Despite Nate Yarnell’s strong outing, Pitt QB situation unsettled for ’24
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Before you can criticize Pat Narduzzi for failing to properly stack his quarterback room since Kenny Pickett’s departure, you have to give him credit for how he rebuilt the position during the first two seasons of his Pitt tenure.
• Nathan Peterman — win. He threw five touchdown passes in an upset of Clemson, the eventual national champion after the 2016 season.
• Pickett — win. Narduzzi likes to say his wife, Donna, helped get Pickett’s name on a letter of intent because of the strong impression she made with the family. North Carolina was trying to flip him, but the Narduzzis won that battle.
Maybe the coach should have quit while he was ahead.
Those people connected to college football have said the transfer portal can’t be ignored. So, Narduzzi brought in Kedon Slovis, Phil Jurkovec and Christian Veilleux from USC, Boston College and Penn State the past two years. Each failed to live up to expectations.
It can be argued the only quarterbacks who have not disappointed the fan base or their coaches in that time are Nick Patti and the current people’s choice, Nate Yarnell.
One never knows what an offseason can bring, especially after the transfer portal opens and college free agency begins, but it’s not an outrageous prediction to project juniors-to-be Yarnell and Veilleux slugging it out during the winter, spring and summer months of 2024.
Actually, that QB derby kicked off this season with Veilleux starting five games (1-4) before getting benched in favor of Yarnell (1-0) for the Boston College game.
It’s Yarnell’s job now, but he has only one more game to prove himself before the offseason: Saturday against Duke in Pitt’s only noon start of the season.
Narduzzi chose his words carefully Monday when the topic turned to quarterbacks during his news conference. But Yarnell has passed the intelligence test, at least.
“Nate Yarnell is a guy that can go through his progressions, just like all those guys in that quarterback room,” he said. “They can go through their progressions, not just look at it one way, and if it’s not there, take off and run.”
Of Yarnell, Narduzzi said, “He’s as smart as you’re going to find in that room … probably the most talented guy mentally.”
The coach gave plenty of credit to his offensive linemen, pointing out that they allowed no sacks to give Yarnell the opportunity to complete 11 of 19 passes for 207 yards and a touchdown.
“Zero sacks compared to our (six) sacks. It’s another thing that bounces off the piece of paper,” Narduzzi said.
The coach admitted sometimes coaches become fixated on physical talent.
“You’re kind of maybe looking at the most talented guy,” he said. “Like I said a year ago when we took him off that scout field, he wasn’t sitting in a room being quiet, not paying attention, and all of a sudden, ‘Oh, my gosh, it’s my turn.’
“He was prepared, and that’s who he is. It didn’t shock me at all that Nate did what he did.”
Reality states, however, that Yarnell’s work is only getting started.
“He’s got to go out and do it all over again because nobody cares about what you did last week against BC,” Narduzzi said. “I think that’s the first thing is let that last one go and now focus on the next one. He’s got to continue to get better. He can’t stay the same.”
If you’re seeking clarity on the identity of Pitt’s opening starter in 2024, Narduzzi doesn’t know — nor should he at this early date after making the wrong decisions two offseasons in a row.
“I like (the quarterback depth chart) right now,” he said, “but again, that can change quickly. Again, you look at Christian is a really good quarterback that’s talented, and we’ll continue to work with him, and obviously Nate had a heck of a weekend, and we want him to have another great weekend to back that up.
“(Freshman) Ty Dieffenbach, don’t forget about him.”
The first order of business is a series of personal meetings with each player, conducted by Narduzzi and his assistants. That’s starts next Monday, he said.
“It’s a good time for player evaluation to find out where they are, what they’re thinking, and what we can do better.“