PITTSBURGH — Pitt will be without Eli Holstein this afternoon against Clemson.
He was considered a game-time decision after Pat Narduzzi announced that Holstein wasn’t cleared by the medical staff on Thursday, and he will not play today, Pete Thamel of ESPN reported. Nate Yarnell will make his first start of the season.
Yarnell has completed 30-of-48 pass attempts (62.5%) for 314 yards with five touchdowns and two interceptions this season — completing 81-of-124 pass attempts (65.3%) for 1,104 yards with 10 touchdowns and three interceptions.
Narduzzi said Thursday that Pitt has confidence in both Holstein and backup Nate Yarnell, but obviously, if Holstein was healthy, he would’ve played against the Tigers.
Holstein took a late, high hit from Virginia linebacker Trey McDonaldas 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.”
It was the second time in three weeks that Holstein was forced out of a contest with an apparent head injury.
Holstein has completed 177-of-286 pass attempts for 2,176 yards with 17 touchdowns and six interceptions, adding 323 yards and three touchdowns on the ground, this season.
Pitt vs. Clemson is expected to kick off just after noon, and the ACC matchup will be broadcast on ESPN.
Pitts going to get pummeled with him in there with that offensive line. Why bring recruits to a game like this? Pitts about to lose 38-10 or something very similar. What a joke of a program. Fire Narduzzi already that clown loses out he should be fired end of story.