PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – At the start of this week Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi said Eli Holstein was his starting quarterback, but they would see how the practice week played out after Holstein was pulled late in the loss to Louisville.
In his last media availability before hosting Boston College at noon Saturday, Narduzzi said his redshirt-sophomore quarterback, Holstein, will remain the starter.
“He’s had a good week of practice,” Narduzzi said. “I’ve been impressed by the way he bounced back from last Saturday. I feel good. Just a little more in your step. I think sometimes when you get pulled maybe things change a little bit. Maybe it was a good thing.”
Holstein was taken out of the game after a couple of second half interceptions against the Cardinals. Senior transfer Cole Gonzales entered even though the Panthers were only down seven and Holstein led two of the biggest comebacks in recent program history last year.
The phrase used with quarterbacks and how patient a coach will be, is how long is his leash to remain in the game if he struggles? Is it different than previously?
“There is a regular old leash, that’s a pretty long leash,” Narduzzi said.
“Here’s the thing, quarterbacks are going to get all the criticism when you lose and all the praise when you win. We know both of them are too much of each. There is multiple, multiple reasons-offense, defense, special teams and elsewhere. You guys can figure that out, the elsewhere. There are plenty of reasons for not winning football games.”
“It doesn’t always lie with the quarterback, it’s everybody around them. Everybody has got to step up. If your receivers aren’t playing good, well the run game better step up. If the quarterback is not playing good, throwing it good, the run game better be better. All of those different factors.”
“It’s coaches, it’s players, it’s everybody. We all take responsibility. We all point the thumb at ourselves. It’s my job to get it right.”
Narduzzi praised Holstein’s intelligence and his ability to know the reasons for the mistakes he makes. Bottom line though in Power 4 college football, can you fix it?
“We got a lot of faith in Cole (Gonzales),” Narduzzi said. “We have a lot of faith in (freshman) Mason (Heintschel), I’ve said that since camp started. We got a lot of faith in both those guys, we’ve seen all of them play.”
Narduzzi said Holstein will start, but you wonder how long it would take to make a change.
Panthers pregame starts at 9a on Saturday with Bob Pompeani, Dorin Dickerson and Johnny Petrishen with Larry Richert taking over at 10a with Pat Bostick and Dickerson before the Voice of the Panthers Bill Hillgrove calls the game starting at noon, all on 93.7 The Fan.