Mike Yurcich was still at Texas when Christian Veilleux committed to Penn State in 2020, but the pair worked closely together during two seasons in State College.
The bond between an offensive coordinator and quarterback is important, and it was important when Penn State turned to Veilleux early against Rutgers in 2021.
In Veilleux’s lone ‘start’ at Penn State, against Rutgers as a freshman, he completed 15-of-24 pass attempts for 235 yards and three touchdowns. He did it the right way. And according to Yurcich, he did it the right way when entering the portal.
The Athletic’s Audrey Snyder shared Yurcich’s response from a Rose Bowl media appearance when asked about Veilleux’s cross-state transfer.
“You want the best for your players,” Yurcich said. “I get it. It’s part of the deal. He did it the right way, communicated very well with coach Franklin and myself. Support him as much as we possibly can and want the best for him moving forward.”
In two seasons at Penn State, he threw for 282 yards and three touchdowns on 23-of-35 pass attempts, but a majority of those numbers came in his lone start against Rutgers in 2021.
After five-star Drew Allar arrived last season and rose to No. 2 on the depth chart, Veilleux only attempted nine passes as a sophomore. He arrives at Pitt with three seasons of eligibility and the chance to immediately back up fellow transfer Phil Jurkovec.
Prior to committing to Penn State, Veilleux (6-foot-4, 200 pounds) held offers from Arizona State, Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Indiana, Kentucky, LSU, Louisville, Michigan, Pitt, Purdue, Rutgers, South Carolina, Syracuse, Tennessee, UCLA, Virginia Tech and West Virginia. Ultimately, the native of Ontario committed to Penn State over Clemson, Tennessee and Duke.
Veilleux will challenge Jurkovec this offseason in a quarterback competition, but he effectively serves as Pitt’s quarterback of the future. He’s joined by Nate Yarnell and 2023 signee Ty Dieffenbach.
Nice player who didn’t have the skill set to beat out the 5* at PSU. Hasn’t played much in going on 3 years but has always been a good locker room guy and handled the back up role well.
Thanks, Penn State guy, for reminding us of your superiority. Maybe Christian will be a good locker room guy for us as well.
Be Nate’s backup.
you are welcome
Being a little selective on who you criticize for abandoning their coaches and players, aren’t you?
I don’t think he should transfer, but PSU is loaded with 5 and 4* QB’s so he will only see the field at pitt
Sorry, I didn’t realize that there were exceptions to the “he left his team, therefore he is not a leader” rule.
where did I say he’s a leader? Duzz is saying Dayon Hayes is a leader ad if let’s women beaters lead the team then Christian is definitely not.
😂🤡
Don’t you have to start packing up from your Parents basement?
This kid came here knowing that he’s a backup next year, but you’re missing the main point of WHY this kid came to Pitt, which is the same reason Jurkovec came back home.
Both kids came here to play in a pro set offense for Cignetti, because that drastically improves their draft stock. Cignetti has a reputation for developing QB’s, sorry PSU doesn’t and your 5 star won’t stay there and will end up in the portal.
Sure, all QB’s are transferring to pitt to play in Cig’s offense.. Surprised Maye and Arch Manning aren’t coming. No they transferred to pitt because pitt has zero QB’s and it’s an easy path to get on the field.
Pitt “had” zero QBs, but they addressed that problem quite well.
why do you say that? Phil will get hurt and miss a large chunk of games (it happens every year to him) and Christian has played one game in three years (against Buttgers). You are hoping they addressed it.
Pitt has no QB’s? Funny how their starter last year was drafted 20 overall and now starts for the Steelers, their back-up that actually should’ve started all year just beat the No. 18 team in the country. Funny how a team with no QB’s can accomplish that huh?
OCSP, little irrelevant Pitt just had a nice day, so pls just go away and let us enjoy our wins against North Carolina and UCLA. We know you’re superior so just go away. We know we’ll never have a handful of 5-star QBs like PSU. You’re the best, so smugly go away.
Funny how none of those 4 and 5 stars end up actually playing in the NFL at all isn’t it? Have to wonder who’s writing the checks for these kids to pick State Penn and basically bury their football career.
Put another way, if these kids at QB for State Penn are so great, why aren’t they playing for the B10 championship every year and in CFB playoffs every year?
Pitt has improved each and every year since Narduzzi became the head coach. Pitt and other high powered winning teams wanted christian, via Michigan and harbaugh.
demeaning Christian is like demeaning Kenny Pickett .,, PSU Franklin is a fraud, only way he survived being fired is legacy player’s commenting their son’s!