Pitt HC Pat Narduzzi Impressed with Nate Yarnell in First Start

The Pitt Panthers head coach had nothing but positives from the freshman's first start.

PITTSBURGH -- When redshirt freshman quarterback Nate Yarnell took the field at Waldo Stadium in Kalamazoo, Michigan, he was making his first start - high school, college or otherwise - in more than three years. Yarnell, thrust into a spot start for the Pitt Panthers after first and second-stringers Kedon Slovis and Nick Patti suffered injuries in Week 2 against Tennessee, didn't have to do much but played well enough to lead his team to a win and earn ACC Rookie of the Week honors.

Yarnell completed nine of 12 passes for 179 yards and a touchdown to zero interceptions. The Panthers as a team did not turn the ball over. Blanking the giveaways column of the box score was his most impressive feat, according to Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi. 

"When you hang onto the ball and you have your fourth or third-team - whatever you want to call him - quarterback in there, that was impressive," Narduzzi said. "He played with composure and to not turn the ball over is critical." 

Narduzzi said over and over during his first press conference of Week 4 that Yarnell was impressive. In his first start, on the road and with so many regular starters hampered by injuries, Yarnell helped pilot a confidence-building win for a Pitt team that sorely needed one. 

And it wasn't as if the offensive staff was coddling Yarnell either, according to Narduzzi. He didn't have to throw the ball all over the yard, but did make checks at the line of scrimmage that got the Panthers out of bad plays and into more advantageous looks. 

"He’s controlling things and not only was he playing quarterback and taking snaps and all that — he’s making checks out there as well," Narduzzi said. "He’s making changes, changing runs, changing pass protections, he was doing it all."

Yarnell did all of this with limited preparation time. He sat out spring practices with an injury and was still becoming comfortable with the offense by the time the season opener rolled around. But with just a few days of first-team reps under his belt, Yarnell earned the trust of his coaches. From a processing standpoint, he didn't use any training wheels.

"We have trust in him or we wouldn’t have done it," Narduzzi said. "We have ways of saying ‘It’s a straight call, let's go with it’. … He’s not looking to the sideline. He’s doing it all by himself and to see a young guy do that is so impressive. He did an awful lot of it and if he didn’t, we would have run into a lot of walls inside, so that was the most impressive thing."

Now Pitt has another weapon in a quarterback room that they already had great confidence in. The Panthers believe Slovis and Patti are both capable starters and Yarnell has provided evidence that he can be productive when called upon. Whether or not he sees more action later this season remains to be seen, but Pitt won't be afraid to throw him in the fire if needed.

"I know we know more and have a lot more faith in what Nate did on gameday," Narduzzi said. "You can see him in practice and you see him on the scout field, but when you see how a guy operates in a game, it definitely gives you another piece of the puzzle that you may have to use again at some point during the season.”

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