PITTSBURGH — Pitt football will start a different quarterback on opening day for the fourth straight year, head coach Pat Narduzzi announced Thursday. Alabama transfer Eli Holstein, who joined the Panthers this offseason, will start the season opener against Kent State on Saturday after winning a training camp position battle against incumbent starter Nate Yarnell.
While Holstein gets the nod for the first game, Narduzzi cautioned that it isn’t completely set in stone, saying the situation is still a competition. Both Holstein and Yarnell are expected to see time on the field Saturday.
Narduzzi said he and offensive coordinator Kade Bell will have conversations constantly about the decision.
“I trust Kade to make the right decision,” Narduzzi said. “But if I ever feel that it’s a wrong decision, I’m going to step up and veto.”
Holstein has yet to play a snap of college football yet. He redshirted his first year at the collegiate level and saw action only in practice against the Crimson Tide starters. Unanimously considered a four-star prospect and top-150 prospect in the class of 2023 coming out of Zachary High School in Zachary, La., Holstein chose Alabama over offers from Texas A&M, Georgia, LSU, Florida, Oregon, Penn State, Ohio State and others.
As a high schooler, Holstein threw for 7,014 yards, 62 touchdowns and just 13 interceptions and added 1,233 yards and 30 touchdowns on the ground for good measure. He overcame a slow start to complete 10 of 23 passes for 128 yards, one touchdown and one interception in the 2024 Spring Game.
Holstein models his game after Buffalo Bills star Josh Allen and the Panthers hope he’ll bring the same kind of electric playmaking to their new offensive system.
Holstein sustained a hamstring injury during spring practices and as he got healthier, made a more serious push to unseat Yarnell before eventually taking over starting duties with just a few days to go before the start of the regular season.
Narduzzi has placed his faith in another transfer quarterback after consecutive years of mixed results with imported signal callers. Kedon Slovis owned an 9-4 record as a starter during the 2022 season, but did so with the help of Israel Abanikanda’s 1,577 scrimmage yards and 21 total touchdowns.
The struggles of Boston College transfer Phil Jurkovec and Penn State transfer Christian Veilleux, who played the vast majority of the snaps during the 2023 season, played a large part in ending the program’s streak of five consecutive years reaching bowl eligibility.
Yarnell took the reins for the final two games of the regular season and completed 36 of 54 passes (66.7%) for 472 yards, three touchdowns and one interception and tacked on a rushing scorem as well. The Panthers went 1-1 in those two games.
Yarnell will fill the backup job for now, with David Lynch/Ty Dieffenbach/Julian Dugger assuming third-string duties after a training camp competition.
Narduzzi was criticized for not triggering a quarterback change earlier in the 2023 season when Jurkovec was struggling, and he’s keenly aware of that. He and Bell have already talked over what the leash should be for whoever does win the starting job.
“Yeah, we’ve talked about it,” Narduzzi said. “And I trust Kade, but you live and learn. You think about things, you live and learn. And sometimes you can trust too much in this world, and I’ll be on top of it.”
Yarnell was named the top quarterback on the roster in January by Narduzzi and had the backing of his head coach up through spring ball and the beginning of fall camp, but before a pivotal season, the Panthers will count on Holstein’s upside to lead them into the future.
Holstein will be tasked with guiding the Pitt offense through another schematic transition. New offensive coordinator Kade Bell is installing an up-tempo, pass-heavy system built on spread concepts.
The dramatic changes are expected to yield dramatic improvements for a unit that averaged just 20.2 points per game last season, good for dead last in the ACC and 122nd out of 133 teams in the FBS.
