freshmen, discussed the wide receiver position, and more. Here is a complete rundown of everything he had to say.

Narduzzi: A beautiful day here in Pittsburgh. We're excited. We've got the ACC Network here today. Wes, Roddy's here, and that old quarterback for Florida State's here as well. So we're excited to have them all in town. We've got another special guest today as well. Chancellor Gabel will be here as well. So we're, you know, her, you know, a few of our new staff members will be here. So it's always exciting to get your boss, the chancellor here, and give her a chance to talk to the team a little bit. So it's always a good day. Questions?

At this point in camp, you kind of know which true freshmen are standing out and have a chance to play. Who are some of those guys?

Narduzzi: Good question. You know, I just mentioned to EJ (Borghetti) this morning when we had time. I don't know if today's the day, but, you know, looking on offense, looking at true freshmen, you know, Malachi Thomas, who I don't know if you guys have even met yet. Young tight end has done an outstanding job so far, picking up stuff. He's tough. He's physical. I think he's going to be a special football player for us. I'm trying to think of anybody else on offense. That's a guy that stands out to me that's going to get some time, if he continues to progress, it’s a big if. See what happens when we go to Acrisure this Sunday. Other guys on the offense, true freshmen… That's what I would say there.

I mean, I think Sincere will be a guy just because of what he did in the spring. He's a guy that can get that done. Francis Brewu is another young guy that can get in and get some playing time. Jahsear Whittington, same thing. I mean, a guy that he shows spurts out there.

We got to get the individual to transfer over to the team periods. And then in the back end, young guys, I would say that's about it. Then linebacker, I'll tell you what, Cam Lindsey, he's done a nice job as well. Davin Brewton at the linebacker spot. But now I would say Davin and Cam Lindsey are other guys that are going to get on the field somehow, some way.

Some of the defensive guys yesterday talked about the amount of blitzes on Saturday and how you had to actually dial it back a little bit. How come you had to do that?

Narduzzi: Who said that?

Kyle (Louis) did.

Narduzzi: Well, I think we're usually about a 33% blitz team. And that's about what we were in the scrimmage. Somewhere between 30 and 34% is pretty much what we do. And I would say that's about what we were. So I don't know. Maybe they're just talking smack or whatever. But I think that it's about normal.

If you're going to dial it up to 50%, you wouldn't tell us about it, right?

Narduzzi: I think that's too much. Like I said, all my Michigan State days, it was somewhere between 30 and 34%. And we're always going to try to keep it within that. I would say this, your practice has to match what you are in the game. If you're in the game, you're this much. And if you're again, I don't ever look at my practice, but you're somewhere between 30 and 34% is what I would guess. You want to practice the same thing. You can't practice at 50 because you're taken away from your base, if that makes any sense at all. So we try to keep it pretty much within those numbers.

What do you like about or what do you know about your new ACC teams coming in? And what about the extra travel it's going to put onto your team?

Narduzzi: Yeah, we’ve got to travel to Dallas this year. I think one time a year we're going to have to take a trip, which is OK. That's not unusual. I'm sure it's going to be at a different time than maybe we're used to. I've taken trips out west and I've gotten back at six o'clock in the morning. I arrived back here on campus, finished the fourth quarter at 1.30 or two o'clock in the morning, which is something you can't practice. We're not going to practice at two o'clock in the morning. So again, we've watched a lot of tape on Stanford and Cal and just see in SMU, of course. And again, we're familiar with SMU, at least their offense from his Miami days. So we know enough about them, but it's just like playing a bowl game kind of this first year. We'll figure out more as we go.

Last week we talked about the wide receivers and you brought up Konata and I think Poppi (Williams) Has anyone else kind of jumped out at you lately?

Narduzzi: Yeah, I mean, I bring up Konata because he's been the leader of that group. But Daejon Reynolds continues to be a guy that can play a lot of football for us and make some big plays for us. He's got sure hands and he's got good speed. He's physical in his routes. I'm trying to think of who else, you know. Did I mentioned Kenny Johnson.

Not last week…

Narduzzi: Kenny, you know, is always good. So, you know, I'd say we got five guys right now that can consistently go out there and help us win the championship. And, but we'd like three or four more.

How do you see the running back room shaping up?

Narduzzi: The running back room…I’ll tell you what, Derrick Davis has done a nice job. We know who the first two contenders are, but Derrick Davis and Daniel Carter, you know, has picked it up the last couple of days. I was a little disappointed earlier, but he's picked it up the last couple of days. So, you know, it's a, it's a work in progress.

Are Cooper and Moore still battling out that center spot?

Narduzzi: They are battling out. Yeah, there's a battle. The battle's not going to end until probably after the scrimmage, or maybe end of the week.