PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Since spring drills it’s been Nate Yarnell’s job. Heading into camp, Yarnell was the Pitt starting quarterback, now with the first game on Saturday, it’s a dead heat.
“I believe we have two really good quarterbacks, I really do,” said Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi on Monday. “Nate was the starter coming out of spring ball. Eli (Holstein) made some major, major improvement.
He caught up.”
Both will play on Saturday and who gets the first Pitt offensive snap of the game is up to who practices better this week. The plan is to play both and ‘let the competition begin’.
It’s not that they haven’t competed to this point, but it’s different in a game. Narduzzi said what you do in practice is one thing, who can excel in a game is the question? It’s the same thing at every position.
“I really love our quarterback situation right now and I feel like we are in a good position,” Narduzzi said. “Someone is going to have to prepare for two of them because they are both going to play.”
While each have plays they like better, both can run the base plays. Whereas sometimes the top two quarterbacks bring something completely different, Narduzzi said both are athletic, both can run the offense at full speed and both are very similar in terms of skillsets.
A redshirt junior, the 6’6” Yarnell started the last two games of 2023, playing in four. He was 41-62 for 595 yards with four touchdowns and one interception on the season. His last game was his best, 25-35, 265 yards, TD and INT against Duke. The 6’4” Holstein transferred from Alabama early in the process before this season and has never played a college snap, although was a highly recruited high school QB.
“Last year at this point I didn’t feel like we had two quarterbacks,” Narduzzi said. “I felt like we had one quarterback, I thought. I feel so much better about where that is.”
Narduzzi said he’s had this situation before at Pitt. Back in 2015, he alternated between Chad Voyik and transfer Nate Peterman and it took until game three to decide on Peterman. He would throw for 2,287 yards with 20 TD and eight interceptions and then start the next season as well.
The hope is that after the game against Kent State that it’s obvious who the starter is. Narduzzi said he doesn’t want to drag it on, but wants to know as soon as possible.
“Both are very capable, both are guys that can win games for us,” Narduzzi said. “I’m excited to watch both play.”