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Pat Narduzzi met the media for his Thursday press briefing, and here’s a rundown of everything he said.

Narduzzi: Ready to go. Got a great team we get to go play in Virginia Tech. They’re good in a lot of different respects. They have a freshman quarterback that I think makes plays; they do what he can do and they have playmakers out there on the edge. And defensively, they attack up front and we’re going to have to manage that front.

Jackson is obviously efficient, but does he also make plays in addition to protecting the ball?
Narduzzi: No doubt about it. He’s a runner. They ran it more in the big game against Miami; they brought the backup in to run a little bit more, because I think he was a little beat up. Got him healthy, which I think was the smart thing for him to do. But he’ll be ready for us. He took a week off of really running the football, so he can run. I think he’s a big guy. I think he’s hard to take down, too; he’s not an elusive, make-you-miss, wiggle-type guy, but he’s a football player. You can tell he’s a coach’s kid and I’ve always got a lot of respect for coach’s kid. He’s smart and he understands the game.

How formidable are some of their outside threats and the speed that they bring? Narduzzi: Their outside linebackers are athletic, their nickel back is athletic, their whole back end is good. Obviously they lost a safety that is a large blow to them, so maybe they’ll limit some of the things they do, I don’t know. I’m sure they have guys to fill. But they’re athletic and we have to dress it up and get some guys open.

Your thing is to run the football; that’s what you like to do. But when the other team is really stout up front, how tough is it -
Narduzzi: It stinks, doesn’t it?

How tough is it to be patient and keep going after it?
Narduzzi: It’s tough to be patient. You know, it depends on how well your defense is going. I think it’s something you have to look at on both ends. I don’t think we can afford - put it this way: if the defense isn’t slowing them down at all, then do you abort the run game? I don’t think you can because it can leave you real quick. So I think you have to have patience. And again, they’re going to stop, stop, stop and then all of a sudden, maybe you’ll have an explosive and pop one on them which, they’ve given up some explosive runs and passes. But they’re really good and we can’t lose our patience for the run game.

I’m glad you reminded me of that. I’ll tell Coach Watson.

Lane Stadium is probably the most hostile place you’ll go into, maybe since Week Two up at Penn State. Do you think this team is better equipped to respond than they did in that game?
Narduzzi: I think for sure. I don’t think the noise or the atmosphere is going to hurt us much. I think we played decent - shoot, what did we rush for that day at Penn State? I thought we were pretty decent.

I mean the start.
Narduzzi: The start was a little slow. And we’ll have a different quarterback starting. So you look at Max threw that pick early and gave them that short field and a nine-yard touchdown, I guess. Now it will be Ben going to that atmosphere being the starter, and I think it’s always different being the starter and coming in as a backup role. So let’s hope it’s not his first time in a nasty environment.

How do you feel about Ben handling that type of environment and you guys with a silent count?
Narduzzi: I feel pretty good. We’ve worked the noise every day in practice. Hopefully it was louder in our indoor than it was down there. So I think we’re prepared for it. We’ll find out. But we’ve never had a problem like that, and I think it’s because of the preparation for our offense.

The Carolina game was Chawntez Moss’ first game back. What sort of role or workload do you envision for him in the last two games?
Narduzzi: Obviously we found a tailback since then. I think the week before his departure for a little while, he was the starter, I believe, right? Then a guy has emerged and he’s kind of going, ‘ooh, boy.’ He’s been back for a couple weeks now and we’ll just see. He’s got to work his way back.

You mentioned on Monday that Virginia Tech has hit a rough patch, too, here. Fuente, at his press conference, was asked about the decisions he makes in games and stuff like that, and he said that he knows in this business it’s quick to go from the penthouse to the outhouse with people questioning you. How much can you relate to that now in year three as a head coach?
Narduzzi: Year three - now, I grew up in the coaching profession.

As a head coach, though.
Narduzzi: It doesn’t matter if you’re the head coach, the coordinator or you watch your dad as the head coach; everybody’s going to question those calls. I’m not sure what they questioned him about, but those are calls you have to make. Whether it’s a fake field goal, fake punt - which I think is something they did in that game, or why didn’t they kick the field goal, why didn’t they go for it, whatever - those are decisions you have to make and live with. There are certain things you know about a team, you know about your kicker, you know about your punter, that maybe you’re not going to risk.

Offensively speaking, how has that unit fared in the first year under Shawn Watson relative to what you thought they would do?
Narduzzi: Okay. You know, every year is different. You look at a Jim Chaney the first year; we did okay, learning who your kids are. Then all of a sudden, Canada comes in and he’s got some weapons. I don’t think we’ve talked since Nathan Peterman - how about that? Starting quarterback, great for him and his family, his wife. But he had some tools to work with, so was it Matt or was it all the good players? Now Shawn comes in after a really explosive offense and then he’s taking and trying to build it. I think he’s done a really good job, in my opinion. We’ve been able to maintain the rushing game; it’s taken a while to get on the same page with everybody.

And Shawn’s not going anywhere, so I don’t have to worry about losing him. Even in the offseason, in December, that’s something - I know I don’t have to go find an offensive coordinator, because he’s a loyal guy and we’ve talked. So I think it’s going to make it better for the future. That continuity is so important. I think it hurts you at times; it hurts you in development. I think maybe we’d be a little further ahead, but I think Canada would be pulling his hair out sitting there trying to find a quarterback, too, and trying to find - maybe that’s one of the reasons he left, knowing that, hey, this is pretty good with these guys.

