Pitt Entering Spring Practices With ‘Clear-Cut’ Starting Quarterback

Pitt rotated through three different starting quarterbacks last season, largely without success, but the quarterback room will look quite different entering the 2024 season.

When Alabama transfer quarterback Eli Holstein arrived earlier this month, some expected him to slot in immediately as the next starting quarterback. But that does not appear to be the case — at least, not this spring.

According to ACC Network’s David Hale, Nate Yarnell will enter spring ball as the “clear-cut” starting quarterback.

“Pat (Narduzzi) said we’re Nate Yarnell as their clear-cut No. 1 on the quarterback depth chart. It’s his job to lose. They brought in Eli Holstein from Alabama, they still have Christian Veilleux on the roster and they’ve got some depth at the position. I think that he sounds very bought in on Nate Yarnell, and what the rest of the team thinks of Nate Yarnell, too. So, some enthusiasm about offense in Pittsburgh.”

Yarnell, a rising redshirt junior, finished the season as the starting quarterback and looked more comfortable than either Veilleux or Phil Jurkovec throughout his two games.

Pat Narduzzi said following the season finale that Yarnell would — at the very least — be considered for the starting job in 2024.

“No question about it,” Narduzzi said following the loss to Duke. “He’s a guy who can win a lot of football games for us. He’s smart, takes coaching, he’s tough and he made some good plays out there and made his mistakes, too. So, we have a lot of faith in him.”

Yarnell completed 25-of-35 pass attempts (71.4%) for 265 yards with two touchdowns and an interception against Duke. It was another solid performance, one in which he stood in the pocket and progressed through his reads to spray passes all over the fields and used his mobility to make plays off-platform.

In two starts (and clean-up duty in two more games), he completed 41-of-62 pass attempts (66.1%) for 595 yards with four touchdowns and an interception — and a rushing touchdown. In just the two starts, he completed 36-of-54 pass attempts (66.7%) for 472 yards with four touchdowns (one rushing) and one interception.

Yarnell wasn’t worried about what the future held when it came to whether or not he earned the starting gig at the end of last season. It was up to the coaching staff, he said, but he was just going to continue to work to be the best quarterback and leader he could be for the team. Pitt means a lot to Yarnell.

“They gave me an opportunity to play Power Five football,” Yarnell said following the loss to Duke. “I played six games in high school, I played at Lake Travis, but I didn’t have a ton of tape. I knew that I was a really good quarterback and coach Narduzzi went off the six games and gave me an opportunity, and I’ll be forever grateful for that.”

It remains to be seen what will happen over the course of the spring, and then throughout the summer and into training camp in the fall, but Yarnell has the keys to the Pitt offense in his hands. But it will certainly be a competition between Yarnell, Holstein and Veilleux this offseason.

It’s unfair to say that the quarterback competition, which Yarnell currently leads, will be the most important battle to follow this offseason. Especially as new offensive coordinator Kade Bell installs his offense.