ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL KICKOFF

July 26, 2023

Pat Narduzzi

MJ Devonshire

Matt Goncalves

Phil Jurkovec

Pitt Panthers

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We welcome you inside the grand ballroom here on the second floor of the Westin. We are in Uptown Charlotte for day two of the 2023 ACC Football Kickoff. Leading off this morning will be Pitt and Head Coach Pat Narduzzi. Then we'll have our student-athletes. Questions for Coach.

Q. Kind of a big picture NIL question, have you gotten a sense of is there an advantage to your program being in a major city as opposed to maybe other schools in the ACC that could be in a smaller footprint? Do you have a gauge of that at all?

PAT NARDUZZI: Good morning, Mike. Any time you are in a larger metropolitan city like Pittsburgh you're going to have those advantages. It takes time to build those advantages as well. Our athletic department is working hard to just increase what's happening there as well as our collective.

Q. How are you doing this morning, Coach? As the last ACC champs ever at the moment from the Coastal, how do you feel when you hear people say, like, oh, now that there are no more divisions, it's going to be a little bit tougher on Coastal teams? How do you feel about that type of talk?

PAT NARDUZZI: I totally disagree with it. I appreciate you mentioning that championship. My man MJ has his ring on today. Show that ring, MJ. He has that championship ring on this morning. Nobody reminded me to bring my ring today.

I think it has nothing to do with it. I think back in '21 when we went to the championship game and beat Wake Forest, you beat the reigning champion in Clemson at home. You took care of business.

When you are in the Atlantic or in the Coastal Division, pretty much you have to beat Clemson to get there, correct? To me we did that and won the championship, so to me that makes it even sweeter.

Q. As far as the transfer portal goes, the ability to go anywhere and not have to sit out, especially within conference, you have obviously taken advantage of that. What do you think about the new rules and how you can find somebody going up against you and then have an opportunity to have them work for you the next season?

PAT NARDUZZI: Again, we tried not to make a living in the portal. I want to recruit high school football players. I think we've got some 21 or 22 committed to us for the '24 class. You go off of need, and if someone ends up leaving your program, you're able to supplement it with an older guy.

I think the rules are good. I think the portal window hopefully will shrink a little bit as far as figuring out -- 90% of the kids go in the portal the first five, seven days anyway. Let's shorten the windows and move on.

Q. In terms of not having the flashiest recruiting classes on paper and all that, not having a ton of five stars and all that come through your program, Pitt is still consistently at the top in terms of producing NFL talent and how many guys get drafted every year. Can you speak to player development and how you all make that happen?

PAT NARDUZZI: Well, I think it starts with player development. It starts with evaluations, okay? Obviously we need coaches to coach our players and develop the guys that you are seeing on the stage up here, but you also need to have an eye for talent, I think, and I really trust our evaluation process. It comes down to -- I would say are we're the total opposite of being lazy in the evaluation process. Whether it's a guy in the portal that -- the portal is full of guys, but we got a couple of scholarships still available right now, but I haven't chosen to go out there and use those in the portal because there's nobody really that I go, oh, we want that guy.

So we're going to be very picky with who we take. We got some guys on our football team that I think are pretty good football players that will hopefully at the end of August give those guys a scholarship and reward those guys.

But I think it comes down to evaluation process I think. I don't know the exact numbers, but a few weeks ago they kind of re-ranked our '18 class or something like that and said it was ranked in the top ten.

I don't care where the rankings are. We don't recruit stars. I'm not looking to have the flashiest recruiting class because all those stars don't matter. Some people just recruit stars. Oh, he is a four-star guy. Let's take him.

We're not going to do that. We try to avoid that and look for the best possible football player that fits our program.

Q. Pat, there was a lot of talk yesterday and just in general about NIL legislation and guidelines. If you could change one thing about the current NIL landscape, what would it be?

PAT NARDUZZI: Good to have you down here. I think the most important thing is if I had to -- there's got to be a lid on it, right? I think everybody wants to play under the same rules. National Football League, they have a salary cap. I think you want to have some type of salary cap. This is what you are allowed to spend, but you can't have universities that maybe have 75,000 students, those guys are all former alumnus at some point. When you have 16,000, all that thing is going to -- it's going to matter.

