Pat Narduzzi talked about the first day of full-pads practice, the impact of Bob Junko and a lot more on Friday. Here's the full rundown of what he said.

Narduzzi: Well, the boys go on spring break. We got about every ounce of energy we could out of them here the last two hours. Really good day in the pads. A lot of enthusiasm, intense, had a couple fights, had to teach them how we fight. There’s always going to be a fight in practice and they talk a little bit, but usually it’s a one-on-one; we can’t have guys jumping in. So it was intense and then they love each other up afterward, so it’s awesome.

You just love the way they compete. When you compete, you’re going to have some of that, so that’s good.

What’s the technique on teaching fights?
Narduzzi: Technique? The teaching is, there’s going to be a fight in practice. We had ACC officials today, so we got the flags and everything, which is good; we have to teach them how to do that. But if it’s one-on-one, nobody jumps on it; then it becomes out of control. Two guys, if they do get in a little fight, it lasts about 10 seconds and everybody’s exhausted. Let them get exhausted real quick, okay? Don’t let everybody else get exhausted. So we just put them on the line.

Then the teaching after that is, they ran about eight gassers. So they didn’t like that too much. But probably the last time it will happen because immediately you take care of it and we shouldn’t have any problems.

Any names for that story?
Narduzzi: No names.

Who are the scrappiest guys out there?
Narduzzi: They’re all scrappy. Trust me.

As a former player, can you relate to that where you remember feeling that way or getting into it in practice?
Narduzzi: Yeah, I don’t remember. I’m kind of getting old. I don’t remember those. But there were always those little scraps; it’s just how you deal with them. It’s going to happen. They’re out there. They’re all competing. Everybody wants to show what they’ve got and make plays and you have to have it in practice because it’s going to happen in a game. If someone taunts you, what are you going to do? In a game, you have to let it go - let’s take 15 and go - in practice, you go, ‘Coach it’s not a game.’ Well, it is a game. So we’re going to try to teach those game lessons.

So from an energy standpoint, you don’t want to see that but you like the fact that it’s that spirited?
Narduzzi: Oh yeah. You like it. We had kind of a bet in the coaches’ locker room about how many we were going to have today. We only had really one, so I think the under/over was like three.

Do you always have one in the day of pads?
Narduzzi: Always.

With the way you ask your corners to play, how physical they are, do you encourage those guys to try to get under a receiver’s skin a little bit?
Narduzzi: Yeah, I mean, there’s always that part of a game. You know whose head you can get into and whose head you can’t, so you don’t waste your time on somebody that doesn’t matter. But that definitely happens in games, period, and you have to learn how to control yourself.

After one week and three practices, what have you seen out of the quarterbacks?
Narduzzi: I won’t get into it; it’s really too early. One day in pads. We have to watch this one. I mean, playing in shorts and all of that is one thing, but I’m really - Nick and Kedon have looked well, I like what I’ve seen out of both of them and it’s going to be a battle. I feel like we’ve got two quarterbacks that we can win with. Maybe we’ve got three, we’ll see. We’ll watch the tape today and it’s a work in progress. Totally new offense for the coaches and the players. The coaches, Tiquan and Frank, are both learning some of the stuff we did before and then they’re learning the new stuff so it’s kind of a conglomeration. It’s everybody learning a little bit.

Other than SirVocea, who’s standing out at linebacker?
Narduzzi: That’s a tough question. SirVocea, obviously, has looked good. I would say Solomon DeShields has done a nice job at the Star position. Again, we’ll find out today in the pads. Today will be a big indicator. He’s looked good. Bangally has really looked good. Shayne Simon has done a nice job. Brandon George has done a nice job. So again, we’ll find out in the pads. I guess the next time we get together is when we can give you an evaluation of what the film looked like.

Is Bangally and DeShields at the same position? Are they both Star?
Narduzzi: I don’t know. I don’t know. I can’t tell you. I’d have to kill you. Have to get in a fight.

Are there guys who have filled out better, like they have done well in the weight room to prepare for spring ball?
Narduzzi: I think a lot of guys have. One of the guys that’s put on - I think he’s 176, he tells me every time I see him, is Marquis Williams. He’s been in the 60’s for four years, it seems like, and he’s in the 76’s. There’s all kinds of guys. They’ve all gotten bigger and stronger, I think. It’s not just one guy; it’s a lot of guys.

When you evaluate guys at the Star linebacker spot, that’s a spot where you’re asking them to do quite a bit, almost like being a beefy safety. When you evaluate guys there, what are the things you look for as far as monitoring their progress and how valuable they can be at that spot?
Narduzzi: Yeah, we’re looking for - it’s a hybrid position, as you say. It’s a safety-slash-‘backer, and there’s a lot of moving parts at that position. So we’re looking for the complete guy out there and I think we have some guys to work with. Everybody thinks, ‘Oh, man, they don’t have any linebackers.’ We’re going to be fine. That’s why they call us coaches.

SirVocea has played all three linebacker spots; have you been using that flexibility this spring or just keeping him in the middle?
Narduzzi: We’ve kept him in the middle right now. We’re going to find out who everybody else is before we say, ‘Who are our best three’ and jump into that. So it’s way too early to do that right now. We just want to see guys jump into positions.

You’re focused on spring ball right now, but how much did you get to see of Kenny throwing at the Combine last night?
Narduzzi: I watched it all.

What did you think?
Narduzzi: I thought he looked really good. I thought he ran good. I didn’t see - I was looking for them to put the weights up there, because I know the guy from Cincinnati ran faster but he’s only 211 pounds and I didn’t go back to look. What is he, 225? The official weight? Did anybody see that?

He was 217.
Narduzzi: 217? But I thought he ran really well, I thought he threw it well, threw the ball well, and I thought he looked awesome. We’re going to see at Pro Day on the 21st, so we’ll see him live and in-person, but I thought he did well.

Last thing. Today was Coach Junko’s last practice. 54 years, Coach Junko is retiring. Him and Judy are going to ride off into the sunset. He said now he’s going to go to work. He said he hasn’t worked for 54 years, and now he’s going to have an opportunity to go home and Judy’s going to have that ‘honey do’ list for him.

But he’s impacted every one of our players on this team. Everybody that’s here, Coach Junko has touched and he’s awesome, we wish him luck and we’re going to miss him but I’m sure he’s still going to be around. He gets in, gets his workout every day. He always has a place here at Pitt.

What do you appreciate about his dedication to the program?
Narduzzi: Oh man, just everything, really. His energy every day. He just is everything about this program. He is Pitt. We can’t thank him enough for everything he’s done. But he’s got energy every day. The energy Coach Junk’s got every day and the way he treats the kids - the kids love him. They walk into his office every day, ‘What’s up Coach Junk?’ He loves that. He’s just a big part of this program and still will be.