Pat Narduzzi met the media after Tuesday's practice to talk about Pitt's most recent scrimmage, the Panthers at Pro Day and a lot more. Here's the full rundown of his remarks.
Narduzzi: Finished with eight. I’ll go back to number seven. Saturday, we had a good scrimmage. Got 130 offensive plays. Not on purpose, but right on the button. 130 offense-defense plays and 30 special teams plays, between kickoff, kickoff return, punt field goal. Got some great work. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to go to the stadium but we did the indoor and we got a lot of good work. And then got another pads practice in today. I wasn’t particularly happy with the effort today. You know, we go outside, first day outside, it looked like it was their first day of practice. Sometimes that happens, so we took a step backward today and we’ll keep moving forward.
Is that something that can happen after a scrimmage when there’s kind of an emotional high of hitting each other for the first time?
Narduzzi: Sometimes. Just the lack of focus. Sometimes that can happen, but that’s a great excuse. You can make excuses for them. I’m not making an excuse.
What did the defense do to win the scrimmage on Saturday?
Narduzzi: You know, it was low scoring. I don’t remember, it was like 28-24. Got two turnovers - the offense turned it over. The good thing about the scrimmage, it was back and forth, it was solid. You weren’t like - there weren’t 50 big plays on the defense. It was just a solid, well-run - as a head coach, kind of one of those, you’re happy. You’re not mad at the offense or the defense afterwards. And then it’s really turnovers, so I just talked about turnovers. I think when we win the turnover ratio in the last eight seasons at Pitt, we have a 87% chance of winning if we win the turnover ratio. So I just hit them with that today and it’s something we focus on all the time. It’s one of the critical things in winning.
Bub had a lot of great things to say about the passing game on Saturday. What is your assessment of how the quarterbacks have looked so far this spring?
Narduzzi: They’re doing a nice job. You talked to Bub already today? He had a great catch out there today. I mean, he had a nice catch out there today. He’s played really, really well. I’m happy with where he is.
We’ll see. We can grade the practice, grade the scrimmage; we’ll find out in September when we open up. But I’m happy with where we are in the passing game.
He said the offense is more exciting. Is that because it’s another year in the offense or because of the quarterback or a playmaker like him?
Narduzzi: I think the second year always helps. It’s no more exciting than it was last year. We have a couple of new things here and there, but nothing that makes you go, ‘Oh my gosh.’ It’s football. But I think he’s excited because maybe more opportunities, maybe playing the X position where Jared Wayne played. And he’s playing better because he understands the offense. Whether you’re a freshman, a transfer, a first-year guy coming in, you’re trying to learn the offense and you’re out there every day kind of - I think things have slowed down for him and I think he’s playing with a lot of confidence right now. I think part of it is, you know what’s going on. So for him, it’s his second year and I think any second-year player is probably going to be a little smoother.
Bub called the wide receivers the “Waffle House,” saying, “We’re always open.” Is there a swagger to this group this year?
Narduzzi: They were the Waffle House last year, too. He didn’t tell you that. You thought that was a new thing? They were the Waffle House, you know, they’re always open, I guess. 24 hours. I don’t know. We’ll find out. They can talk all they want. Make plays.
You have 13 guys testing at Pro Day tomorrow. Any overall general thoughts about that and what’s that say about the way that you and your staff are able to develop here at Pitt?
Narduzzi: I mean, we could have 25 of them; it doesn’t say we’ve developed anybody, because anybody can - all seniors can go out there and participate. I don’t think all seniors are going out. There’s a couple that said, ‘I’m good.’ So you want to give every kid an opportunity to go out there. It all depends on draft day. That’s where it comes down to: where they get drafted. I hope they’ve been somewhere training well and it will be fun to watch them. They’ve been around for a week, you guys have seen them at practice. Most of them have been around. I saw Owen Drexel today; he’s just bench pressing. That’s all he’s doing. He wants to get that bench in. He’s not going to run, which is probably a good thing. I don’t know if I want to watch him run. I love you, Owen.
So we’ll find out what happens on draft day. And what they do when they get into a camp and minicamp and all of that. You look at the guys that we’ve had around, whether they’re fourth-rounder or a first-rounder, they’ve gone and played. Look at last year with Damarri: he’s played all year out there in Denver. It comes down to draft day, and people make mistakes on draft day. It comes down to the player.
What do you want your current team to take away from tomorrow?
Narduzzi: I think a lot of them will go out there and watch and see where these guys were four and five years ago, three years ago, and as they watch it, I hope they look and say, ‘Okay, I think I can do the same thing.’ It’s all about development. We’re going to develop our guys. I don’t care if they come in as a one-star, four-star, five-star, it doesn’t matter. We’re going to develop them. If you come in here and you listen and you learn - you know, I had someone come in last night and tell me they sat down with one of our players, I won’t say who it is, and just say, ‘Coach, that guy is so intelligent.’ And it wasn’t academically. We’re not talking about up on campus. But just talking football with them. That’s a tribute to our coaches in this building of just teaching them so they can speak like a coach to another coach.
