Pat Narduzzi met the media before Pitt's practice on Thursday and talked about the Panthers' quarterbacks, the starters and more. Here's video and a full rundown of what he said.

Narduzzi: Hope everybody's doing good, practice 13. I kinda think we're in the heyday of camp right now. We've got six in a row of scrimmage on Sunday. So to me, this is that one. We go out in pads today, we gotta get a new one in tomorrow. We shells, then spiders, then put the pads back on. But we try to wean into it with three practices in a day off and all that stuff. So guys gonna have to push through it. Everybody's got bumps and bruises this time of the year. And you need to have a good day. Questions?

Seems like coming out of spring ball and entering fall camp, Nate had the upper hand on Eli in that quarterback battle. Is that still the case?

Narduzzi: I’d say, again, you can say upper hand, what's the percentage? I think anytime there's a period of time where something is finished, you finish spring ball, that hey, this is the guy, but then you go to another period. Okay, you come out of fall camp, you're gonna do the same thing. So, and that's in every position. You can be a starter at the end of spring ball, it doesn't mean you're a starter. That's every position. I'm not talking about the quarterback. But there's a battle going on here, right? I think they're both pressing. They're both working at it, working their tails off, coming in late, spending more time just to be the best. And sometimes that can pay off, sometimes it can backfire on you a little bit. But we're seeing them compete every day. I love the competition. You gotta love what you see out there.

You got two really good quarterbacks battling. And I don't know if I answered your question, but we have a good battle going on.

So you're undecided on naming a starter for Kent State?

Narduzzi: I’m saying that we'll continue to evaluate every day.

Given the quarterback last year and the competition going on now, has it been talked about how long we should give a starter this year? Is that something you talked about with Kade Bell?

Narduzzi: Yeah, we've talked about it. And I trust Kade, but you live and learn. You think about things, you live and learn. And sometimes you can trust too much in this world, and I'll be on top of it. Okay, I'll be on top of it.

Is there a deadline where you feel like you need to make that decision in order to give the guy enough reps to get ready for Kent State?

Narduzzi: Not really, they're getting a ton of reps out there with the ones and the twos, and we're mixing it up and all that. So the receivers, with the way we rotate our receivers, they're getting timing with everybody. They've timed up with everybody. So again, Nate's our starter right now, and there's a battle going on.

What have you seen from Eli in terms of upside? What are the things that he does well that really jump out to you?

Narduzzi: The one thing, he can really run. I mean, I think, and again, if we put him on a race here, Eli might beat him by ten yards or ten feet, whatever. Who knows how far it is? I don't think we've tested him in a 40-yard dash this summer.

So I would say just his athletic ability, maybe what he does in the pocket might give him that advantage, okay? But then you look at Nate, the advantages he's played in ball games, and we know what he does when the lights turn on, too.

You brought in Josh McCarty from Eastern Michigan this year. I think he had a reputation for special teams. Is he gonna help you on that level?

Narduzzi: Yeah, that's why he wanted to transfer here. He looked at a couple other ACC schools, visited Miami, and decided to come here. Great kid, love him, and great question. We haven't really talked much about him. He had been banged up a little bit in mid-camp, but he's a football player. And we expect to get work out of him, for sure.

What about Che Nwabuko? What's been the outlook on him this camp?

Narduzzi: He’s shown spurts, still working on the knowledge. You talk about, we talk all the time about effort, toughness, knowledge. And obviously attitude, he's got a good attitude, just wanting to get out there every play and go.

And for young guys, sometimes it's hard, but he shows spurts of being able to help us as well. We're waiting, we're waiting. We got five guys, we're looking for that sixth guy, that seventh guy, that eighth guy, and he's got a chance to get in that window.

But practice 13, what do you got today?

How much work have you guys been doing on Kent State, if any?

Narduzzi: Zero, zero.

When will it start?

Narduzzi: I don't know. We can play it by ear, but we have to worry about Pitt first, okay? Right now, we gotta make sure Pitt doesn't beat Pitt. We're worried about what Pitt is doing. And when we're done working on Pitt, and when we feel comfortable, okay, this is it, then we'll start to work on Kent. But the focus is on Pitt right now.

What kind of camp is Caleb Junko at so far?

Narduzzi: Boy, I don't know, you guys stand on the side, I watch, we do punt early. And you guys get to see a little bit, but I would say he's had a phenomenal camp out. He has separated himself, again, Coach Bro, I give him the credit, he's gotten it right during the summer, his mind's right. I don't know if you guys heard, he went down to a kicking competition this summer, I think that really helped him a lot. Against a bunch of other punters down south somewhere, I don't know, I didn't go, but I guess he won the competition. And I think he came back with a lot of confidence.

Again, that's a tribute to what Coach Bro and Danny Orrock have done with him during the summer. And he's just consistent, his stance is different, his drop has been consistent. It's all in the drop, how you drop that ball, it's like golf, right? I mean, you can swing it different every darn time, I got a problem with that. But when his drop is better, he's consistent, he's had a heck of a camp. Yesterday we had two punt periods, regular one you guys may have seen early. Then later on we had a pooch one, he put two pooch punts inside the ten yard line. We didn't need the gunners, he can drop it right in there like that. It could be a weapon. Thank you.