Pitt FB Recruiting
Pitt Lands Former Top Recruit, Alabama QB Eli Holstein
Pitt has landed perhaps its most important transfer portal target.
Alabama transfer quarterback and former four-star recruit Eli Holstein announced Sunday afternoon that he has committed to Pitt following an official visit to Pittsburgh over the weekend.
It’s the third time in three offseasons that Pitt has added a transfer quarterback, but unlike Phil Jurkovec or Kedon Slovis, Holstein has basically his entire collegiate career ahead of him.
Time to get to work!!!! #H2P pic.twitter.com/aF0IRPabzK
— Eli Holstein (@eli_holstein10) January 7, 2024
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.
Holstein is a big, strong-armed quarterback, and while he isn’t exactly a dual threat, he would be mobile enough to run a Kade Bell-run offense that requires quick decision-making and good ball placement. His athleticism bodes well for his progress through the system.
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.
Holstein will have the opportunity to immediately come in and compete for the starting spot with Yarnell and Veilleux.
Gotta hand it to Narduzzi- he is crushing it with the portal.
He better cause his HS recruiting is average at best. With HS QB’s worse.
What about the first round NFL guys Narduzzi and his staff have developed over the last several seasons? What PA college has produced a first round QB draft pick in the last 10 years?
We’re waiting…
H2P!
welcome aboard .. H2P !
Wow. Narduzzi and his staff are doing an incredible jog erasing this years blip
NOT!!!
Your stupidity extends to multiple sports. Btw what’s your Pitt degree in?
CV needs to move along. He is our 5th best scholarship qb.
CV is the last remaining piece of the Cignetti disaster
This is great and all, but with the way college football is going, we will have him through the SMU game and then he will commit to his fourth team…
I just don’t get excited about signees out of high school OR transfers anymore. It’s exhausting. Enjoy them for the 60 minutes that they are on the field, and then put these players out of your mind. They don’t care about our school or the fans, and don’t care about academics.
Let’s hope for the best from this guy!
H2P.
In many cases, I agree. However, Holstein and several of the other portal additions have a strong academic history. I think Narduzzi and company are focused on bringing in athletes that are good students and teammates.
I like your optimism, but grades and character simply do not matter at this point. And while, yes, I do believe that PN is trying to recruit character, and good teammates, this romantic notion that we have “our guys” playing at Pitt is just not true. The thought of a Good Pitt Man is gone. Greed has ruined college football.
This QB may be a Rhodes Scholar, but nobody really cares.
We love him now, but let’s wait for him to actually enroll and stay a few years before anointing him the next KP.
This kid will be the next Tyler Palko!!!! Hail to Pitt. ACC is ours!!!!!
You do know, Pitt had Joe Flacco riding the bench behind Palko….don’t you ?
When is the last time you posted something positive?
Never…. He reminds of that Pedo in disguise
This recruit would definitely not have been landed if Cignetti were still the OC. Great job Narduzzi/Bell/Lyke/Alliance-412!
Has the production in play and scouting pedigree, but no real college play experience. I hope there is a real quarterback competition this off season. Welcome Eli, I pray your time at Pitt is blessed.
H2P!!!
Money talks, everyone else walks. He looks awful cold in that photo.Probably only saw snow on the Weather Channel.
Remember when Coach said he needed better players to replace his good team and it blew up and so many of you said everyone was going to transfer and Pitt was done and gone? Hate to say I told you so but I said you all would be Hard For Nard again. Welcome back!
Hard for Nard! Hahaha! Best thing I ever read on here!
I’d rather have dinocat back than have those god awful white helmets.