HOUR 1 | ACC Kickoff 2026: Pitt & SMU Focus

What this episode covers

Transcript: Wire2Wire Hour 1 (Friday, July 17, 2026) Announcer: Well, we are coming in hot on day three of the ACC Kickoff Live in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the ACC coverage has been hot and heavy all week. It continues as we're joined live right now—he's Diesel, I'm Cole Bryson, and sitting directly across from me, Pat Narduzzi, in his 12th season at Pitt. Coach, how are you? Pat Narduzzi: I'm doing outstanding. How you guys doing? Announcer: We're doing fantastic. We appreciate you making time for us. We know your schedule's busy, so we very much appreciate your time. You know, we were talking a little bit before we came on the air about this season, 2026, for Pittsburgh. You guys, I know at the end of the day you probably don't care about any preseason rankings or what the experts and pundits say, but you guys are predicted anywhere from one to five by some pundits in the ACC. In your mind, you've seen the team, you've seen what you think can make this team special. What excites you about this year's Pitt team? Pat Narduzzi: Well, I think it starts with our quarterback, knowing who your quarterback is. You got a lot of trust and faith in Mason Heinchill. I mean, he's a superb football player. He's smart, he's talented, and he will lead our offense. And I think we got a talented defense like we normally do. Announcer: Talk about how he's developed, Mason Heinchill, your quarterback. You know, last year, a good season, 2,300 yards, almost 2,400 yards as a true freshman. Another year in this system gaining that familiarity. Like, is this one of those crawl-before-you-leap, and this year he's going to leap scenarios? Pat Narduzzi: Yeah, no doubt about it. I mean, the one thing I don't think people realize, he started, but like he got no reps coming into spring ball. You know, fall camp, he didn't get, you know, he wasn't a backup quarterback. He was like the third or fourth, but we knew he was the most talented guy. So when we went to go make it, we were investing in the future, and Mason Heinchill was our future. Announcer: You know, it's interesting, Coach, when you've been doing this as long as you have, spending time obviously now at Pitt for a good portion of your coaching career, and then before that at Michigan State and Cincinnati. When you look at quarterback development over the years, what do you notice? For those listening at home today, what makes, in your opinion, the quarterback position different today than it was let's say when you first started out, when you first got into college football? Pat Narduzzi: You know, I don't think it's really changed a whole lot. I mean, he obviously runs the show. He's the most important guy in your offense. I've been fortunate enough to be around some great quarterbacks. Shoot, in 2003, before I went to Cincinnati, I had Ben Roethlisberger. We went 13-1 at Miami of Ohio, went to Cincinnati, we had some solid quarterback play there. But, you know, Brian Hoyer we had at Michigan State, we had Kirk Cousins who's, you know, a hell of an NFL quarterback, going into Connor Cook, and shoot, we had Nathan Peterman my first year here at Pitt, and, you know, then you had Kenny Pickett, a first-rounder with the Steelers. And now we're moving into the Mason Heinchill show. Pretty good list. Announcer: How do you get to use that list of names when you're in the recruiting process? Like, look what I've done with that guy, that guy, that guy, he's in the league, he's going to be in the Hall of Fame. That's got to be one hell of a card that you can play. Pat Narduzzi: Yeah, I tell you what, our first year, funny story, our first year at Michigan State, 2007, we get two freshman quarterbacks. We had a quarterback that was committed that Tom Izzo was trying to hold onto until Dantonio got hired. And we signed Kirk Cousins from Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Nick Foles. Wow. Kirk Cousins was our scout team quarterback. Nick Foles was the backup on the sideline with the hat signalin ...

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