PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Pat Narduzzi said it’s status quo with fifth-year quarterback Holden Geriner starting his second career game for the Panthers Saturday afternoon at Boston College. However.
“Who gives us the best chance to win the football game? We will have a shorter rope this week,” Narduzzi said Thursday.
The Pitt head coach said there has been roughly a 50-50 split of practice reps between Geriner and freshman Corey Dailey d this week leading up to the Eagles game.
“You look at Holden last week, he had a hell of a first half,” Narduzzi said as Geriner was 15-21 for 99 yards and Pitt led 10-7 at the break. “If he has another hell of a first half, we’ll see how the second half goes, but we got to have 60-minute period.”
Narduzzi then went back to a year ago. At the start of the 2025 season it was all about Eli Holstein. The sophomore was the quarterback of the future, but after some struggles in an overtime loss at West Virginia and then a pair of interceptions in a touchdown-loss to Louisville, Pitt moved to true freshman Mason Heintschel.
“You never knew what was going to happen,” Narduzzi said. “It was a late decision and we had to go with our gut and pick Mason. (Offensive coordinator) Kade (Bell) and I look like a genius, you could have looked like total idiots. You go with your gut feeling.”
This week the gut feeling is to start with Geriner, but potentially make a change.
“We need 60 minutes,” Narduzzi said. “It’s a 60-minute game. We don’t need 30 minutes, we need 60 minutes of your best football.”
It was not just Geriner as to why Pitt lost to North Carolina according to Narduzzi, there was plenty of blame to go around. There is also a feel factor here, he has to gauge what’s going on in the game and how the team and player would react to a change. He also brought up that sometimes when you bench a player, you might lose them for the year.
“You learn from those experiences,” Narduzzi said. “We’ll have a totally different quarterback deal. It’s Holden’s first, and everybody wants to be quick to pull the trigger, pull the plug. He knows what he’s doing. Mentally, my man, he’s smart, both are smart. We trust both of those guys.”
But at the end it might be Dailey, who separated himself from the other freshman in the offseason and camp with what Narduzzi described as a cannon arm.
“He can sling it, he can operate the offense,” Narduzzi said.
Bottom line Saturday.
“Everybody’s happy with the game plan and guys got to go out and make plays. Period, across the board,” Narduzzi said.
Whatever quarterback can do that.
Coverage begins with the Panthers Insider Show with Pat Bostick at 8a on Saturday followed by the pregame show with Bob Pompeani, Dorin Dickerson and John Petrishen. It leads up to kickoff with the Voice of the Panthers Bill Hillgrove, Bostick and Dickerson at noon on 93.7 The Fan.
Pat Narduzzi discusses his quarterback situation
Pat Narduzzi discusses his quarterback situation