Why can’t you tell us who the player is?
Narduzzi: Because it makes it sound like he’s the smartest. They’re all smart. I could just speak that about every one of them.
Johnny Petrishen is coming back to run with you guys. Have you talked to him about it? How’s that been?
Narduzzi: Yeah, John is coming back. I don’t know how you knew that. He came back and he had to have some NFL personnel - we’re not just going to open it up to someone five years ago wants to come back and run. It’s not what we do. But if an NFL personnel says they want to see him run, then we’ll do what the NFL would like us to do.
How do you like your depth at linebacker so far?
Narduzzi: You know what, I like it. I don’t think Coach Manny likes it a lot. He’s like, ‘I need more guys.’ And again, we’ve got Bass coming in and Rasheem Biles, who was here for about four days during his spring break. So all of those things - but I really like the guys who are playing right now. I look at what we’re doing and how we’re doing it and we’re hanging in there.
Who are some of the younger guys that stood out on Saturday?
Narduzzi: The younger guys. Lovelace was okay. He wasn’t as good in the scrimmage as he was in practice, but he’s had a great spring ball so far. I’m trying to think who else young. Ty Dieffenbach has thrown some nice balls the last couple days and has looked sharp out there. You’re happy with where he is. Who else Daniel?
Daniel Carter: Nahki.
Narduzzi: Nahki, young defensive end. I think you guys talked to him last week. I don’t know if he’s young. He’s kind of old, Nahki Johnson. He’s done well. Anybody in the back end…that’s about all I can think of right now as far as the freshmen coming in. Probably missing somebody.
How specifically is Solomon? What have you noticed from how he’s approached the spring?
Narduzzi: Yeah, I think someone asked that last Thursday or whatever, but he just keeps getting better. He’s confident. A year and a half ago, a year ago, he still looked at you like, ‘Coach, can I go play receiver?’ He’s bought into that position, which, I think, you have to. Whatever you’re going to do, if you’re going to be a receiver or a linebacker, you have to buy into it. I think he thought he was going to go on the softer side; he’s gone on the tougher side. So he’s bought into the position and he’s getting better every day.
Are Brandon George and Simon battling at Mike?
Narduzzi: They’re battling at Mike. They’re both really good players. On Saturday, obviously Shayne started at the Mike and then played some Money as well to get Brandon in there. And today Brandon played some of the Money. Those guys are interchangeable and we’ll get them work and play the best three guys all the time.
Where’s Bam Brima in your pecking order of edge rusher guys?
Narduzzi: We’re not there yet, as far as pecking order. We’re just trying to get them better. But Bam’s had a really good spring so far. He just keeps getting better. In the bowl practice, he was like, ‘Coach, I bet you thought I’d never play for you, huh?’ I said, ‘No, I thought someday you would. It’s taken you a little longer.’ But he just keeps working at it, so he’s done a nice job.
How about your safeties? What did you see from them on Saturday?
Narduzzi: Safeties, P.J. had an unsportsmanlike that I wasn’t really happy with, but he’s playing at a high level. Javon McIntyre is doing a nice job. McMillon is doing a nice job as well. Steph Hall - I mean, they’re all solid back there. I don’t know if we’re getting tested like we want to. Our offense is different than a lot of offenses we face during the year, so we’ve got to get work on our own to find out how people are going to attack us. You’ve got to know about all the RPO’s, so it’s hard if you’re not facing a true RPO team like some of the teams, so you’re not seeing it every day where you get an isolation on those safeties. So we work more one-on-ones, just to get that work during certain periods, but you don’t necessarily see it in the scrimmage.
Calijah’s gotten a lot of first-round grades; what do you think makes him stand out with that potential?
Narduzzi: It’s called athletic ability. There’s not a lot of guys that are 280 running a 4.6 and as twitchy as that guy is. He’s different, okay? And you can stack all the d-tackles up across the country; that guy can play inside in a 1 or a 3 and that guy can play a 4i in a 3-4 defense, so I think he can do a lot of different things. He’s fast. He’s athletic. And he’s smart. Those are a lot of - you know, fast and smart is really good at 280. He’s all of those. And you’re not going to have any character issues with that guy. The biggest problem I had with him is he had too many phones and too many bills. Vicky, my administrative assistant had to help him call and get these phone bills down. I think we saved him a thousand dollars a month. That’s the only probably I’ve had with him in four years. We saved him a thousand dollars a year.