It can't be based on how big your university is because we'll start building more dorms and what are we doing? We have education that is a priority, and we're not going to have classes full of thousands of kids. We're going to have small class sizes and, again, we're going to have small alumni groups as they matriculate through the University of Pittsburgh.

I think there's got to be a lid on the thing. There's got to be some type of, if you are going to leave the portal open, there has to be a salary cap so people can't just go overspend.

Q. You guys are playing at Yankee Stadium this year against Syracuse. How cool is it to play in that famous ballpark?

PAT NARDUZZI: It's really cool. Last time I was there we didn't win a game in that park, so we'll be working hard to go back there.

You always kind of think about Yankee Stadium and the prestige of going into that facility in New York. You know, at 3:30, I believe the game time is.

It will be a fun game. Again, as a coach I always look back to, hey, what happened last time I was there? We'll make sure that doesn't happen. That's coach talk.

Q. As one of the longest tenured in the ACC right now, just what can you say about the brand that the Atlantic Coast Conference has brought to football and just what you have seen going up against the teams that you have had from year in and year out, as one of the coaches that has had a lot of time in?

PAT NARDUZZI: It's interesting. I spent eight years in the Big Ten before coming here. Obviously as a defensive coordinator, not a head coach. Now eight years in the ACC.

I personally -- again, it's no slam to the Big Ten at all because it's a heck of a conference as well, but I look at the quality of players in the ACC. Maybe it's because it stretches down the Atlantic coast from Miami up to Boston, but just the quality of athletes, it's different.

I look at it in the defensive perspective, some of the receivers that we got to defend, I felt like we didn't have to defend that back in the day in the Big Ten.

Then I think when you look at the quarterbacks, I think we had 12 different quarterbacks start in the NFL from the ACC last year. That's impressive. We have one right next door in Kenny Pickett.

I think the quality of quarterback -- we know the game starts with the quarterback play, correct? You can have a left guard or a center position or a defensive tackle, but when you talk college football and some of the best football, it comes to quarterbacks. You look at Trevor Lawrence and all the quarterbacks that the ACC has produced. I look back in the Big Ten and look at -- we had one of the premier guys in Kirk Cousins, but when you look at the Big Ten in the last really 16 years, who are those guys that are starting in the NFL? Kirk Cousins is probably the most popular one that you think of at this point. I may have missed somebody, but no disrespect.

Q. Talk about, if you can, with the calendar, especially in December, has done to coaching when you have the early signing period, the transfer portal window, presumably trying to get ready for postseason play and recruiting all at the same time? What has that done? What do the changes look like for you in December?

PAT NARDUZZI: Yeah, I would say as a college football coach, the two worst months of the year are December and June. You mentioned all the things that are happening in December with the signing day, bowl games, the portal opens up. You are wondering what's going to happen there and what do you need, what are you losing?

June is the same way. Next year I guess now they're going to say July 15th -- excuse me -- August 15th we can now have -- no, July 15th we can have some type of written communication with the '25 class, which is, again, another one. Why did we do that?

This year it's August 1st, where next year it's another 15 days. It used to be September 1st. We keep moving that a month and a half earlier now, and you are just making June a little bit more miserable for college coaches and our college staff. I feel bad for our guys.

I think some of the answers in December, and I'm not sure if you are looking for answers, is to move that signing day up in my opinion. I think we to move it up to the end of June. The kids all just visited. The end of June or maybe August 1st when camp starts. Just move that date up and let's get it rolling.

I was talking to someone this morning at breakfast and talked about how really dead the month of August is as far as just stuff going on. Let's move -- let's get into the signing day in August.

Q. This year starts a stretch of seven times in 14 years you will play Notre Dame. Do you like that arrangement? I mean, that's as frequently as you play some of your -- most of your conference rivals.

PAT NARDUZZI: Yeah, I don't know how that is, but we embrace that. We're looking forward to going up to South Bend. Played them at my previous stop, and we enjoyed that game. It's a big game, and our kids will be cranked up for that game.

Whatever the ACC says, hey, you're playing Notre Dame or playing Clemson, it doesn't matter who we play. We embrace that.

Q. You guys truly match the identity of your city. The blue collar, hard hat, steel mill type of workers. How did you guys arrive to that? You guys are great defensively. You guys can rush the passer. Arguably the best secondary in the ACC. How did you guys get there?

