Pitt defensive line coach Charlie Partridge met the media last week to talk about the linemen, expectations, accountability and more.

Here's the full rundown of what he said.

How do you feel after five practices?
Partridge: Good. It’s been an adjustment with Coach Cig’s offense, and I really feel like the guys are playing hard, learning some new keys. But give Coach Cig a lot of credit and give our guys a lot of credit as well for continuing to work and work through some things. But I’m happy with a lot of guys on D-line. A lot of guys are developing and really starting to show their game elevate.

On Tuesday, Dave Borbely talked about the O-line and how they first come in as freshmen and it’s 100-level classes and now he’s got them at graduate level; you’ve got a lot of returning guys, are you at that point, too, where you can really get the intricacies with some of those older guys?
Partridge: Yeah, and this is probably the biggest group I’ve had that I’m able to have those next-level conversations with. I look here at my depth chart, I mean, Deslin, Morgan - also known as “trap walker,” right? I had to throw that plug in for him - Dayon Hayes, Nate Temple, I mean, Kancey, Bentley, Devin, David Green, who had a great practice today, these are all guys I can have high-level conversations with and I’m excited about where their game is.

With Dayon, what have you seen out of him this spring?
Partridge: What’s fun for me is, now he’s putting together effort and technique and knowledge. When you combine those three things as a defensive lineman, you have a chance for a lot of success. He’s shown a lot more signs of doing all three of those things here in the first five practices. He’s really elevated his game.

With Haba back, how good is it to have him and where do you see him taking that next step after the season that he had?
Partridge: Well, the fun thing is, he comes to me after practice and he’s already got cut-ups made of himself, put into different sections, these things that he wants to watch with me - that’s the sign of a guy who’s approaching the game like a pro. There was somewhere around half a dozen sacks last year that he was within inches of, and he’s looking for that extra inch to put five or six more sacks on his game. And TFL’s and things like that as well, but obviously they’re all trying to get to that quarterback. So he’s at that point in his game where he’s fighting for that extra inch, and he’ll find it with the way he’s preparing for practice every day.

He spent a couple years with Rashad and Patrick; how much do you think he absorbed from seeing those guys in the last couple years of their careers and is applying it to what he’s doing now in his approach?
Partridge: Without a doubt. What’s fun is, I have a group that comes in early in the morning; that’s your 100-level class. And then some of the older guys will come in and take part of that. And then there are some very cool night conversations where guys will come in voluntarily on their own and ask for extra. Haba’s the one that comes to both. It’s pretty cool to hear him take a 300-level class and then walk into the 100-level class and teach those guys. He’s another coach in the room, so I couldn’t be happier about having him as a leader in our room.

With Calijah and the steps you hope to see him make, first of all, when you look at the film from last year, what did you see that impressed you? And what are the areas that you think he can grow on?
Partridge: I think one of the things that he’s going to have to prove to himself at the next level is just to continue to - and he did a nice job; l don’t want to mislead you with my answer here - but as we know, he’s smaller in stature than some D-tackles. I have no problem with that and neither will the next level, as we know from another guy whose name is right there (points at Aaron Donald’s name). And I’m not going to compare him to Aaron, but he’s got some of those skill sets.

It’s the double teams in the run game where they try to go right at him, where his technique needs to be on the level of almost perfection. When he does that, he can split double teams and make great plays, but those are things that he’s going to have to continue to be consistent with. He’s definitely done it. He’s proven he can do it. As he gets consistent with it, he’s going to be special for awhile playing this game.

How much has he embraced that, in terms of the film and work and advice and everything that you’re giving him?
Partridge: You know, the thing is fun going into my sixth year back here, my 11th total, there’s a standard in the room and there’s an expectation from player to player about guys coming in and getting extra, and Calijah’s one of those guys that’s holding other people accountable because he holds himself so accountable to doing extra things. These guys, they’re workhorses, and the guys that are coming in and learning it, they’re realizing that there’s a high standard in the defensive line room in terms of preparation, which hopefully translates to production on Saturdays.

To the point where, if there’s a young guy doing the wrong thing or not what they’re supposed to do, you almost know that one of your older guys are going to - you don’t have to say it, they’re going to say it?
Partridge: Yes. There was actually a point coming off of spring break on Tuesday where, we were in the middle of a drill and I made a quick coaching point, and then I went to the other active part of the drill and I looked back and I didn’t see the level of follow-up from the players in line that I expect. So I stopped everything and turned back and reminded them, ‘Fellas, our expectation here is that we’re going to coach each other, so when I make a point that you older guys know what I’m talking about, when I walk away, I better see an older guy hold that kid accountable to the point where you’re teaching him,’ and immediately they knew what I was talking about. So it’s fun that standard is set right now. Hopefully we can keep it going.

All of those older guys and experienced guys, what about some of the younger group? Even someone like Bam Brima, who hasn’t played a ton, Elliot Donald, Nahki Johnson, what have you seen out of that group?
Partridge: So, Bam is by far playing his best football. Far and away. Run, pass - he’s swinging, meaning inside and outside, playing tackle and playing end. He’s going to be a guy that rotates, he’s going to be deep in the rotation this year. Elliot’s continuing to work on being consistent with his fundamentals, but he’s showing flashes. Nahki is really, really playing physical. FitzSimmons is way ahead of the curve - he has prom in like three weeks, you know? And Sam Williams is a guy that - I know you probably saw some of his stuff on social media that he popped out there - he’s got a ton of talent. And I can’t remember if I talked about the recruiting story with him, but Sam interviewed me. He really did, and it was a very cool experience for me. He was asking me during the recruiting process some pretty high-level questions for a high school senior. So he’s approaching things the way I kind of expected him to: ahead of the curve, in terms of his level of questions and his approach.