If anyone expected Pat Narduzzi to come out after the first practice of training camp and announce a starter quarterback, they clearly don’t know how he operates. And in true Narduzzi fashion, he announced there is no timeline for an announcement.
Pitt’s 2022 training camp kicked off Monday morning, and Narduzzi addressed the media at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex afterward, and of course, the quarterback competition dominated the conversation, but it’s just another position battle on a team full of them.
“The quarterback position is no different than the kicking position or linebacker position, so let’s not focus on it,” Narduzzi said. “It’s every position. I could grab a couple guys, say, ‘Hey, who is the best Mike or best left tackle?’ They know who it is. Left tackle, Carter Warren. We all know. There’s no competition there. The question will be who is the backup.
“So I want our kids to feel confident who that guy is,” Narduzzi said. “They should be able to answer those questions. So it’s going out and executing, it’s leading and it’s making plays. And you know, the kids should see it on tape. Players should watch it on videotape.”
Narduzzi said he would like to have the starter figured out by the time the season opener against West Virginia rolls around, and that’s the only guarantee he offered. He said it might be two weeks, three weeks or even the day of the Backyard Brawl before an official announcement since he doesn’t even know himself yet.
It would be one thing to simply name a quarterback, but Narduzzi said that he actually doesn’t want to have to actually name the starting quarterback himself. It’s abundantly clear that Narduzzi wants the eventual starting quarterback to make a statement so emphatic that it leaves no doubt as to who the starter is.
“I always say this: I don’t care what position it is; if I have to make the decision, then we got issues, okay? Everybody should know and when we make that decision, it’s not like everybody is going, ‘Oh, man, I thought it was the other guy.’”
The quarterback competition will continue how it did in the spring, with Slovis and Patti rotating reps with the ones and twos. Both quarterbacks impressed throughout the spring, and the battle will only continue into the month of August now.
Narduzzi doesn’t want any controversy. He just wants the entire team to know who the starting quarterback is, and he hopes it comes quickly.
Whoever it is, please throw for 400+ and 4 TDs against wvu.. and every other team that comes in our path I suppose.