Pat Narduzzi wasn’t ready to name the starting Pitt quarterback for Week 1 against Kent State last week, and he wasn’t ready to do so after Sunday’s final scrimmage either.
If Pitt has a starting quarterback, Narduzzi is keeping it very close to his chest.
But Narduzzi did say that he feels good about both Nate Yarnell and Eli Holstein as their competition continues into the final week of fall camp. The season opener is just 10 days away now.
“We don’t a quarterback — we’ve got two quarterbacks, that’s a good thing,” Narduzzi said Tuesday before practice. “I’m glad we’ve got more than one. We’ve got two quarterbacks that are really good. These are hard decisions, and we’ll just take it day by day. You get into game planning or just picking up game plans, I feel like we have two really good quarterbacks we can win with right now.”
Narduzzi has said that he’s stayed out of quarterback decisions over the last couple of seasons, but it would appear that he’s taking a more vested interest in the battle this season.
“They’re getting a ton of reps out there with the 1s and the 2s, we’re mixing it up … Nate’s our starter right now, and there’s a battle going on,” Narduzzi said last week.
Yarnell, who started the final two games of the 2023 season (and performed well), entered the summer as the starter. Or at least, he was named the starter before spring ball and then after the spring game, too.
Holstein, who arrived as a high-profile transfer from Alabama in December, started the spring slowly after picking up an injury early. But he finished the strong and hasn’t looked back since. He’s a legitimate option to start Week 1 against Kent State.
Yarnell may have entered the summer with the “upper hand,” attending the ACC Kickoff in Charlotte, N.C. last month and serving as the QB1 throughout the spring and summer, but Narduzzi approached this summer with a new perspective.
“You can say upper hand like what’s the percentage, I think any time there’s a period of time where something has finished, you finish spring ball — hey, this is the guy,” Narduzzi said. “But then you go into another period, and you come out fall camp and you’re going to do the same thing. And that’s at every position. You could be a starter at the end of spring ball; that doesn’t mean you’re a starter. And that’s every position, I’m not talking about the quarterback.
“But there’s a battle going on, and I think they’re both pressing, working at it, working their tails off, coming in late, spending more time just to be the best. Sometimes that can pay off, sometimes that can backfire on you. But we’re seeing them compete every day, I love the competition, you gotta love what you see out there in two really good quarterbacks battling.”
Narduzzi doesn’t have a timeline for naming a starter. The Sunday scrimmage — the second and final this summer — was an important barometer for a handful of key position battles across the roster. If Narduzzi is swayed either way from the performances, he’s keeping his thoughts close to his chest right now.
“They’ve both been outstanding,” Narduzzi said Wednesday before practice. “I don’t think you’re going to be disappointed with whatever you see out there. I think you’re gonna be happy with what you see, I don’t think our defense is easy to go against every day with all the stuff we do and Bates does more stuff in practice than he would do in a game. … we’re looking for that consistency. One day one is really, really good and the other is good, and then the next day the other one is really, really good and the other one is good We want them to be great all the time.”
Narduzzi said that as Pitt goes through game plan week, he’ll see more in terms of how both Yarnell and Holstein pick it up and adjust. And that could be a factor.
The season opener against Kent State is on Aug. 31 at Acrisure Stadium, so one way or another, the starter will be revealed within the next two weeks. It’s likely that Narduzzi — as he did when Kedon Slovis and Nick Patti competed for the starting job — could name the starter the week before kickoff.
It’s also possible that Narduzzi could pencil in a “Nate Yarnell OR Eli Holstein” on the initial Pitt depth chart on Monday.
hahaha, just like last year
So does Tomlin and the Steelers!
We all know the saying: “If you have two QBs you really have none.” So it sounds like we better hunker down for another long year.
I agree. It is statements like this from Narduzzi that causes me concern. You would think that Bell understands what system he wants to run and which QB best executes his concept. If uncertain get some insights from Bates as to which QB is harder to defend against. It can’t be that difficult to know which player gives the team the best chance to win.
Maybe they’re both playing like a young Alex Van Pelt.
That is going back in time. I am not sure what to think of that comment. Without researching records I don’t remember Pitt having much success in terms of records with him at QB. Maybe a Bill Stull at least Pitt had winning records.
This doesn’t sound good. Pat always thinks he’s being clever by trying to hide what he’s going to do, but with the past QB disasters, you would think he’d want to name a starter and go with it.
I personally think Holstein will be the starter, but Pat is going to string Yarnell along.
I still can’t understand why Pitt continues to be unable to sign a 4-star QB out of high school and get him on campus.
If I’m Nate and they name Holstein the starter I’m out of there right away. Nate has been a pitt guy, not a ‘bama carpetbagger who picked pitt cause it’s an easy place to get the starting job. He’s sat and been a good soldier, give the guy the nod Duzz
Nate has looked solid in his limited time on the field the past 2 years. He is calm, good vision, accurate passer. Seems to have a good game computer between the ears. IMO, he should have been our starter from opening day in the ‘23 season.
Eli has talent according to what I have read . College game experience-none! Hope Nate wins the competition this time ‘round.