PAT NARDUZZI: I like you. I appreciate that. Make me feel good today.

You know, we're from a tough city. I would look at myself and growing up in Youngstown, Ohio, in a tough neighborhood, tough place. To me we embrace that toughness.

That's who I am. Whether I was in East Lansing or Oxford, Ohio, it doesn't matter where I've been. It's been about toughness. We got a bunch of tough dudes here. We're going to be tough on all three phases of our game.

To me it's what you coach every day. Our guys practice hard. They play hard. They work hard every day. It's just part of our DNA.

THE MODERATOR: Your final question from the podium. When you think about culture and having to replace a quarterback for a second straight season, how do you maintain culture knowing that you've got that type of turnover at a key position?

PAT NARDUZZI: Yeah, when you look at the quarterback position and transfers, I read an article early in the summer just about the amount of quarterbacks that go in the portal. It's probably one of the positions that is going to move around as much as possible.

But, you know, the one thing I'll tell you about our family and our football team is they bring everybody in, and it's a lot easier to bring a guy like in like Phil Jurkovec who is a Pittsburgh native, Pine-Richland guy. He is back home.

When we look at bringing those guys in and you look at our roster of guys that we brought in the portal, we're bringing back guys that we previously recruited. We worked hard at getting them the first time, and didn't get them the second time when he went to BC. We wanted him bad, but we had a guy named Kenny Pickett. I couldn't guarantee him being the starter with Kenny Pickett being there.

Then we got lucky, and we will get his last and final and his best season he has ever had.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you. You can switch places with MJ.

MJ has the podium for five minutes. You're the first school today but you've already won the shoe game, so congratulations.

Questions for MJ.

Q. So you not only had the pick six against West Virginia in The Backyard Brawl, but you also intercepted the pass that sealed the game in the bowl game against UCLA. Where does that knack for making big plays come from, and how is that something that, you know, in that moment of truth a lot of people panic, a lot of people might have dropped that pick, might not have returned it for six. How does that come about in you? Where does that come from?

MJ DEVONSHIRE: Honestly growing up as a kid, I was competitive. I started playing video games with my dad, and he would beat me all the time, and it would come down, and I would get closer to & closer to beating him, and I would just fold on the video games.

Then it carried over into real life. I'm going to finish these games. From there once I finally beat my dad, it's like I finally made it. I can be clutch.

Then getting on the field it's just the same way. Staying calm and staying collected. When in that moment comes, you get your opportunity. You have to make a play.

Q. I know you had the chance to go against Phil in high school in some seven-on-sevens. What's it like competing against him now compared to the first time you got to compete against him back in high school?

MJ DEVONSHIRE: My first time competing against Phil, I was kinda star-struck. He was tall and big, and I was a young guy. I was a sophomore. I was, like, wow, this is what a D1 football prayer are looks like, and he set an example for me.

Seeing the way he walked around, the confidence he had on the field, the way he carried himself and the way he believed in himself, it was like that's where I want to be.

Now getting to play against him, it's like I get to be on the same team as him. We get to work. We compete with each other. It's a great thing.

Every day I walk on the field, I'm like, I get to go against Phil. We talk about it with my friends. Me and him still talk about memories praying each other in basketball, playing each other on seven-on-seven. It was a great feeling competing against him.

Q. The history of Pitt Panthers' defense has been huge. Just what does it mean to you to be a part of that growing history right now and if you reflect back on some of the guys that came before you and are now playing in the NFL?

MJ DEVONSHIRE: Great. The best part about that before I answer your question is that those guys, they help us. They call. They come back, and they teach us. Especially in the secondary. So many guys playing in the NFL, they come could back and help you.

So being in a storied secondary, you get to learn things from people who have been playing at the next level and have accomplished some of the greatest things in football that you can't get in other places sometimes.

So being able to just meet those guys and talk to them and be coached by some of the best coaches in the country is always a great thing.

Q. So after the highest of the bowl game and everything, last season played above what anybody could have expected. This year I wanted to know how did you realign yourself after the season? Did you spend time with family? What does your offseason training look like? What did you prep on to get ready for this year? The second part of that is, what is it like playing for Coach Narduzzi?

