Nate Yarnell was offered his first Division I scholarship before taking a varsity snap at Lake Travis High School. Heck, he was courted prior to suiting up for the Texas powerhouse's JV team.
Yarnell, a three-star 2021 quarterback who committed to Pitt last Thursday, attended a summer camp at Houston before his sophomore year. Stuck behind future blue-blood passers, the lanky signal-caller went to get his name out there, to garner some attention. Then-Houston head coach Major Applewhite took notice. Shortly after the camp ended, Applewhite invited Yarnell into his office and offered. The kid QB was floored.
“You couldn't really believe it, not having played varsity football,” Yarnell told the Post-Gazette this week. “It was crazy. I realized, 'Hey, maybe I can do this. Maybe I can play big-time football.' It's a dream I've always wanted to live.”
Yarnell seems destined to live that dream at Pitt, continuing Lake Travis' tradition of churning out Division I quarterbacks. Yarnell will be the Austin-area juggernaut's ninth consecutive starting QB to sign for a Power Five program, a list that includes 2018 No. 1 overall pick Baker Mayfield and 2020 Heisman dark horse candidate Charlie Brewer.
That legacy — and Yarnell's obvious potential to push it forward — is why Lake Travis' coaches weren't stunned Houston offered so early.
“We use it as a little bit of a humble brag, but we've got that reputation,” Lake Travis head coach Hank Carter said with a laugh. “Really, coaches just come and ask us, 'Who's next?'”
One of those coaches interested in Yarnell was (and clearly still is) Pitt offensive coordinator Mark Whipple. The Panthers' play-caller first reached out to Yarnell a few months ago before offering the up-and-comer a scholarship on March 29. It was Yarnell's first Power Five offer, followed a couple days later by Utah.
Pitt doesn't normally do much recruiting in the state of Texas, but the Panthers had what Carter called “an inside scoop” on Yarnell.
Lake Travis' new offensive coordinator is Tommy Mangino, the son of former Kansas head coach Mark Mangino. The elder Mangino — who coincidentally won an Orange Bowl in 2007 with quarterback Todd Reesing, a Lake Travis star in 2004-05 — was a graduate assistant at Youngstown State in 1985 and 1986. The Penguins' head coach at the time? Bill Narduzzi, Pat's father.
That relationship between the younger Mangino and Narduzzi, Carter said, helped facilitate Pitt's interest in Yarnell and vice versa. Whipple took it from there, selling Yarnell on an offense predicated on the pass. In his first year calling plays, Whipple dialed up 513 passing attempts, eighth-most nationally.
Yarnell was also sold on Pitt's academic reputation and facilities. The quarterback couldn't visit campus due to COVID-19 restrictions, but Narduzzi and assistant director of player personnel Karlo Zovko hosted him on a pair of Facetime tours around the South Side facility and Oakland. A 15-minute phone conversation with Kenny Pickett helped seal the deal, too.
I am very excited to announce I am committed to Pitt! Thank you to all the family and coaches that have helped get me to where I am today! #H2P @CoachDuzzPittFB @CoachWhipPitt pic.twitter.com/3ZSAsMbhGC
— Nate Yarnell (@NateYarnell) April 30, 2020
Of course, Pickett will be gone by time Yarnell enters the fold. The starter's eligibility is up after the 2020 season, leaving Arizona State transfer Joey Yellen, former four-star prospect Davis Beville and redshirt sophomore Nick Patti to battle for the No. 1 job. Yarnell expects to graduate early and enroll in January, but competing for the top spot right away isn't likely given the leg up the current QBs have on him.
But exercising patience is no problem for Yarnell. Even after getting offered by Houston, the 200-pound passer played on the JV team in 2018. And last season, he served as the backup quarterback. Hudson Card, a 2020 four-star prospect who signed with Texas, was entrenched as a second-year starter in 2019, forcing Yarnell to wait his turn.
He did so willingly, Lake Travis wide receivers coach Eric Rodriguez said.
“He had the opportunity, I'm sure, to go to a different school. A lot of other kids who are high-caliber kids have done that,” said Rodriguez, who also called plays as Yarnell's coordinator on the JV team. “He knew he was going to be behind Hudson with how talented he was. But it shows a lot about him that he stuck it out.”
Carter likens Yarnell's path to the starting job to that of Matthew Baldwin, who started for Lake Travis in 2017. Baldwin sat behind Baylor starter Charlie Brewer until his senior year and did enough to earn a scholarship to Ohio State. And Yarnell, like Baldwin, also had to fill in for an injured QB1, too.
Last October, Card was injured against Lake Travis rival Westlake High School, the home of Drew Brees and Nick Foles. He finished the game, but more test results the following morning revealed a severe case of turf toe. Card would miss the next month and a half, prompting a call from Carter and then-offensive coordinator Will Stein to Yarnell.
“We got on the phone with Nate and said, 'OK brother, we've been telling you you're one snap away. Well guess what? You're up,'” the head coach said. “He was bummed that Hudson was hurt. But he was also like, 'OK, I've got this. Let's roll.' And that's what he did.”
Yarnell won six straight games, including three state playoff contests by a combined score of 122-41. The future Panther, who threw for 1,489 yards over the course of those six starts and first-team reps here and there against inferior opponents, also served as “an additional coach on the field,” Rodriguez said. Yarnell was vocal and in command of his 2019 starts, seizing the opportunity in front of him.
“I wouldn't trade it for anything,” Yarnell said of last season. “That experience is going to help me this year, just getting ready to take on the starting job as the season starts.”
Whenever the 2020 campaign kicks off, eyes down in Texas (and in recruiting offices across the Power Five conferences) will be on Yarnell. Carter warned Narduzzi and Whipple to jump on him early because Yarnell's “recruitment is going to blow up.” If he follows Baldwin's example and throws for over 4,000 yards and 44 touchdowns in his lone year of starting, expect that to be the case.
In the meantime, though, Yarnell is a member of Pitt's 2021 class.
Panther fans ought to be happy he didn't take Houston’s freshman year offer.
John McGonigal: jmcgonigal@post-gazette.com and Twitter @jmcgonigal9
First Published: May 8, 2020, 4:00 p.m.
