Pitt FB Recruiting
Top Pitt QB Target Taking Official Visit to Pittsburgh This Week
The top quarterback on the Pitt football watchlist is taking an official visit to Pittsburgh.
Eli Holstein is taking an official visit to Pitt this week, PantherLair’s Chris Peak first reported, just a day after entering the transfer portal Wednesday afternoon. It’s a very important visit for the Pitt coaching staff.
Holstein — a 6-foot-4, 237-pound quarterback from Zachary, Louisiana — did not see the field as a true freshman at Alabama, but he is not far removed from being one of the top quarterback recruits in the class of 2023.
He was one of the top quarterbacks in the class of 2023, flipping from Texas A&M to Alabama in the summer of 2022. As a consensus four-star recruit, he was rated as the 88th-ranked recruit in the class by 247Sports (eighth-overall quarterback) and 147th-ranked recruit in the class by Rivals (ninth-overall pro-style quarterback).
He held offers from the likes of Arkansas, Auburn, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Louisville, Miami, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Penn State, Purdue, South Carolina, Stanford, Texas A&M and Utah before signing with Alabama last January.
Holstein was ultra-efficient in 2022 as a senior at Zachary, completing 159-of-244 pass attempts (65%) for 2,153 yards with 22 touchdowns and three interceptions — adding 64 carries for 505 yards (7.9 yards per attempt) and nine touchdowns.
And he was even better as a junior, throwing for 3,264 yards, rushing for 515 more and scoring 43 total touchdowns on the way to a perfect 15-0 season — capped by a state title.
With Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe returning next season, to go along with a crowded quarterbacks room filled with four- and five-star recruits, Holstein will look for an opportunity to play immediately elsewhere — with four seasons of eligibility remaining.
Holstein is a big, strong-armed quarterback, and while he isn’t a dual threat, he would be mobile enough to run a Kade Bell-run offense that requires quick decision-making and good ball placement.
Nate Yarnell and Christian Veilleux are returning to Pitt next season, with both having started games (to varying degrees of success) last season, and Ty Dieffenbach and Julian Dugger are both in the fold. But the Pitt coaching staff is certainly going to add another option, and Holstein is the quarterback to keep an eye on.
is “mobile enough”, enough ?
I wish we had some serious players on the O-line visiting us, sure his numbers look good on paper but who knows if it will actually lead to success. Our last few QBs from the portal didn’t exactly work out. This guys is probably end up at Ohio State.
Broken English aside, Howard committed to OSU, so there goes that theory.
Look at the garage we have as Offensive Line Coach. Wonder how many teams he coached? Look at the powerhouse programs he got fired from. He worse than Steelers Offensive Line Coach. Other than Partridge, not any decent Coaches that can recruit.
Let’s see…6’4″ four star, top-10 ranked QB recruit with about two dozen power five offers from some of the biggest programs in the country. Good enough to secure a position on the Crimson Tide’s roster…yeah, I think he may be worthy of an offer from Pitt.
You think! Decent from our MAC recruits.
If not him maybe Manning from Texas lol. Let’s be serious for a moment it is a shock that the Penn Hills QB didn’t back off because Dizzy is still Pitts coach. !!!!!
Enter Kade Bell. I can promise Narduzzi has little to do with this recruitment other than dressing nice and smiling big during the visit.
Hopefully Nodoz put the shorts away for the winter !
Bell was hired by AD. She knows program in trouble. Yet she’s the one that gave him extension? A 500 season, he will be bought out. Shocked a new Offensive Line Coach also hired.
Transfer guys don’t usually take official visits to places they aren’t seriously considering. No way this is a done deal but it sounds like there is mutual interest.
The fact that until this point Pitt hadn’t really been linked to any portal QB’s might indicate they were sitting back waiting for this because they knew it would happen
We need 4 star OL a lot more than QBs. Our O-Line was manhandled by Wofford last year! Even Marino, Manning and Brady couldn’t win with last year’s OL. Please get a new OL coach and improve our OL first!
H2P!
With injuries and inexperienced players, the performance was bad until the latter half of the season. The younger players and New starters improved in the last 4 games. That will make a significant difference going into next season. That, and the departure of Cignetti/ Jurkovic will be an advantage.
Thank you Alliance412 for bringing Eli to us…