Pitt Football Has Confidence in Backup QB Nate Yarnell

Nate Yarnell traveled to the ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte, N.C. over the summer for a reason.

He was the starting quarterback entering fall camp, but obviously, he hasn’t been the starting quarterback this season. And it’s not so much that he lost the starting job as it is Eli Holstein earned the job over the summer.

Yarnell — a 6-foot-6, 215-pound redshirt junior from Austin, Texas — has played in a few games this season, but it’s either been in garbage time or in relief of Holstein. His most recent action came in the fourth quarter of the loss to Virginia after Holstein left the game.

Holstein took a late, high hit from Virginia linebacker Trey McDonald as he slid on a second-and-4 play midway through the third quarter. Holstein was helped off the field, went to the medical tent and left for the the locker room.

Yarnell finished the game, completing 4-of-12 pass attempts for 44 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. He didn’t play well, but it was the first stretch of “bad” football from Yarnell in his limited college career. And offensive coordinator Kade Bell even liked what he saw from Yarnell.

“I thought once he got settled down, I thought he played really well,” Bell said Tuesday after practice. “We had a couple of drops when he was in there. I think the first pick that he had, he wanted to have back. He was really frustrated because we had the perfect look, the perfect play and he knew it. He saw it. He knew he was just late, like if he just throws that ball earlier down the middle of the field, we had what we wanted there to Raphael. He was open down the middle of the field, we just threw it late.

“And he knew that, that’s the great thing about Nate is that he’s a smart football kid, he knew that he was late and I just told him, hey if you’re late, just check the ball down because we had the tight end open, too.”

Bell felt like Yarnell learned from the experience, leading a scoring drive and a two-point conversion (that was called back by a phantom hold).

Bell said that Yarnell is a “process-driven” player who will get better with the more reps he receives in practice. He hasn’t received many lately considering Holstein receives the majority as the first-year starter.

Pittsburgh Panthers quarterback Nate Yarnell (19) October 24, 2024 Photo by David Hague/PSN

Pat Narduzzi said Monday that everybody is playing Saturday, minus Branson Taylor (who was ruled out for the season with a knee surgery), but there are a few key injuries to monitor this week — including Holstein.

It’s the second time in three games that Holstein has left a game with an apparent head injury, and Yarnell will be called upon if Holstein can’t go.

“We’ve had a lot of confidence in Nate,” Narduzzi said Monday at his weekly press conference. “Obviously, he doesn’t get the reps, so any time you get put in that position at the end of the game, you feel bad for him because he doesn’t get the reps. I don’t think that’s a fair exam on who Nate Yarnell is, and if he’s ever to get a start again, I think if he was able to get starting reps, that you’d see a different guy.”

Narduzzi said that Yarnell has done a good job hanging in there, but obviously, no one was happy with two interceptions.

“We talked about Eli in the first half, up until the point where he gets hurt, we’re moving the ball, and he’s protecting the ball,” Narduzzi said. “So, you give that to Eli, and that’s kind of why he won that starting job is protecting the ball and keeping it from the other team. When you think about that, he’s done a nice job as far as for the most part of not taking chances and being smart with the football, not easy.”

But Holstein is questionable (simply because he was high and hard for the second time in three weeks) for the matchup against No. 20 Clemson, and it depends upon what the athletic training staff and doctors determine.

If Holstein is out, and Yarnell is in, it would be his fourth career start. He made a start against Western Michigan in 2022 and two starts against Boston College and Duke last season.

• 2022: Western Michigan — 9-of-12 pass attempts (75%) for 179 yards and a touchdown
• 2023: Boston College — 11-of-19 pass attempts (58%) for 207 yards and a touchdown
• 2023: Duke — 25-of-35 pass attempts (71%) for 265 yards with two touchdowns an interception

Yarnell started two games last season. And in those two starts, against Boston College and Duke, he completed 36-of-54 pass attempts (66.7%) for 472 yards with four touchdowns (one rushing) and one interception.

Yarnell has played in six games this season, completing 30-of-48 pass attempts (62.5%) for 314 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions.

Clemson would be the toughest test of Yarnell’s time at Pitt (the same goes for Holstein), and it could come without Konata Mumpfield and Daejon Reynolds, too. There’s a lot to watch this week.

But it is clear that the Pitt coaching staff has confidence in Nate Yarnell in the event that Holstein isn’t able to go Saturday afternoon.