Pitt QB Nick Patti to Depart Program After Bowl Game

After spending five years as a Pitt Panther, Nick Patti will depart the program after the Sun Bowl.

PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers added three quarterbacks during this past recruiting cycle - two through the transfer portal and one through the high school ranks - because, as head coach Pat Narduzzi put it, it was a position of desperate need for his team. 

Starter Kedon Slovis opted to transfer, reserve graduate transfer Derek Kyler has exhausted his eligibility and backup Nick Patti is planning to move on from the Pitt program he's spent five years in, Narduzzi revealed during a press conference on National Signing Day. 

Patti is in a prime position to start the Sun Bowl against No. 18 UCLA for the Panthers. He was competing with this season's third-stringer Nate Yarnell, but Yarnell's been hampered by illness, according to Narduzzi.  

With five practices down and three to go, Patti has the inside track on the starting job. Patti was listed as the backup to starter Kedon Slovis for the entire season and has solidified his position as the Panthers' bowl game quarterback for the second straight season. 

He played two drives in last year's Peach Bowl against Michigan State, when starter Kenny Pickett opted out, before injuring his shoulder and exiting the game. 

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