MJ DEVONSHIRE: For the first part, being around my family, yeah, it's a lot more humbling than y'all would probably think. They could care less about what I did last season.

They're hard on me. My dad, my uncles don't care about the interceptions. They want to talk about the tackle I missed in the first quarter of the West Virginia game. They definitely humble me.

It's like you always got to keep working. What you did last season means nothing. If you really want to be where you want to be, you got to build on what you did last year.

So just trying to build on that and trying to fix the mistakes I made the little things, and I'm not perfect.

Striving to get better every day is my goal. That was my offseason mindset. Just forget what happened last season. After the bowl game, it's a new season, clean slate, new team. We got to get after it.

Playing for Coach Narduzzi is amazing. He is definitely a great coach. I interact with him all the time in practice. I sometimes run up to him and grab the microphone when he don't want to give the defense their points.

We go at it. He competes all the time. He is a competitor. Being from Youngstown, he can relate. He knows what it's like to be close to Pittsburgh, and we go at it all the time.

Q. As an Aliquippa guy and a Pitt back, and another guy that's following the path of being enshrined in Canton. What's it going to mean to see Darrelle Revis being enshrined?

MJ DEVONSHIRE: I've been saying it. Being able to see it actually come through, it's, like, yeah, we seen it, and he is getting his opportunity. It's a great thing for him. I'm so excited for him. I guess I can say I'm proud of him, I guess. I don't know. He normally would say that to me. I get to be proud of him this time, and I'm happy for him.

THE MODERATOR: MJ, thank you. You can switch places with Matt. We will spend time with our Manorville, New York, offensive lineman. Questions for Matt.

Q. Matt, Coach Narduzzi talked about the ACC championship and the rings and all that earlier, but you've had one of the most storied careers in the history of this program in terms of, you know, you have blocked for a Heisman finalist in Kenny Pickett, started for that. You led an offensive line that had an ACC-leading rusher in Israel Abanikanda. You've been named All Conference and Freshman All American and all those good things. What keeps that motivation to get better? What puts that fire in your belly to say, I'm not going to rest on my laurels despite all the things that you have accomplished so far?

MATT GONCALVES: First off, I've worked very hard to be where I'm at today. It's a great question. I think the guys around me, my teammates keep driving me every day. People in the offensive line room, my coaches, Coach Narduzzi, and my family too told me to never give up. I never gave up, and I never back down.

That's where I'm at today, and I'm happy with it and still going to keep going no matter what.

Q. Kind of going off of that (off microphone) --

MATT GONCALVES: First starting off with No. 8, Kenny Pickett, the way he led our team in 2021, set the standard for the University of Pittsburgh.

Now coming on with Phil he has done a great job this spring and firing up the huddle and being there for all the guys and stuff like that. I mean, just the leadership that we have every year and the culture that we bring in with our players, it's outstanding. It all starts with Coach Narduzzi, and the standard that we set.

THE MODERATOR: From the podium asking the question. The relationship with the offensive line, is that different, that relationship different than other units at Pitt?

MATT GONCALVES: Yeah, I think it is. Everybody has their own unit, and I think it's special what we have in the offensive line. We're all a bunch of brothers.

I think it's really close. It's a big group of guys. Every day we get down to the grindstone, whether it's making sure we're on top of each other and watching film, correcting each other, critiquing each other.

I think it's a little bit different than other position groups as far as technique and different things like that, but I think we get the job done.

Q. I know you're a New York guy. You play Syracuse at Yankee Stadium. You're a big Yankees fan. How excited are you to play in that game in November?

MATT GONCALVES: I'm very excited. I have been a Yankees fan as far as I can remember. My dad bringing me to Yankee Stadium when I was younger seeing Derek Jeter, A-Rod and all those guys. I'm very excited to step on the field and just take in the moment.

My family, my friends are all going to be there, and I cannot wait for the 3:30 kickoff in New York. Can't wait.

THE MODERATOR: A question from the podium we'd like to ask. Do you have to win a championship in order to have a successful season?

MATT GONCALVES: What did you say?

THE MODERATOR: Do you have to win a championship in order to call it a successful season?

MATT GONCALVES: No, I don't think so at all. As we looked at it last year, over the past two years we have 20 wins in two years. Obviously are in 2021 coming off 11 wins and winning the ACC Championship, that was a very successful year, but even if you look at last year with nine wins and winning the Sun Bowl, and stuff like that, I think it was very successful.

