Pitt Sees Bright Future with In-House QB Talent
PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers have spent the past two off seasons trying to fill the void left behind by Kenny Pickett with veteran transfer quarterbacks and it's yielded mixed results.
Now, Kedon Slovis has transferred to BYU and Phil Jurkovec is set to graduate at the end of the year after being demoted from starter to third-stringer while also working out at tight end and on special teams. That leaves the Panthers with three scholarship quarterbacks on the roster - none older than a redshirt sophomore and one poised to be the starter well into the future, giving head coach Pat Narduzzi confidence in the long-term future of the position.
"I feel great with Christian [Veilleux]. I feel great with Nate Yarnell," head coach Pat Narduzzi said. "You saw how he performed when he got in there too. I said that back in camp. Each one of them continues to grow every week."
Veilleux has sandwiched two outstanding starts against Louisville and Wake Forest in between poor, turnover-laden games against North Carolina and Notre Dame. Three of his four appearances against FBS competition this season have come against ranked opponents and he's thrown for 627 yards, four touchdowns and four interceptions (all last week against Notre Dame) while completing 54% of his passes.
Even Yarnell showed some promise late against the Irish, completing a pair of passes for 75 yards and a touchdown during garbage time. He has starting experience too, after winning a game on the road against Western Michigan last season.
The abject disaster that was his latest contest against the Irish skews heavily what has been a mostly hopeful start to Veilleux's tenure as Pitt's starting quarterback and Narduzzi still continues to see progress.
"Is Christian where he is right now compared to where he was game one or fall camp, he's way far ahead," Narduzzi said. "I think every week he becomes more confident in what he's doing and how he's doing it. And every week, he sees a different coverage or sees this or that and has a better feel of what he's got to do. It's only going to make him better. And I feel good with that quarterback room."
This offseason will be strikingly different from the ones prior. Pitt knew they would need new signal-callers when both the 2021 and 2022 seasons ended, so they dipped into the transfer portal. But in 2024, they are confident they'll open spring practices with their starting quarterback already integrated with the team and the offense.
Until then, the Panthers still have four more weeks of practices and games (more than that if they can rip off an unlikely four-game winning streak to earn a bowl game bid) to further develop the young talent in the quarterback room. Narduzzi is asking for time and patience to allow that process to happen.
"We've got some experienced positions on our football team, and we've got some inexperience," Narduzzi said. "And those are growing pains that -- like I said to our coaches, we've got to be patient with them. And we've got to do a better job coaching them. We've got to do a better job coaching them. I told them 10 times, tell them 12 times, tell them 15 times. Just keep telling them. That's what we do."
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