Pitt Blue-Gold Preview: What to Know About the Spring Game

Football is in the air as Pitt will hit the field at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday for its annual Blue-Gold Spring Game with kickoff set for 1 p.m. Admission is free for fans to attend.

It’s an opportunity for Pitt to give its fans a glimpse of what’s in store for the 2025 season with a second year of Kade Bell’s offensive led by quarterback Eli Holstein, along with new transfers and freshmen across the roster.

Spring Game Gameday 🔵🟡

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⏰ 1 PM
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There will not be a TV broadcast. The game can be heard on 93.7 the Fan.

Here’s everything you need to know for Saturday’s spring game.

Honorary Captains

Pitt will welcome back a pair of Super Bowl champions in quarterback Kenny Pickett and cornerback AJ Woods to serve as the honorary captains for this year’s spring game.

Pickett and Woods were both members of February’s Super Bowl LIX win with the Philadelphia Eagles. Pickett entered the game in the late stages, registering one pass attempt before he kneeled out the eventual title win for his hometown team. Since then, Pickett has been traded to the Cleveland Browns — his third NFL franchise in four years since being drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round during the 2022 draft.

Pickett returns to Pitt where he led the Panthers to a 2021 ACC Championship during a season in which he was a runner-up for the Heisman Trophy all while collecting All-American honors and breaking several Pitt records.

Woods played with the Panthers from 2019-2023 and was also apart of the ACC Championship winning team. Against Wake Forest in Charlotte, N.C. that season, Woods came up with a pivotal interception that he took back 73 yards to set up a Pitt touchdown from running back Israel Abanikanda.

Throughout his career at Pitt, Woods totaled 105 tackles, seven for a loss, two sacks, four interceptions and 29 passes defended. Woods went undrafted in the 2024 draft. He was signed by the Washington Commanders and released a few months later. He was then signed by the Eagles to their practice squad.

Spring Game to be Thud

Pitt’s spring game has often been live and full contact, especially when aired on the ACC Network, but this year will be differet. Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi noted that this year’s game will be “thud” tempo, which means that players will still play at a physical level and bring contact mainly above the waist. However, they will not drive anyone into the turf.

Per usual, quarterbacks will be off limits. It all comes as safety measures with an already depleted roster entering the game.

Blue-Gold Rosters

The Panthers held their spring game draft on Wednesday by selecting players by position. The first player taken off the board was freshman running back Ja’Kyrian Turner by the Blue Team, which is led by captains Nate Temple, Jake Overman, Tamon Lynum and Rashad Battle. The head coach is Ryan Manalac.

Gold, who is led by captains Desmond Reid, Javon McIntyre, Lyndon Cooper, Ryan Baer and head coach Lindsey Lamar, responded by taking running back Juelz Goff.

Holstein and David Lynch will quarterback the Gold Team, while Julian Dugger and Mason Heintschel will be under center for the Blue Team.

Pitt quarterbacks – Eli Holstein (10), Mason Heintschel (6), David Lynch (16). March 11, 2025 / Ed Thompson. PSN.

The offensive lines were already pre-selected and Gold holds the top unit of Jeff Persi, Kendall Stanley, Lyndon Cooper, BJ Williams and Ryan Baer, while Blue will work with the 2s.

For the full depth charts for both teams, click here.

Inactives

While Pitt has some electrifying players and a handful of transfers that fans are eager to check out, many of them will be inactive. As of Wednesday, Pitt had 26 players listed as out. That number could have changed in the following days with the final spring practice.

Running back Desmond Reid, wide receiver Raphael Williams and linebacker Rasheem Biles headline the players that are inactive for the Panthers.

Entering Saturday, Goff, cornerback Rashan Murray and defensive end Joey Zelinsky were all listed as questionable. Defensive tackle Isaiah Neal is probable.

What to Watch For?

This spring has not been filled with the storylines surrounding a new offense or emerging quarterback.

Still, there is a lot of intrigue surrounding Bell’s offense in Year 2. There’s been a lot of talk that this offense is “light years” ahead of where they were last year. Communication is better, more rhythm, faster tempo and depth at wide receiver. Saturday will provide an opportunity to see where the offense stands after five weeks of work.

The quarterback room itself has grown in interest with Holstein still recovering fully from an ankle surgery he had in the offseason. He has competed well and still holds the No. 1 spot, but Dugger and Heintschel have earned a lot of praise in camp and are ramping up the competition in the room.

At running back, Turner is bringing a spark and explosiveness that will be on display Saturday. Throughout camp, he has stood out and has made plays during the scrimmages with a few touchdowns.

Offensive line was a major storyline coming into camp. While the lines will be thin, the spring game will offer an opportunity to see guys like Persi, Stanley and Gouveia work in the new system, along with another year of Baer, Williams, Cooper and the depth pieces.

Pitt brought in three transfer defensive ends that are fighting for playing time. The staff is happy with where Blaine Spires, Joey Zelinsky (who will most likely play limited snaps) and Jaeden Moore are this spring compared to last year’s unit. They will have the chance to wreak havoc and get into the backfield on Saturday.

How will the middle linebacker race shape up? Sophomore linebacker Jeremiah Marcelin has had an outstanding spring by many accounts and his pushing to start at the ‘mike’ position with Braylan Lovelace. Marcelin represents the Gold Team, while Lovelace is with the Blue Team. Who will stand out more on Saturday? Time will only tell.

Kickoffs

Kickers James London and Sam Carpenter are in a battle right now to take over for Ben Sauls. They’ll be back kicking in one of the toughest environments on the North Shore.

While they will have a few reps on field-goal attempts, the two will also kick off in a modified kick off scenario that Narduzzi decided to go with for the spring game.

“We got a little kickoff drill for you for field position instead of running 11 guys down on the kickoff and having a regular kickoff, it’ll be a one-on-one,” Narduzzi said. “We’ll send down three one-on-ones. Based on who wins is where that field position gets to. Without trying to have a bunch of guys, it’ll be a one-on-one isolation on kickoff, kickoff returns.

“Who’s going to block and who can recover the kick? It’s not necessarily who makes the tackle because with all that space, no one’s going to make that tackle. I hope the returners can make a miss with one guy running down the field. It’s a matter of technique, doing it the right way and not getting a penalty.”