Narduzzi on leadership, 'up and down' players and more

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Pat Narduzzi shared his thoughts on defensive leadership, "up and down" players and more on Monday morning.

NARDUZZI: Second week, really, of camp. It’s kind of a new week because, I guess officially, by University standards, academics ended Friday. But there are still some things going on this week. Grades will be in on Thursday, so it’s always interesting to get those in. And there are still some little projects going on, guys are finishing little stuff that maybe was unfinished in the six weeks or 12 weeks during the summer. So that’s just about to an end, probably for a majority of the guys.

The scrimmage Saturday was pretty good; we probably got about 120 plays. Overall, happy with the effort. Stayed pretty healthy, which is always a great thing. We didn’t overdo it, which was our plan. I would say most guys got somewhere between 40 and 55 snaps, I guess, not counting special teams reps. A lot of little things still to clean up. A full ACC official crew was there, so it was good to get them involved. And just little things - we need to clean up those unforced errors.

Overall, I’m happy with where we are after five, heading into six today.

HOW CAREFUL DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO NOT JUMP TO TOO MANY CONCLUSIONS AFTER ONE SCRIMMAGE?
NARDUZZI: It’s funny. We go through the depth chart as a staff every day; you guys would love to be in those meetings. One day, it’s like, ‘Hey, that guy’s ahead of this guy.’ Then you go to the next practice and it’s like, ‘Well, it’s a reversal.’ I mean, it’s day by day. These kids wake up in the morning and who knows what they’re thinking and what they have on their mind, what’s happening in their personal lives.

But it changes every day and it’s that consistent guy - there are some guys that have a great day and then you’re like, ‘Where were you today?’ and then they have a great day. Like a yo-yo, up and down. And there’s those consistent guys that give it to you every single day. So we try to make the guys that are inconsistent - they have that really, really good day that you go, ‘Wow, we can win 10 games with that guy.’ And then the next day you’re going, ‘What happened?’ Making those guys consistent when they have talent and making sure that they’re doing everything right as far as the focus part goes is really important.

DEPTH-WISE, WHO’S STANDING OUT ON THE OFFENSIVE LINE?
NARDUZZI: You know what? Behind the starters - we’re still determining starters, as well. We’ll get a really good look at Brandon Hodges today; we didn’t want to get him out there too quickly. Bryce Hargrove is doing a nice job. Jimmy Morrissey and Dintino are still having a battle inside. Tony Pilato’s really made some strides, which is where a lineman should be going into this third year: redshirts as a freshman, second year he’s still going, ‘Hey, where am I?’ He’s wearing a new jersey, his dad’s old jersey; I think that’s a little prideful thing, number 72. Old Sam Pilato. So I think that’s something that he’s wanted and I think that’s just an additional motivation for him.

WHERE DOES HODGES OPEN UP? GUARD OR TACKLE?
NARDUZZI: He’s going to start off at tackle.

RIGHT TACKLE?
NARDUZZI: Yeah.

WITH HIM IN THE MIX, HOW MUCH DOES THAT ALLOW YOU TO LOOK AT THINGS DIFFERENTLY THAN YOU DID IN THE SPRING?
NARDUZZI: We’ll find out. We’ll find out after today a little bit more and the next day a little bit more and the next day a little bit more. It helps us. It’s a quality guy that’s played some good football and we expect to get even better football out of him.

HOW’S THE DEFENSIVE LINE RESPONDED THROUGH THE FIRST WEEK OF CAMP? JOSH CONKLIN TWEETED THREE GUYS THAT HAVE BEEN DOG SOLDIERS OF THE DAY SO FAR?
NARDUZZI: I don’t know about those dog soldiers. They’ve done a good job. Some ups and downs. I’ll tell you what, the guy that’s been as consistent as you can ask for is Allen Edwards. That guy has been really good and you want your seniors playing their best football, and he really is. He’s been consistent every day. I don’t know if he’s got a dog solider or not, but I’ve been happy with where Allen Edwards has been.

At the other end, Dewayne Hendrix has been really good as well. And inside, it’s been a little of up and down; still trying to find out who those guys are.

LAST NIGHT YOU GUYS HAD POSITIONAL TEAM DINNERS; WE SAW THAT ON TWITTER. HOW IMPORTANT IS THAT AND HOW MUCH DO YOU ENJOY SPENDING THAT TIME AND BONDING?
NARDUZZI: I think everybody really enjoys it. It’s a great night and it’s something that I think the kids look forward to, going out there and being with their coach and getting off campus, getting in a different atmosphere, getting out maybe in the public eye. It’s a fun day. Sunday was our first day off ever; I guess it’s something to talk about. They really had a fresh day yesterday. Usually we’d wear them out with three hours of meetings, and with new NCAA rules and the extra week that we talked about last week, yesterday was one of those days, and next Sunday we have something planned for them as well to hang out and bond with them and do those family-type things.

WHO ARE SOME OF THE OLDER GUYS ON YOUR DEFENSE THAT YOU’VE SEEN TAKING A STEP FORWARD AS FAR AS BEING VOCAL AND LEADING?
NARDUZZI: Do we have any older guys on defense?

YOU HAVE LIKE TWO, I THINK.
NARDUZZI: We don’t have many. Avonte Maddox, for sure. Dennis Briggs; I consider him an old man because he got married this summer. Congratulations to him and his wife. But those are two guys in the back end I can think of. Allen Edwards is really, like I said, he’s done a nice job; I’m not quite sure if he’s a leader. But Avonte seems to be the guy right now that steps up in that leadership role.

LAST WEEK, YOU MENTIONED VOTING FOR THAT LEADERSHIP COUNCIL; HAVE YOU TALLIED THOSE UP?
NARDUZZI: Oh yeah. Come on, now. We’ve tallied it up.

WE JUST DON’T KNOW WHO THAT IS?
NARDUZZI: No.

A LITTLE BIRDY TOLD ME PARIS FORD IS GOOD TO GO.
NARDUZZI: Your bird’s better than my bird.