Pat Narduzzi announced Thursday that Pitt’s starting quarterback would be Eli Holstein for Saturday’s season opener against Kent State. The redshirt freshman transfer from Alabama was said to have “caught up” with redshirt junior quarterback Nate Yarnell — who started Pitt’s final two games in 2023 and was the presumptive leader for the position going into both spring and summer camps for the team.
But how did Holstein catch up? And who made the call?
Narduzzi didn’t give all the details in his Thursday afternoon presser at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, but he did say that new offensive coordinator Kade Bell had a heavy influence on the team’s decision.
“Kade’s got to be the Number 1,” Narduzzi said when asked who makes the call at starting quarterback. “He sits in that meeting room, always. We’ll have conversations a lot and talk about it at least every two days in my office. There’s good communication, but it can’t be one guy. I trust Kade to make the right decision. But if I ever feel it’s a wrong decision, I’m going to step up.”
It is expected that Yarnell will still see playing time Saturday and the long-term competition is still open.
Sources close to the program informed the Post-Gazette that the decision to start Holstein did primarily come from Bell. But that’s also part of Narduzzi’s common practice in how he leans on his position coaches to make personnel calls while reserving the right to veto a decision he thinks is far out of line.
Pitt’s entire offensive staff changed from the 2023 season, as offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. was fired midseason; running backs coach Andre Powell, tight ends coach Tim Salem and offensive line coach Dave Borbely were not retained; and receivers coach Tiquan Underwood left for an NFL job with the Patriots.
In their stead, Pitt replaced the offense with Western Carolina offensive coordinator Bell and some of his staff. The 31-year-old Bell had spent the last three seasons coaching the Catamounts and oversaw their rise to gaining the most yards in FCS last season, as well as finishing with the third-most points scored and fourth-most passing yards in FCS.
Coming with him was Western Carolina receivers coach JJ Laster and offensive line coach Jeremy Darveau. Running backs coach Lyndsey Lamar came to Pitt via Howard but had experience coaching with Bell at South Florida. Tight ends coach Jacob Bronowski was the lone coach with no direct ties to Bell through their coaching history.
If Bell were given the autonomy to pick most of his staff — as the several hires having direct ties to him indicates — it tracks that he would also have the primary say on who starts at quarterback in his offense.
Sources indicated to the Post-Gazette that while Narduzzi had loyalties to Yarnell as the quarterback who was cultivated on Pitt’s roster for three years, Holstein’s strong connection and relationship with the team that was quickly established helped him win the job.
Sources close to the program and Alliance 412 — Pitt’s top NIL collective — informed the Post-Gazette that Holstein received NIL compensation well into six figures when he signed with the Panthers to transfer. However, those sources have also indicated there was no pressure from the collective to start Holstein, as there was appreciation for the fact he was only a redshirt freshman and would have three years after the 2024 season to mature into a prominent starting quarterback.
Holstein has yet to play a snap of college football. He redshirted in his first year at the collegiate level and saw action only in practice against the Crimson Tide starters. Unanimously considered a four-star 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 Pitt hopes he’ll bring the same kind of electric playmaking to its 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 a 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 score, as well. The Panthers went 1-1 in those two games.
Yarnell will fill the backup job for now, with David Lynch, Ty Dieffenbach and Julian Dugger sharing 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 ended up winning 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. 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 FBS.
Another starter
Narduzzi also announced Thursday that junior transfer running back Desmond Reid would start over senior Rodney Hammond Jr. in Saturday’s game. Reid transferred to Pitt after playing two years under Bell at Western Carolina. Hammond spent his first two seasons with Pitt as a backup before being named a starter last season. Both were listed as co-starters when Pitt released its first initial depth chart Monday.
Christopher Carter: ccarter@post-gazette.com and @CarterCritiques on X. Stephen Thompson: sthompson@post-gazette.com and @stephenethom on X
First Published: August 30, 2024, 4:18 p.m.
Updated: August 30, 2024, 4:56 p.m.
