Narduzzi on the tight ends, the scrimmage on Saturday, and more

Pat Narduzzi spoke to the media ahead of Friday's practice. Here is a complete rundown of all he had to say.

Narduzzi: Going into number ten. I'll open it up for questions, because we've got about five minutes.

What have you seen from Gavin Bartholomew as a sophomore leading the group at tight end?

Narduzzi: Gavin won the Cornhole championship last night. He kicked the heck out of Matt Altsman and Nick Patti, him and Dylan Bennett. So he had a heck of a Cornhole game last night in front of the team in the team room. But on the field he's done a great job, I mean Gavin he's a football player. He's playing a lot of different positions. He's playing out wide, he can play the tight end on the line of scrimmage, he's a move guy. Hd does a little bit of everything, so he's gotten better. He's better than he was in the spring. He's improved his run blocking a lot and he's leading that tight end room right now.

Is he more of a pass first tight end, or even mix?

Narduzzi: Even mix, I hope. If you have a tight end that's a pass first, you've got a little bit of an issue. He better be interested in the run.

How do you feel about the options behind him?

Narduzzi: Great question. Going into to it you didn't really know what you were going to have but...Kyi Wright didn't play in the spring. Kyi Wright has had a heck of a camp so far. I'm excited and I know Coach Cignetti is as well. He didn't know. I kind of knew what we had, you can tell him, 'hey I think he's pretty good' but you just don't know as a coach, or you have faith that he's good but you just don't know, but now he knows. Kyi is going to help us a lot and then Karter Johnson hasn't talked the last few days of camp. I mean Karter Johnson has been a football player since he's got here. So you've got three viable ones there. Dylan Deveney is still working on getting 100% healthy from this previous issue, but we'll get him back and he's a big son of a gun and I'll let him get with you guys once he steps on the field.

All of you starting offensive linemen are 23 years old or older, how important is it to have adults on your offensive line?

Narduzzi: When you have fifth year, sixth year seniors, it's tremendous. I always say to young freshman that want to play as a freshman: Are you going to be better when you're 18 or when you're 22, 23? And we all know the answer, we're all smarter when we're 23 as opposed to when we're 18. They're definitely better football players and having maturity up there or anywhere on the football field is certainly a thing you want to have.

What are you hoping to see from your team tomorrow in the scrimmage?

Narduzzi: Number one thing and anytime you go live you want to come out of there healthy. I'll say my prayers on my way in from the hotel in the morning and just pray you do that. I just want to see a crisp scrimmage. i don't care who wins, offense, defense. Have some fun and we'll play for some points and all those things. It comes down to: I don't want to see the ball turned over, but I want our defense to get turnovers. But I want to make sure we're protected and looking a turnovers. And I want to see a crisp scrimmage. I don't want to see a lot of unforced errors. I'm just looking for a crisp scrimmage.

How is the progress of the kickers and punters in camp?

Narduzzi: Punters have been good. Sam has been doing a nice job. But really when you look at Ben Sauls and Sam Scarton are having a battle. They are both kicking really well. And I'll tell you another thing, Caleb Junko is kicking really good. He got a coach in the offseason, played soccer in high school. I would bet and I'll put my money on this that we have the three best kickers in the country. I really feel that way. I mean Caleb Junko will hit it from 55. He was inaccurate in the spring and now I think he's 100% and he's had a few kicks.So he's playing well, Sam's playing well - they're all doing well. So it's going to be a battle and continue to measure that.

I noticed the last couple days Brandon Hill not practicing. Do you have any updates on his status?

Narduzzi: Nope. You're not even supposed to ask that question. Nobody really needed to know that but now they all know that thanks to you.

Nick Patti said he thinks himself of a better runner than Kedon. How important is that for Saturday?

Narduzzi: Well our quarterbacks won't be hit, so he won't really be able to show that in a live scrimmage. They're live everyday as far as running with the ball, they can run anytime they want. So we'll stay off the red jerseys, so you really won't be able to find that out.

A lot of the attention on the D-LIne goes to Calijah and Haba, what about Morgan and Hayes and what they are able to do to free up those guys?

Narduzzi: Dayon has had a good camp and John Morgan has been outstanding. Really there's four guys there and you need four. You want to keep them fresh and get those guys playing fast and we've got four starters in my opinion.