Pitt Spring Practice #6  March 26, 2015

Thursday’s practice sessions is in the books and below are the transcripts for some interviews with Narduzzi, Coach Hill, and two players from yesterday’s workout. There is some interesting stuff starting to come out of these practices, none totally unexpected but interesting nonetheless.

First off Coach Narduzzi is now more expansive in describing where the players and the team are at this point in practices.  The coaching staff is turning up the heat as far as competition for playing positions go with adjusting the depth chart going into the session’s second scrimmage being held tomorrow.  The difference between a school’s established HC doing this in the spring and a school’s brand newly hired HC doing it is that the players have to really grasp and understand that this staff holds no allegiance to anyone on the depth chart (more on that later). Interesting point  that the depth chart  shuffling doesn’t happen on scrimmage days.

I find two issues in his interview deserve a closer look.  His statement about Tyrique Jarrett doing well during the actual plays and impressing the staff with his work and “then he’ll walk somewhere and make me mad.”  That goes hand in hand with Narduzzi’s prior comments about 100% effort at all times.  I suppose he and his staff demand that you run everywhere.

The second point is that he is now peeling back the curtain a bit on how his staff actually approaches the nuts and bolts of conducting practices and scrimmages.  Both the comment about the limit on which days they installing new “stuff” and then running those new plays / formations only a few times before they break off for a day or two, watch the insertion on film, then correct any flaws during the next practice until it is up to their satisfaction.

 Pitt Live Wire Features

This is a fantastic video,  Pitt’s Dynamic Duo: Tyler Boyd and James Conner, that delves into the on and off the field relationship of our two offensive stars James Conner and Tyler Boyd.  Have fun watching it.  I particularly like the part where they describe their favorite plays of the other kid.  At one point in the film, after showing Conner run around and through defensive players, he talks about his very effective stiff-arm’ move “I think our other guys (RBs) should use it more often, they don’t do it enough… it is what it is.” He says that with a chuckle meaning he beats the crap out of defensive backs with it and has fun while doing it. “

Two great players, two good role models and hopefully, two great leaders for the 2015 season (probably their last in a PITT uniform unless we get lucky).

Here is the web Link for PITT’s Thursday Practice Photo Gallery. Here are a few photos that jumped out at me:  Coach Tom Sim’s Evil Eyes; how big LB Reggie Green looks; the complete Old Testament tattooed on J.P. Holtz’s left arm and the insidious way the coaching staff confuses the defense by having two QB throw the ball two different directions during the same play.

Here are the transcripts from the video interviews.

Coach Pat Narduzzi: week two impressions:

Video: Coach Pat Narduzzi

“We’re starting to get to the point where coaching should take place and there should be improvement, and there’s improvement in some areas and there’s no improvement in other areas. The first few days were calm but now there has to be some pressure on the kids to make improvements. That’s what we’re going to see. There’s going to be some changes in the depth chart here and there. I would imagine after the scrimmage on Saturday, you had a chance to learn it and do what we needed to do. So we’re at that point now and it’s getting serious.

 “I think our offense is really doing a good job. I think they’re starting to click and Coach Chaney has done a nice job and they have enough offense in that they can be explosive. Defensively, anytime you put new plays in on offense, the defense has the hardest job in the country because you have to react to it.

You have to react to what an offense is doing formationally, you correct reads, and anytime there’s new plays, we’re going to struggle. That doesn’t bother me. It is techniques, fundamentals and the little things that I could see improvement on. Some guys that aren’t showing improvement are going to slip down the depth chart and we’re going to give other guys an opportunity.

It’ll be fun to evaluate the tape as we continue to move. The more knowledge they have, I want them to get better as far as their knowledge and little things they’re doing.”

 On defensive end Rori Blair being an every down player:

“He can play first and second down, no doubt about it. He has to continue to get better. I ate dinner with him last night down in the café and he has to eat better. We’re trying to control and get in everything. He goes slowly, ‘Coach I can’t eat anymore.’ I said I could eat all that plus my plate. Why can I eat it and you can’t? So we have to teach them how to eat, too. He has to get bigger, but he could be a very good football player for us. He just has to learn that motor all the time.”

