Pittsburgh's defense struggled for much of last season, but it figures to get an injection of enthusiasm this year with the additions of head coach Pat Narduzzi, who engineered Michigan State's dominant D, and defensive coordinator Josh Conklin, who arrives from FIU as one of the hot names in the assistant coaching arena. We caught up with Conklin to see how the Panthers are progressing.

It's only been six months, but what's your initial feeling about the unit you inherited and what you've accomplished so far?

Josh Conklin: I felt like when we came out of spring, we had a really good grasp on the basics of the defense -- especially on first and second down. … We saw some growth at the D-line position with some specific guys, some guys at linebacker we feel pretty comfortable with, and we continue to find our defensive backs. Our corners are going to have to carry a little bit more of a load than they have in the past.

What's it been like to work with Pat Narduzzi?

JC: We’ve not spent any time together on a previous staff, but we knew a couple of the same people, and when I was at Tennessee, I reached out to him. I took a little bit more of his scheme with me to FIU. But it was really more of a professional relationship. I didn’t really know what to expect, but so far it’s been really, really good. He’s been there to help, and I’ve considered him a mentor during these last six months, really leaning on his expertise. I’d be foolish not to.

Installing a culture or an attitude is always a key early on. How would you describe what you're focusing on in that area?

JC: The three things Coach always talks about are toughness, effort and our knowledge of the game -- increase those three areas the most. In terms of my personality, and hopefully the defense takes that on, what we stress is playing fast, physical, smart and execute under duress. If we can create that identity and believe in it -- and as coaches, the things we put in schematically have to live up to that -- we’ll have the ability to see some success on Saturdays.

Last year, FIU had 33 takeaways, fifth in the nation. Pitt had just 14, which ranked 116th. Is that something that you can change quickly or will it require luck and time?

JC: Obviously there’s a little luck in terms of the ball bouncing the right way, but you have the ability to create those opportunities with your style of play. We weren’t very good at FIU the first year I was there, but continued to create the culture and identity of how we wanted to play. We try to get our guys to understand for us, when you play defense, you want it to look like controlled chaos. We want to ride the line of being out of control, almost. Even our base is an attack style of defense. The way we play each position group, we want to operate on our terms at all times, force the pressure on the offense, not sit back and read and react but take the action to them. That in itself will create opportunities to get takeaways if the guys will buy into that system and style of play.

You mentioned the corners having a bigger role. How are you preparing them for that?

JC: The thing we tried to get them to understand is you have to play that position, especially in this defense, with a lot of swag. Giving them a confidence and allowing them to understand, 'Here’s your technique and here are the things we’re taking away.' We’re going to play on the line of scrimmage 95 percent of the time with the corners, so you better be able to bring it and bring it every single day -- in practice, in conditioning, watching film. All the things we’re doing is trying to incorporate not only the knowledge, but the confidence to play with that knowledge.

The defensive line is a question mark, and last year Pitt had to blitz to get much pressure. Do you see a need to do that again? Has anyone really stepped up in that group?

JC: We’ll probably be base 65 to 70 percent of the time and bring pressure the other 30 percent of the time, but ideally -- you go back and I think about where the roots of this defense, we always talk about the Miami days, the 4-3, we want guys to attack on the edges, our defensive linemen to attack and penetrate and get up the field and cause chaos. But it’s no secret right now -- we felt like coming out of spring we had three or four defensive tackles that started to solidify themselves, but at the defensive end position, we’re challenging some guys to step up. We’ve got a guy like Ejuan Price, who’s going to play one of our ends, he’s got all the tools and the skill set to be a dominant force. I really believe that, if we keep him healthy and he continues to progress. He’s had really a complete turnaround in terms of his buy-in and what he wants to get done, and the focus has been incredible.

There's always more work to do, but do you feel good about where the defense is at as we approach fall camp?

JC: My wife would accuse me of not being very patient and being a perfectionist, so I’d say I’m not happy with where we’re at right now. But I feel like we’ve done our part, our guys are working hard, we’re giving great effort. We’re always searching for that excellence, so you know there’s more. The big thing for me right now, the chemistry of our defense, coming together and getting them to understand you have to function as 11 guys to stop people on defense. It’s not a bunch of kamikaze missions, but organized chaos of 11 guys operating on our terms at full speed. I feel good right now going into July mentally where our guys are at. I believe we’ve become tighter as a unit.