It just sets a standard for the year after that. Yeah, I think that's where it goes.

THE MODERATOR: Matt, you and Phil can trade places. We'll spend the last couple of minutes with the quarterback.

Questions for Phil.

Q. In terms of some of the things that you did at Boston College, your best career game came against Pitt. In terms of the only game that you had over 300 yards, over three touchdowns, and no interceptions, so some people would assume that you would have a lot of success against this defense, so how has that been in practice so far? Have you been that hot in practice so far?

PHIL JURKOVEC: I don't know. You have to ask MJ. No, we've had success.

It's a great defense. It's a hard defense to play. They have a different style, but Coach Cignetti and the offensive staff have us ready to go against them. We're looking forward to camp. It's going to be really competitive.

Q. Just can I get your thoughts on the game being played at Yankee Stadium in November?

PHIL JURKOVEC: It's going to be awesome. I've been to Yankee Stadium before, but being able to play on that field, it's legendary just thinking of all the great players that have been there in baseball and football, I guess.

Yeah, we can't wait for that one.

Q. What was it about Pitt that you felt was worth transferring for? I know you talk about coming back home, but what is it about this team that just felt like that's the last ride you want to take in college?

PHIL JURKOVEC: Yeah, it's really an amazing opportunity looking at it. It's wild. It was shocking how it's been able to work out. I'm so grateful to everybody, Coach Narduzzi, all the coaches for giving me the opportunity to represent Pittsburgh.

I think that's the biggest thing. I'm from Pittsburgh. I have so many family and friends from the area. I just want to have a great year for them.

Q. Phil, you kind of got the six degrees of separation. You worked with Frank Cignetti back at BC. A couple of other quarterbacks like that. Tyler Buchner, he is now with Alabama with Tommy Rees and then Brennan Armstrong is with Robert Anae. Talk about having that relationship. Of course, you're back home, but also having a face that you recognize. How has that experience been?

PHIL JURKOVEC: It's huge, and it had a lot to do with transferring. Being in the system for a couple of years, I know the offensive system that Coach Cignetti has, so I'm comfortable with it. I know the type of person he is. You can trust him. He is a really good coach. We're looking forward to a great year.

Q. Obviously lots of attention and talk has been about Kenny Pickett, but as a semi-new guy coming into this thing, how do you not only set yourself apart from that, but kind of differentiate yourself from those possible standards that come with that job and role coming in?

PHIL JURKOVEC: Yeah, you got to give credit to Kenny. He just did a great job at Pitt. He balled out, and everybody respects him who played with him.

They talk about what he did, so he set a great example for myself and the other quarterbacks. You can see, he is playing really well on the Steelers now. The whole city loves him for the success that he has had.

We're not the same player. We have different styles, but I just want to follow in that example of winning games and having that success.

Q. Many people say that the missing ingredient last year for Pitt in many ways was the quarterback position. Do you see yourself as like, hey, I'm what it takes to get this team over the top? If so, what are you bringing in particular that you say, this is why I'm the guy to get this thing over the top and take us back to ACC Championship and beyond?

PHIL JURKOVEC: Yeah, I think that's the nature of the game that you need the quarterback to play well to win games. What I bring to the table, I think is experience. I've got size, athleticism. I think I have the pieces to win, but more importantly than that, I have the teammates.

We have such a good culture. The defense is so strong and tough. Then the offense, we got weapons everywhere. The offensive line is very experienced. I know they're ready to go, so it's all the pieces that we have.

I think as long as I get the ball to our playmakers, we're going to be set.

THE MODERATOR: Your last question from the podium. Metaphorically you see down the field really well. You majored in econ at BC. You're pursuing a second degree in media professional communications at Pitt. What is your strategy? What are you seeing down the field?

PHIL JURKOVEC: What am I seeing down the field?

THE MODERATOR: Yeah, educationally. What do you want to be when you grow up, I guess I'm asking?

PHIL JURKOVEC: I'm not sure. Probably majoring more in football this year than anything. We'll see. We'll see year by year as it comes. We'll see what happens.

THE MODERATOR: On that note, we wish the Panthers good luck this year. Folks, thank you.