So I think that’s all part of it.

What kind of challenges does that bring to the players, knowing that it’s the same system but it’s with Shawn instead of Matt?
Narduzzi: There’s no adjustment for the players. It’s easier - we tried to make it easy on the players. We talked about this a year ago, where one of the first text messages I got was from Jester Weah saying, ‘Coach, tell me we’re not going to change the offense.’ I still probably have it on my phone; I don’t ever delete. My kids all delete their messages; I keep everything. You’ve got to always go back and refer.

But his first text was like, ‘Coach, tell me we’re not gonna’ - and that told me right there that the kids had belief in what we were going to do and what we were doing and didn’t want to change. That was why I took my time to find the right guy that I thought could come in, that was smart enough and didn’t have an ego enough that he could run what we wanted to do.

The offseason will be a little different this year with an offensive coordinator for two years in a row for the first time.
Narduzzi: Hey. How about that?

That will be important that the younger guys won’t have to learn anything new.
Narduzzi: That’s right. That will help you. It helps in two years - I mean, what’s it going to be like in three and four? That’s when it really gets good. I was with Dantonio for 11 years; it helps when you’re together for a long period of time.

Are you able to add a 10th coach this spring?
Narduzzi: Yes.

Is that April?
Narduzzi: December, probably. Or probably January. The convention this year will be chaotic. There’s going to be a lot of movement throughout the country. A lot. I really don’t think like it. I don’t think we need a 10th coach, but if you’re going to give me one, I’ll take it. But it’s going to cause a lot of exchange. You can lose a coach. People are looking, ‘Hey, I’ll take that guy from over here.’ So it’s going to be a lot of hopping around.

Do you have any inkling as to where you want to put that coach?
Narduzzi: Not yet. Got all kinds of ideas. Just going to play it by ear and see how the rest of the season goes. Looking for weaknesses and what do we need to patch up?

You have a list in the top drawer of your desk of guys you want to hire, right?
Narduzzi: I’ll tell you what, if I’m thinking about that, I’ve got problems. I’m thinking about beating Virginia Tech. That’s what we need to worry about. That’s a fact.

I wanted to ask you about Nate, how far he came; what’s it like as a coach to watch somebody come that far and realize a dream? And will he be an example you’ll use with some of the guys on the team?
Narduzzi: No question about it. There’s a guy that transferred in here, you know, wasn’t having a lot of success at his previous school, came here and blossomed. He was a great kid, if you knew him socially, really religious kid, always trusting the man up above, and his faith in God and his faith in the coaching staff and what we did with him, he’s one of those guys that you’re going to remember forever. EJ told me when I came off the field yesterday and I immediately picked up the phone; that’s how happy you are for the kid. And I called Sean McDermott as well to congratulate him and let him know that I’m fired up that he liked what he got. That’s our goal, no different than a high school coach when he sends you a player, thanking that high school coach for sending you the player and him thanking you for taking him; it’s the same way. So I’m happy for him and what a great opportunity. I think he’ll take it and run with it. I don’t think he’ll look back.

He said it was busy. In a text message, said, ‘Hey sorry, it’s been a little bit different this week.’ He went from getting no reps as the scout-team quarterback in the NFL to the guy getting all the reps. But he’ll study the game - and he’ll have his rough spots. There will be ups and downs, like we tell our kids every week. It’s not going to be perfect; he’ll have his ups and downs. But he’s going to get better every week and he’ll grow.

When he got here that summer, did you think, ‘I have a future NFL starter here’? Or did you see him grow into that role?
Narduzzi: You think everybody you bring in is going to be good. We wouldn’t offer him a scholarship and bring him in here if we didn’t think he could be the guy. Some of those work out and some don’t; we’re not geniuses. We don’t make every perfect decision. But we knew he had the potential. Then after the first year, you knew for sure.

Midseason - maybe Nathan doesn’t want me to tell this story - but midseason, his shoulder was hurting him, to the point where he didn’t practice much for like two weeks in a row. He’d practice on Thursday. His shoulder was sore and he came into the office one day saying, ‘Coach, I don’t know if I can finish the season; I might have to get surgery and get ready for the next level.’ I was like, ‘Whoa; there ain’t gonna be a next level if you don’t finish the season out.’ I think the next week was Clemson and then the thing just blew. He was worried about his health, but I think it all worked out for the better.

So he went from having a sore shoulder to a couple days later throwing five touchdown passes against Clemson?
Narduzzi: I’m not sure what the week was, but it was either the week before Clemson or it was the Clemson game. I was like, ‘If you finish up like I think you can, you can be - but if you don’t finish this season, nobody is really…’ You know, he doesn’t get drafted if he doesn’t finish the season, I don’t think. But he finished that season and played the way he did -

Was it tough to convince him to keep playing?
Narduzzi: You’d have to ask him. It didn’t seem tough to me when I had that conversation with him in my office. But that’d be a great question for him. What a great kid that I’ll remember forever. One of your favorites.

Quintin Wirginis, is there any chance that he would play in these last two weeks?
Narduzzi: We will not use him. He’s obviously a senior, he’s got a fifth year, he will be back next year and we expect him to be our starting Mike linebacker if he does everything he’s supposed to be doing. He’s going to be a great player for us. We really missed him this year. We love him and the family and we’re just hoping for him to do everything the way we want him to do it and I expect him to be our starting middle linebacker next year. Period. I have no doubts about that. He will help us. He would have helped us this year a lot.