On where he has seen the most improvement through six practices:

“It’s hard to say. You’ve seen improvement in so many areas. It’s hard to say because you see improvement every day, but is it enough? It’s never enough for a coach. There has been a lot of areas—I couldn’t tell you one area. There’s been a lot of improvement and there’s some areas that are staying the same, but nothing has gotten worse but it’s supposed to get better. You have to get better every day.”

On a strong defensive line being the most important part to a winning team:

“I think a strong offensive line is and a strong defensive line. We always talk about that it starts up front. If you can’t win up front with those guys, you have a problem. You can have the greatest secondary in the world, but if you don’t have a defensive line that can put some pressure on the quarterback you’re going to have issues. It starts up front offensively and defensively.”

Note: Speaking of defense, here is an excellent video of our new DC Josh Conklin at work.

On using all spring for installation:

“Every day, except maybe the day before the scrimmage, which we have tomorrow to review it. We won’t install anything Saturday morning. Scrimmage days we don’t install. We’re going to continue to give those guys another peak just to keep them thinking. It’s never going to stay the same. They have to pick it up. The first seven days of next fall, they’ll have this thing much better than where they are now. That’s expected.

Then we’ll get it. We don’t expect the new stuff we put in today to be perfect. There’s no coach in the country that should. That’s why if you put a new defense in, you don’t run it 15 times. You run it a couple times then watch tape and make sure they see it and they’ll go ‘OK, I have it now.’ The film sessions are incredible.”

On if the depth chart shuffling is taking players by surprise:

“It’s probably taken some guys by surprise already. There’s already been movement that maybe you guys don’t see. We’ll move it every day. We don’t just move it during scrimmages. It gets moved daily to shake things up. It’s been good for some guys.”

On players stepping up:

“It’s up and down. I’d say Tyrique [Jarrett] looks really good and then he’ll walk somewhere and make me mad. There’s good and bad out of everybody. I’d have to watch tape before I’d say that after this practice.”

On what he has seen from Jevonte Pitts so far:

“Jevonte has been doing a good job. He’s sound right now and we’ll see after what happened today. If you know how to do your job and do the little things right, you have a chance to play. He’s a good tackler and he gets in the right spot most of the time. That’s something we’re looking for.”

On the success on offense:

“Chad [Voytik] is doing a nice job. I think he’s in there with Coach Chaney for hours. I don’t know if he goes to class. I might have to do a class check tomorrow. I think he only has class with Coach Chaney at times. I think every extra minute he has, he’s in here studying. He’s a guy that studies the game. He has a strong arm and can make a lot of throws out there. He’s going to put the offense in the right place.”

 On things standing out consistently in film after practice:

“Every day. You see more in the classroom than you see on the practice field. You can see effort. If I know the play I can see where the guy’s eyes are. It’s a lot of eye control on defense and finishing plays on offense. You see little things, but you can’t see 11 guys. When you watch tape, you’re seeing every one of those guys. The things you see there, you try to create a drill and individual that you can fix it. I think we fix some things and then our offense does some more plays then you have to fix that the next day. That’s what we do.”

Cornerbacks Coach Renaldo Hill on assessing the group after a couple weeks of practice:

“There’s been improvement every day and that’s the one thing as a coach you like to see. We just have to continue to work. We have a lot of spring left and I just want to continue to see that development.”

 On corner Avonte Maddox getting ready for his sophomore year:

“He’s starting to pick up on the small detailed things that we talk about. A lot of times when you’re a freshman, you just want to line up and play. That’s one thing I knew about him. He’s going to line up and play regardless, but now he’s starting to pick up on the fine-tune things like receiver splits and certain situations where they might try to attack you. He’s starting to understand the aspects of the football game a little better.”

