Fresh off a scrimmage and a contract extension, Pat Narduzzi had a lot to talk about Tuesday morning.

Here's the full rundown of what he said.

Narduzzi: Practice 10, and I wasn’t as excited about it, just No. 10 compared to what we did Saturday. We got some good work on Saturday, and I kind of let them go out in shells today, and I think they kind of enjoyed that. So we might go pads on Thursday, I’m not sure. We’ll look at the tape. It’s never as bad and never as good as you think it’s going to be. But I just felt like the effort was not as good as I wanted it to be, and again, we’ll check the tape. Maybe I’m dead wrong. Sometimes it looks different. Maybe they’re being nice and taking care of their teammates, but it’s still a physical game, you’ve still got to thud stuff up and make plays, so we’ll check the videotape out, but good day, not a great day.

You said Saturday was a good day?
Narduzzi: Saturday was a great day. Saturday was a great day. We were physical and it was a great day. Defense barely won the scrimmage late in the game; they had a turnover that really turned the tide late in the game in a coming-out situation. But it was a great scrimmage and that’s why the defense is wearing the blue jerseys today. And then we’ll compete again this Saturday for another jersey scrimmage.

Who stood out on Saturday?
Narduzzi: Who stood out on Saturday? I mean, you know, A.J. Woods has really been playing at a high level, so I think he’s going to come talk to you today. The other guy that played pretty good - you know, just little guys, again Khalil Anderson continues to improve in the back end. Bangally was out of his mind [in Saturday’s scrimmage] and then I think he shut it down today. He went hard on Saturday so he shut it down today so I was a little disappointed in him. But Saturday he was all over the place, so he was impressive. Obviously our defensive line was pretty darn good. We had a good day running the football as well. I think it was Coach Borbely said after the scrimmage that he hadn’t seen our offense run the ball on our defense since he’s been here like they did the other day. There was no gashing; it was just three and four yards, you know, pounding it and getting those tough yards.

You’ve been doing this for a few years. Is there ever a point in the spring when you get a handle on what kind of team you’re going to have for the year, and you’re like, ‘This is it.’ Is there something that happens?
Narduzzi: Yeah, like Saturday’s practice was really good. There were some great things on offense, great things on defense and you’re, like, really excited. Then you come out today and it’s like this, like a yo-yo - you’re going up and down and you try to push them to get 3% better every day, but we looked really good Saturday and then a couple days off, they come back and it wasn’t as clean as I would like it to be.

Happy to have the contract extension out there, signed and official?
Narduzzi: Yeah, you know, to me, it’s been done for awhile. We just delayed it just to drive you guys crazy, I guess. I mentioned this morning that the big part of it was done almost two months ago, where it was taking care of our staff, making sure our coaching staff was taken care of. Heather and the Chancellor really made a commitment, and it’s probably our first significant raise for our assistants since I’ve been here, and it was a significant raise for our guys. That’s important to me because you coach these players every day but you’re also coaching the coaches and having to retrain people at different spots is tough. So I’m happy for our staff, and again, any time you get an extension like that, it’s everybody in here, so I appreciate our players and the entire staff. It just gives us a few more years to continue to win championships.

How big is that in recruiting when you can tell the guys, ‘Hey, 2030.’ It feels like forever from now.
Narduzzi: Yeah, it does feel like forever. But it’s great. I think a lot of parents - it’s a big question. You see coaches hopping all the time and I think it’s a big question from kids - are you going to be here? As a matter of fact, I had that question Saturday. We had a bunch of recruits on campus and that question came up two or three times. I said, ‘Just wait for Monday.’ I kind of said, ‘You’re the first to know on Saturday that it’s coming out Monday,’ so it’s important to families, as far as knowing who’s going to coach you.

How have you seen A.J. grow over the years? He’s a guy who has had to fight through Marquis, Damarri, Jason - to get playing time, he’s had a lot of competition. How good have you seen him grow as a player?
Narduzzi: He just continues to go. He’s fast, he’s playing with great technique. It’s just the refining of his technique. Coach Collins has done a great job with him.

And I’ll talk about another guy: M.J. Devonshire, same thing. I could probably name a bunch of guys because it was a good scrimmage, but M.J.’s playing at a high level. Gandy continues to impress. Obviously, ‘Quis has been solid all along.

A.J., it’s just the constant reps and staying healthy so you can get better.

How healthy are you guys right now?
Narduzzi: I’d say we’re pretty - that’s a bad question.

Right now, we’re pretty darn good, but every day you just worry. That’s kind of why I went shells today, a little bit, so maybe it was my fault. We went shells today - the kids were flying around on Saturday, so I was like, let’s slow these guys down. I want to make sure we make it through and keep our guys healthy, too.

When the news came out yesterday about the extension, a lot of people talked about stability and what it meant for stability in the program. Before you got here, there was obviously a lot of turnover and changes; what do you remember was the perception of the stability at Pitt when you got here and what do you think it says about stability now with this contract through 2030?
Narduzzi: Well, again, it starts with the leadership and I’ve always said we’ve all got to be going in the same direction. That’s why Chancellor Gallagher hired me: to have stability. I think he wanted somebody that’s going to stay here and work at it and have a passion to do what we do here and coach and develop a program, and that’s kind of what we’ve done. It’s a step-by-step, doing it the right way with integrity. But it says a lot about this place and it’s a destination job. Period. It is. But it’s only a destination job for someone that’s from this area, that loves this are, that has a passion about Pittsburgh. It might not be a destination job for somebody else that’s maybe not from this area. So I think that’s the key.

This is a great job, I love Pitt and I love these kids.

Did you ever think about what you want your legacy to be like in 2030 or 2035 or whenever it is?
Narduzzi: No. The thing I think about right now is winning another championship. Let’s do it again. Let’s prove that it wasn’t just a one-year deal. It’s a two-year deal in a row. So that’s what we’re working on. I’m not worried about legacy. I’m worried about our players and continuing to get better as a program.

Have you noticed with the ACC championship and with the contract that you’re getting more and more interest from a recruiting standpoint?
Narduzzi: Yeah, we really have. The last two Saturday’s, we’ve had a ton of prospects here. We rate our prospects and we’ve had some really good ones; you know, the highest rating that you can have. We’ve had a bunch of them the last two weeks, to the point where - since I’ve been here, every Saturday after the scrimmage, I might meet with one or two kids and then I get to go watch the scrimmage tape, which is what you want to do as a coach.

But the last two Saturday’s, I’ve met until late in the afternoon or into the evening with prospects that are on campus. Our recruiting staff is doing a great job getting them here. Our staff is doing a great job getting the top players here on our campus. So that’s good to see.

Does winning on the field translate to changing your strategy in recruiting with guys that you might want to go after?
Narduzzi: No, it doesn’t change our - we’re still looking for the best players. We’ve always gone after the best players, but now some of the best players are saying, ‘Hey, let me go check out Pitt. I like what’s going on there.’ And I think, once they get here, they go, ‘Wow, I love this place.’

That’s the thing. Going through recruiting, I’ve told you guys this, when we bring guys on official visits, we’re getting three out of four. It might even be higher than that, because there’s some guys that come on visits, we don’t have a scholarship left for them at the end of the week. So it’s definitely changed.