Narduzzi on the secondary, the OL, the hotel and more
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Which young secondary players are standing out to Pat Narduzzi? And how much work did it take to get the team into a hotel this summer? Here's what the Pitt coach had to say during Thursday morning's press briefing.
NARDUZZI: We got a third of the way through yesterday’s practice. Number eight and 16 to go. So the word of the day today is “persisting.” We’ve got to continue to persist through and continue to get better. We can’t go like this and start to level off. So I think today is a big hump day on a Thursday. Padded up, we’ll have a couple live periods today. And then tomorrow we’ll probably come out in what we call “spiders,” a little lighter gear getting ready for game day. And Saturday take them to Heinz Field, weather permitting. So that’s exciting and the other thing, the Chancellor’s coming out today. It’s always a pleasure to have the boss, the big boss at the University of Pittsburgh here today.
ARE YOU SEEING ANY SEPARATION ANYWHERE, ESPECIALLY IN THE SECONDARY?
NARDUZZI: You know what, the one guy I’ll mention - you know, I’m happy with where they are right now. The one puppy that I think has been a football player is Damarri Mathis. He’s played special, he’s a guy that, for a young guy, doesn’t blink. I’ve been very, very happy with him right now. And Pinnock’s been good, too; he really has for a freshman. He’s stayed true and he’s been good.
WHAT ABOUT FROM THE YOUNG SAFETIES, ESPECIALLY THE FIELD SAFETIES, GARNER - DO YOU CALL HIM JAY STILL OR JAZZEE?
NARDUZZI: I call him Jay. Jazzee, I don’t know, I think that’s a Twitter name or something like that. But it’s been a back and forth battle. It’s been a back and forth battle for those guys. Jay and Bricen have done a nice job of competing, and like I said, that depth chart keeps going like this (flip-flop) and that’s a good thing; that’s what you want to see when there’s competition. And both of those guys are guys that are going to play a lot of football for us. It might be one of those “OR” positions. But I’ve been happy with the competition there, as well as in the boundary with Dennis Briggs and Phil Campbell. Phil Campbell’s had a nice camp so far.
HAVE YOU TRIED HODGES INSIDE YET?
NARDUZZI: No, not yet. Not yet.
WILL YOU?
NARDUZZI: If you want me to. He can play a lot of things. He’s been here a couple days, so…you talk about new terminology, he might as well be a reporter out there on the field right now. It’s a totally new job.
LAST YEAR WITH THAT OFFENSIVE LINE, YOU KIND OF HAD FIVE GUYS WHO WERE LOCKED INTO THEIR JOBS; DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE MORE MOVING PARTS THIS YEAR, MORE DIFFERENT THINGS YOU CAN TRY?
NARDUZZI: Maybe. You hate to mess it up too much. There’s a lot of communication and you get used to playing next to your brother next to you, so you don’t want to mess it up too much. What I’d like to do is get more guys reps out there. I’d like to have more game reps. I’d like to be able to play more guys. We’ll see. We’ve got another 16 good practices ready to find out who’s that guy that can sub in and give someone a blow.
YOU TOUCHED ON THIS TUESDAY; WHY WAS IT SO IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO GET YOUR GUYS OFF CAMPUS AND INTO THE HOTEL?
NARDUZZI: You know, I think it’s always important to get them together, number one. So whether it was a dorm - we were going to be all together. We weren’t going to be on our own, you know, ‘I live in this part’ and ‘I live over here’ and be in separate places. But to be able to be in that facility there, like I said, the Chancellor and the AD got that done, and it’s important because it’s convenient. I think everything’s about convenience, whether it’s about our meetings - I would never want to go away to camp, just because of this building and everything we’ve got in this building; you couldn’t have the same convenience where you can have a three-minute siren, blow the horn and get to the next to the building and you walk out the back door and you’re in your individual meeting room.
It’s just convenience and time management is so important. And that helps us with time management. And rest.
WHEN YOU PRESENTED THAT IDEA TO THE HIGHER-UPS, WAS THERE MUCH ARM-TWISTING YOU HAD TO DO?
NARDUZZI: It was like, ‘Okay Coach, I think that’s a great idea.’ We took pictures last year, a year ago, of everybody just sleeping around, slumming around, and it was pretty clear. That’s the great thing about our support here. The AD, the Chancellor on down is - they understand, we don’t try to ask for everything; ask for what you need. And they’ve been good.
WHAT ARE YOUR EARLY IMPRESSIONS ON YOUR TWO YOUNG RUNNING BACKS?
NARDUZZI: That’s a great question. Every day, they get a little bit better. Sibley and AJ Davis. You know, Todd’s done an unbelievable job. They’ve got a little wiggle to them. Every day, they kind of slip - everybody’s got a little different technique and we’re still trying to get them to hold onto the ball properly, they’re still trying to figure out pass protection. But running the ball - they’ve done some interesting things. After eight days - the first couple of days, you’re like, ah, they’re just normal guys. But after six, seven, eight, you’re going, uh oh, maybe we have something here. They’re learning every day.