Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi addressed the media ahead of the team's practice on Thursday morning. Practice was held at Heinz Field and it was the first day for full pads. Here is a rundown of what he said.

Narduzzi: There’s only seven other opportunities counting today, and six after this one. So it’s a day to practice blocking, tackling, and finishing blocks. Again defensively we have to do a good job tackling so if you aren’t in position to make plays, then you’ve got issues.

Those nine padded practices don’t include the week of the first game, do they?

Narduzzi: Yes, they do include them. We get 25 practices from when we opened up camp until that day.

Is it important from a competition standpoint to come to Heinz Field? Mike Tomlin talked about getting the team in here to get a feel for the field. Is that important?

Narduzzi: There’s no question about it. Coach Tomlin is exactly right. The more access we get to Heinz Field the better. To me that’s a huge benefit for the Steelers to be able to go here. They don’t play games in Latrobe. They play here at Heinz Field, and so do we. So the access is critical. To me it comes down to - we’ll gave some kicking today. It’s going to be critical how our kickers kick today in this atmosphere?

Are you coming back here before the end of the month?

Narduzzi: Yea. We have a scrimmage on a Sunday in here after the Steelers play. I don’t know the date, but they play on our day - Saturday. So we’ll play on Sunday.

How is the safety position looking? I know Damar is gone and some new faces are coming in. How is that shaking out?

Narduzzi: We’ll find out. I’m happy with Erick Hallett and Brandon Hill. Again, we’ll find out. Rashad Battle is learning and doing well, very talented. So we’ll see how that whole thing shakes out.

For the DBs as a whole, how important is today to get out here in full pads?

Narduzzi: I think we’re going to have six, seven guys in the secondary as well. Is it going to be a freshman that steps up, you know who is it? Marquis (Williams) is really playing well. He’s playing with an attitude. He’s locked-in, he’s focused. I’ve really liked what I’ve seen out of him in the first five or six days here. We’ll find out. We’ve got guys, but they’ve got to make plays on game day and make plays in this place.

Who are Owen Drexel’s backups at center right now?

Narduzzi: Blake Zubovic is getting a lot of work at the center position. Terrence Moore is as well. We can move a few guys in there if it comes to it.

Kradel can play center too, right?

NarduzzI: Kradel can do that. That’s what I’m saying, we’ve got guys that can play in there.

How important is to look sharp today in this stadium with the heat and all of that?

Narduzzi: It’s critical. Obviously the sharper we look today, then you know how to plan the rest of your practices. If we look sloppy then we need to crank it up: we need more of this or that. So just saying we need more, more, more. I’m hoping we’re saying we need less. Let’s loosen up and not do as much and overwork them.

Who is stepping up at defensive tackle as whole?

Narduzzi: They’re all back. It’s interesting because one of the players asked today: Who is the toughest player on the team? Someone said David Green. David Green is playing well. Again, Devin Danielson, he’s pretty darn tough. Calijah, all of those guys are tough. Tyler Bentley. I mean there’s some guys inside. I would think one of our strengths is that D-Tackle position. Don’t forget Keyshon Camp. If that guy stays healthy, he’s electric. He’s another Calijah Kancey is what he is. He’s a quicker, twitch guys that can run and make plays and can cause some problems for guards trying to block him one on one. So that position group is strong.

Keyshon has looked good so far?

Narduzzi: He really has. He’s looked good and getting his foot wet. When you don’t practice a whole lot you don’t have a whole lot of fundamentals.

How is Nick Patti coming along?

Narduzzi: He keeps doing good. He had a few dropped balls the other day which goes against his percentage in completions. But Nick is doing well, but we’ll find out what he does at Heinz and see what he does in the scrimmages.

Izzy has been getting a lot of the attention at running back. How has Vince and the other guys looked?

Narduzzi: Vince has been good. I can kind of remember the last couple of days, Vince has had an opportunity to make some plays. He’s taken a couple to the house. He’s electric. He’s quicker than he was a year ago. When I go back to Georgia Tech then what I saw the last few days…Vince looks good. The other guys are solid. We’ll see what they’ve got today,

Are the quarterbacks behind Kenny live today?

Narduzzi: No. If they are in red jerseys then they’re not live. We thought about it. We did that in the spring and in the first scrimmage we may do it. We haven’t had that conversation for Saturday. We’ll find out, but they’re not live today.