Pat Narduzzi May Know the Starting Quarterback, But He Won’t Reveal It

If it was up to Pat Narduzzi, Pitt would play Phil Jurkovec, Christian Veilleux and Nate Yarnell in a three-quarterback set. At least, he said Thursday at his weekly press conference that he wished he could do so.

I don’t know how well that would actually go in a game, but if there was anything to take from his quarterback comments, it’s that he’s ready but unwilling to name who will start against Virginia Tech Saturday night in Blacksburg, Va.

“I got a good idea,” Narduzzi said. ”… nah (I won’t say). We don’t know who their starting quarterback is, they ain’t gonna know who ours is.”

It remains to be seen who will start against the Hokies. Jurkovec was knocked out of the North Carolina game at halftime after sustaining a high, hard hit, and Christian Veilleux finished the game. It wasn’t a very good performance by Veilleux, in a tough situation, but Narduzzi said Monday that he would start if Jurkovec were unable to go this weekend. And it would be a much better scenario for the young quarterback.

Narduzzi made sure to continue to lavish Yarnell in praise, but it is clear that either Jurkovec or Veilleux will start Saturday.

And if it’s Veilleux, who completed 7-of-18 pass attempts for 85 yards and two interceptions (and a fumble), Narduzzi feels like he learned from the rough outing.

“I think when you get your first action of ’23, you learn a lot,” Narduzzi said. “He’s gotta get into the right checks at times, which he didn’t all the time, and those are some obvious things that we see in our room. Some different alerts that he needs to be aware, that he needs to make sure that he does what we want him to do and not his own thing out there, so we’ve got a lot of faith in Christian.”

Pittsburgh Panthers quarterback Christian Veilleux (11) September 23, 2023 David Hague/Pittsburgh Sports Now

The chance to see Veilleux in action was a bit bittersweet as Jurkovec was in the midst of his strongest start as a Pitt Panther, completing 11-of-15 pass attempts for 109 yards and leading two early touchdown drives, and Narduzzi certainly saw a more comfortable Jurkovec under center.

“It’s been a while since I looked at Wofford, but he was pretty good against Wofford,” Narduzzi said. “But it was Wofford. As far as a Power Five game, I’d say that first half was really solid.

“He made good decisions with the the football, that’s the first thing, it’s about decision making and I think he was on target more. I think he was just more comfortable for whatever reason. He was comfortable.”

There can be arguments made for and against Jurkovec going forward, but it appears that as of right now, a healthy Jurkovec offers Pitt its best chance to win. And it doesn’t appear as though he will be missing a ton of time — if any.

“Phil had a good week,” Narduzzi said.

It’s likely that the starting quarterback against the Hokies will not be revealed until pregame warmups Saturday night at Lane Stadium. And once again, both Jurkovec and Veilleux should be ready.