 On Avonte Maddox going up against Duke’s All-ACC receiver Jamison Crowder last year:

“I watched the film and the one thing you like to see is that he continued to get back up there and compete, play after play. He was going up against the top receiver in the conference but I don’t think he was afraid of the challenge at all. He just kept stepping up to the plate and as a defensive back we all know that we have to have a short memory back there.

“You definitely want to have corners with short memory because we know we play a lot of up-and-close in your face and we know we’re going to get a lot of deep routes in that situation. We just need to make sure that we’re winning the battle at the end of the day and coming out with the ‘W.’”

 On Pat Amara having the ability to play safety and corner:  “Pat is a really smart player. He is able to pick up on the scheme…He even asked me if he could move outside and play a little corner.”

Cornerback Reggie Mitchell on his thoughts after two weeks of practice:

Video: Defensive Back Reggie Mitchell

“It feels good. We’re coming out and attacking every day. I have a totally different mindset this year of just constantly getting after the ball every single day. I’m feeling good with the new program.”

 On his role:  “I’m primarily the field safety so I just have one position this year.”

 On developing a “pursuit mentality”:   “We didn’t have that mentality last year. It wasn’t eleven guys to the ball. Since they’re putting more emphasis on it, they obviously saw that we needed to improve in that area.”

 On having Coach Narduzzi always around the defense:  “I love when he comes down and works with us. It’s one-on-one coaching from the best.”

 On new assistant coach Renaldo Hill, who played in the NFL:  “It’s great as well. He knows a lot of different little things that receivers do that he gives us little tips on. I’ve definitely improved a lot just from the little time I’ve had with him.”

 On the safety’s role in the defense:  “We’re playing a lot closer to the line and have a run-first mentality on every play. We’re making sure they aren’t going to run the ball on us.”

 On the simplification theme with the defense:  “Coach Narduzzi made everything much simpler this year. He drills us in the film room with questions, but once we get on the field it’s just play.”

One last thought provoking idea… The staff has talked about mixing the depth chart around during the spring,  that is normal and we expect to see a lot more of that in fall camp including at the QB position when our transfer from Tennessee rsJR Nate Peterman arrives.  Peterman is a graduate transfer thus is eligible to play right away this season with two full years of eligibility at PITT, he isn’t a one year fix like Tom Savage was and he is being brought in to compete for the starting job.

Narduzzi doing that serves two purposes, one being that he may actually be a better QB than Voytik and win the starters job outright and two, he will push Voytik to do his absolute best in fall camp.  As much as we PITT fans like Chad Voytik he didn’t really play well enough so as to not allow any competition for the job.

If you look at the overall status of our passing game last season it was pretty average at best, and in some aspects pretty poor. In 2014 PITT’s passing game was: 34^th nationally in Passing Efficiency; 77^th in Passing Yards (Voytik) and 102^nd in Passing Offense.  That part of the offense can be better, and we shouldn’t overlook the fact that our OC Jim Cheney has a long history with Peterman as Peterman’s OC during the young QB’s years at Tennessee and he personally lobbied hard to get Peterman to transfer to PITT.

Back in Chaney actually recruited Peterman to Tennessee when Peterman was the 4-star #8 ranked HS QB in the nation.  Going into the 2015 season he’s grown to 6’2” and 225 lbs, nice size for a QB and graduated with an undergrad degree in three years so he’s a sharp kid also.

This is no slouch pick-up bench warmer but someone who was brought in for a purpose and I think the fact that he has two years at PITT means a great deal.

Voytik has his very effective running game going for him and that may well be the big difference maker in keeping the job but there will be an open and true QB competition before the season starts. If I was a betting man I’d say 70/30 Voytik starts the season albeit on a short hook.  However, I wouldn’t be shocked if the new staff went with Peterman right off the bat either because, again, there is no loyalty to Voytik by the new staff.  Either way I think he was a great pickup by Narduzzi and Cheney.

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