PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – What did Pat Narduzzi see from his first scrimmage Saturday? The first sustained live hitting since December.
The Panthers head coach said they weren't able to work in Acrisure Stadium due to the weather, but got 130 plays in with another 30 on special teams at the team's indoor facility on the South Side. They used a scoring system that allows for defensive points as he said the defense won 28-24.
"It was low scoring," Narduzzi said Tuesday. "Got a couple of turnovers. The good thing about the scrimmage was it was back-and-forth. It was solid, well-run and as a head coach you were happy; not really mad at the offense or defense."
"It was really turnovers. When we win the turnover battle during the last eight seasons at Pitt we have an 87% chance of winning."
Linebacker Solomon DeShields believes there were five turnovers grabbed by the defense. He said he had a couple of tackles for loss as did LB Bengally Kamara. He pointed out the play of safeties Javon McIntyre and Marquez Williams. The junior said the freshmen played well as a whole and was impressed by their hitting.
Narduzzi said linebacker Braylan Lovelace didn't have a great scrimmage but has been impressive this camp. He said quarterback Ty Dieffenbach was sharp and threw some nice deep balls.
As for the likely battle between transfers Phil Jurkovec and Christian Veilleux to be the starting quarterback.
"The quarterbacks are doing a great job," Narduzzi said. "Great practice, great scrimmage, we will find out in September when we open up. I'm excited about the passing game."
"The work ethic on and off the field," receiver Bub Means said of the two quarterbacks, adding both are elite. "On their days off, they come in here and watch film. I talk to Phil (Jurkovec) before every practice and say this is what I see on film. This is what we should do. He really chops it up with me. Christian (Veilleux)-we go work together on the off days."
"We got to work on little things-fine details, fine tuning. It's Spring, we aren't going to be clicking on all cylinders right now. I'm proud of what we did in the scrimmage. We made some plays. We saw what we really had to work on. We are just working."
Narduzzi also praised defensive linemen Nahki Johnson and Bam Brima. He also said the safeties (McIntyre, Steph Hall, Donovan McMillon, PJ O'Brien) looked good, but was annoyed that O'Brien took an unsportsmanlike penalty in the practice.
He was more annoyed they didn't follow up the scrimmage with a good practice on Tuesday. Narduzzi said they took a step back, had a lack of focus and didn't want to hear any excuses.
Panthers host their Pro Day for NFL Teams Wednesday at their team facilities.
