Pat Narduzzi pleased with linebackers’ interceptions in Pitt’s 1st scrimmage
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Within his self-made parameters, Pat Narduzzi was as transparent as his coach’s mindset allowed Tuesday morning while reporting on how Pitt’s closed, 124-play scrimmage unfolded Saturday.
Prominent among his mentions were the interceptions recorded by linebackers Bangally Kamara and Shayne Simon.
“Two nice interceptions,” he said. “I thought, ‘Wow, that was a big-time play.’ ”
He also said cornerback Rashad Battle picked off a pass, but that’s where the details ended.
“I won’t tell you what quarterback threw them,” he said.
But Narduzzi did mention the final score, 56-54, in favor of the defense.
Pat Narduzzi reports on Saturday’s scrimmage pic.twitter.com/NmiPCUXRhu
— Jerry DiPaola (@JDiPaola_Trib) August 16, 2022
“At first, I said the defense got beat,” he said. “I think the offense was ahead the entire time, and at the end, the defense won a four-minute situation, which was get the ball back. Then, the defense won the two-minute.”
Narduzzi liked the linebackers’ interceptions, but he said there were no individual stars.
“Just kind of solid,” he said of his team’s overall performance. “Not many unforced errors, which is what I wanted to see, jumping offsides and all that.”
He said there were points awarded for scoring plays, big plays, first downs, three-and-outs and turnovers. Of course, sacks are a matter of debate among coaches and players because the defense isn’t allowed to hit the quarterback. So, a quarterback might wriggle out of trouble in a scrimmage when he would have been tackled in a game.
Turnovers are what matter most, anyway.
“It’s hard for a defense to lose (a scrimmage) when you get turnovers,” Narduzzi said. “It’s hard for an offense to lose if you don’t turn it over. You have to protect the football.”
Asked about his linebackers, Narduzzi seems pleased with their progress.
“Bangally’s really playing at a high level,” he said, also tossing Simon, SirVocea Dennis, Solomon DeShields and Tylar Wiltz into the group of linebackers playing well.
“He’s what we thought he’d be,” he said of Wiltz. “He’s not going to be a bust. You’ll be watching him on game day.
“Solomon DeShields has taken a step forward. He’s going to play a lot of football for us.”
The coach also pays attention to the walk-ons and he said redshirt freshman Nick Lapi of Upper Saddle River, N.J., has had “an outstanding camp.”
“He’s strong. He’s physical. He’s twitchy. He runs around. Nick has been impressive.
“He was going to help us on special teams to begin with, but he’s made some strides and he’s become a really good football player.”
Narduzzi said performances in scrimmages are measured differently than what happens in practice.
“You certainly do measure the scrimmages more than the practices,” he said. “To me, that’s game day. If you’ve been average all week and all of a sudden you have a great game, I’d rather have that than a guy who’s great in practice every day and he gets out on game day and can’t play.”