The transfer portal has integrated itself into college athletics and like it or not it’s here to stay. For some college programs, it’s a necessity and their vehicle to field a competitive roster. Other major programs use the transfer portal very selectively and use it to fill a specific need or bring in a player that they believe can get them to win a championship.
To Pitt’s credit, aside from this past offseason, they haven’t felt the need to bring in large amounts of transfers and instead have been comfortable with the players they’ve originally recruited to Pitt.
However, quarterback is the one position that Pitt has used the portal for a lot during the Pat Narduzzi era.
In my opinion, that’s something that needs to change.
Quarterback is the most important position on the field and Pitt needs to start developing their own instead of relying on the transfer portal. While this isn’t always the case, there’s usually a reason why these players decided to transfer.
Under Narduzzi, the only quarterback that they’ve recruited themselves and to play meaningful snaps was Kenny Pickett.
Looking back at some of the names, Ben DiNucci was the first quarterback that Narduzzi brought in and ended up having good success later at James Madison.
Other quarterbacks of the past include Tennessee 4-star transfer Nathan Peterman, USC 4-star transfer Max Browne, 4-star Arizona State transfer Joey Yellen, 4-star recruit Davis Beville, USC 4-star transfer Kedon Slovis and Nick Patti.
It’s interesting and at the same time concerning the number of former four-star quarterbacks that didn’t have any success in this offense. Like I mentioned earlier, there’s a reason these players are in the portal — a large number of players that haven’t worked out and couldn’t be developed.
It sure looks as though we can add another name to that 4-star list as Phil Jurkovec has not worked out as well. It’s only two games but I haven’t seen anything to this point that gives me hope that things will get better for Jurkovec. He hasn’t given himself much rope with his comments following the Cincinnati game and not being available to speak to the media following the West Virginia embarrassment.
The other names on Pitt’s 2023 quarterback depth chart include Penn State transfer Christian Veilleux, Nate Yarnell and Ty Dieffenbach. Next season, Penn Hills 3-star recruit Julian Dugger is committed to join the quarterback mix.
The bottom line is that it’s time for Pitt to select a young quarterback and develop him. Stop using the transfer portal as a band aid for this crucial position. It’s past time that this staff either recruits a higher-end quarterback that can come in and play or they need to do a much better job with development and having a system that fits their skill set.
If Jurkovec’s struggles continue, Narduzzi will have a tough and crucial decision to make on when to pull the plug. While I doubt that will happen this Saturday against North Carolina, it will eventually have to be made unless he wants to just punt the season.
Whether it’s Veilleux or Yarnell, pick a young quarterback and stick with him. This offensive depth chart is filled with plenty of young players and even if it results in some struggles this year, it could pay off down the road, like it did with Pickett.
It’s time for a change, not only with Jurkovec but with the way Pitt football handles the quarterback position.
Yes, and I would say the same about the wide receivers.
It’s part of the enticement for recruiting. If you are near the Steelers and run a pro-style offense and man pressure 4-3 cover 4 defense that produces results in the NFL it is a draw. The results are evident on defense, lead the country in Sacks or near top.
Clean up the pocket for Phil and if he stays in it he’ll throw some deep passes. Check out his BC videos where he dies it with Zay Flowers on Youtube. The pocket is clean. He does not appear to throw very well off the scramble.
Cignetti has never developed a qb. They consistently get worse while coached by Cignetti. Jurkovec may have had potential, but three years with Cignetti resulted in what we saw on Saturday.
Does Kenny Pickett get benched if his O-Line under performs two games in a row? It is sometimes easy to point to the QB when the route-running, offensive line play, and play call itself is off. Tame the criticism of Jurkovec and keep a clean pocket for 4 Quarters and then assess if the results are the same. On the scramble and duress he seems rattled and inaccurate (if not shorting the pass).
In review of the 2nd interception Twitter/X feed of the play the throw needs to come off of the 5-step drop. That ain’t Coaching or play-calling, that’s indeciveness.
Problem is he is seeing ghosts. Many times where he could step up or slide over in the pocket yet he scrambles out for no reason and makes an ill advised throw across his body or into double coverage rather than taking the check down. I’ve not seen he has the ability to make good decisions and his accuracy has been much worse than previous years. He’s got in his own head after getting knocked around at BC the past couple years. There’s a lot of mental fortitude required to play the position and he’s struggled to recapture the success… Read more »
Jurkovec actually needs a lot more of your nomenclature.
Jurkovec has: No poise; No Leadership; No Self-Confidence.
You can’t develop if you can’t recruit. Narduzzi and staff have been really bad at recruiting QB’s. They compound the problem by failing to develop those few recruits that they do bring in. When you look at the Pitt QB situation it’s easy to understand why recruiting a quality BQ is difficult: They’ve used the portal heavily and recruited over the younger QB’s on the team. Not a good look if you’re trying to sell a high school QB. Narduzzi has made it abundantly clear that he prefers to run the ball. Hard to convince a young QB to play… Read more »
Too much common sense in this article for the Pitt offensive staff to comprehend.
Nate Yarnell led Pitt to the Sun Bowl victory over UCLA. There should have not been a need for bringing in two transfers. Especially with another good quarterback recruit!
That wasn’t Yarnell that was Nick Patti. Yarnell did however QB them on the road to a win against Western Michigan.
Nick Patti was the starter against UCLA in Sun Bowl
Narduzzi screwed up not giving Nick Patti the starting job last year.
Every kid on that team knew Patti beat out Slovis for that starting job but because Slovis was brought in via the portal that idiot Narduzzi didn’t have the balls to do the right thing.
Then Patti would have stayed in school and been the starter again this year.
Everytime Patti was asked to step in for Kenny while backing him up for 3 years Patti preformed.
Patti was the starting QB versus UCLA in the 2022 Sun Bowl not Yarnell
I’m telling you Mark Whipple was the main reason this team was so good. And of course Duzzi ran him off, gave him no credit and talked shit on him because he apparently didn’t stroke his ego like he needs. He would rather lose than admit he was wrong. When they bring in a qb like Jurkovec they make a lot of promises so loyalty ends up overriding winning.
O line has been bad 2 yrs now wide outs haven’t run good routes an aren’t very good oc should move Phil out of pocket solvis is 3 an 0 at byu its just not Phil
Consider this trend for Offensive Coordinator: Narduzzi’s original staff Jim Chaney (OC) 2015 offseason Jim Chaney -> Matt Canada (OC) 2016 offseason Matt Canada -> Shawn Watson (OC) 2018 offseason Shawn Watson -> Mark Whipple (OC) Now we are in the second year of Frank Cignetti. Compare the same time period for Defensive Coordinators: Narduzzi’s original staff Josh Conklin (DC) 2017 offseason Josh Conklin -> Randy Bates (DC) Also worth noting is Charlie Patridge arrival in also is 2016.2017 offseason Renaldo Hill -> Archie Collins/Cory Sanders (DB). What is the strength of our team? The D-line and D-backs. The recruits… Read more »