Pat Narduzzi spent part of Thursday morning breaking down a handful of training camp topics, and the Pitt coach kept coming back to the same theme: competition is everywhere right now, and it’s starting to get physical.
Before practice on the South Side, Narduzzi said the Panthers had taken a rest day Wednesday, using the time for meetings and a team movie after a demanding session the day before. He liked what he saw from the first padded practice.
“Great meetings. We got probably two and a half hours of meetings in.
Guys were able to go to a movie, but we had a heck of a practice the day before. It was physical.
I love our guys' intensity. I love the intensity that we approached that first day of pads.
I'm hoping it's not as intense today. Because guys were, you know, they're competing.
And I think, you know, through all my years here, there's a lot of competition going on. There's a lot of guys who - they want to play.
And I don't know what it is, but I think our depth is good. I think there's competition and guys are trying to prove themselves.
And it got a little nasty out there. It was kind of light, but we got to be smart.”
He also pointed to several playmakers from Tuesday’s work. Sophomore safety Josh Guerrier came up with two interceptions that Narduzzi called “elite interceptions,” while Rashan Murray added another takeaway. On offense, Elijah Lagg hauled in a one-handed touchdown catch in the end zone, and Demetrice McCray made three contested catches there as Pitt spent plenty of time in red-zone situations.
Guerrier, in particular, has started to separate himself after a slower start to camp.
“You know what? He started off a little slow in camp, but now the last couple of days he's turned it on.
I think he keeps getting better. He's got to have that confidence to go out there and be the guy all the time.
But he's got plenty of talent and potential, and we want to see it every day.”
Narduzzi also made it clear just how demanding that field safety spot can be.
“It's the hardest job on the defense because he's playing off-man. I always say those guys, everybody talks about being on an island, they're pressed out there.
I always think that's an easier job than playing off-man. I think it's hard to play off-man.
That's why we press, because I think it's easier. Otherwise, we'd play off-man out there, too, if we thought it was easier.
So he has a tough responsibility.”
Allen Bryant, he added, is also in the mix and “doing a great job as well.”
The cornerback battle is still wide open, and Narduzzi said he wants three starters there, not just two.
“It’s going well. I mean, Rashan Murray's made strides.
Raion Strader, we've talked about. That's going well.
Trying to think, you know, Shadarian's doing well. Shawn Lee's doing well.
We've got that competition. I want to have three starters.
It's going to be a three-man rotation. I don't care who gets to start on game day.
I want to have three guys, and we try to rotate three around daily.”
He also singled out Kanye as a player who has taken a noticeable step forward.
“Kanye's getting better. Kanye is way better than he was a year ago.
I see him tackling people. We all know he's got a 10.2 100-meter.
At times we don't see the 10.2,, but it's showing up. He does a good job on field goal block.
I mean, he's got speed.”
On the offensive side, Narduzzi said Blue can be used in more ways than he was last season, when he was largely a downfield threat.
“Yeah. I expect him to do more.
I expect him, you know, if we can get him on a motorcycle crossing route. But, you know, a dirt bike, I should say.”
“Too soon.”
“Yeah, way too soon. But, yeah, he can do a lot of different things, and we've probably got to utilize him. But you've got different guys you utilize.”
Narduzzi also weighed in on the new punt rule, and he wasn’t exactly sold on the way it was designed. He said the goal is to cut down on the wild punt formations teams have used, but he thinks the fix creates new problems, especially with jersey-number changes on the sideline.
“They want to get rid of all these crazy formations on punt teams. So they said, the only way you can line up in a crazy formation is to line up in an offensive formation, which is put a bunch of 70 numbers on the line of scrimmage, you know, 50 to 70.
“So they've eliminated that from the game. So you can kind of keep it simple so the defense knows kind of who's eligible, who's not eligible, because there's so many crazy formations that these guys lined up, and it's a good rule. However, then they put in there, well, then, you know, the only way you can do it is to put 70.
“So what we're going to see is a bunch of jersey changes on the sideline, which is, you know, just made it harder for the officials. They're trying to make it simpler for the officials to know who's eligible, who's not eligible.
Make it simple. Well, you just made it more complicated, in my opinion.
They shouldn't have the ability to put 70 numbers up there and let them not be eligible. It just doesn't make any sense.”
Asked whether Pitt’s punt team will have to adjust, Narduzzi said the answer is yes for everyone.
“Yeah, it changes. It changes for everybody in the country.
It changes what you have to do on punt team. Now we have to prepare for it.
So they just made it harder on us, so it'll be chaotic.”
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