There were plenty of Pitt fans who did not want the coaching staff to delve into the transfer portal after the transfer failures over the last two seasons.
The memories of Kedon Slovis and Phil Jurkovec are still fresh, Jurkovec especially, but Eli Holstein is not like his predecessors. We don’t really know what to expect from Holstein at this point, but it’s certainly not a bad thing that he’s a blank slate. He has years to grow under the tutelage of new offensive coordinator Kade Bell.
There were plenty of Pitt fans who did not want the coaching staff to delve into the transfer portal after the transfer failures over the last two seasons.
The memories of Kedon Slovis and Phil Jurkovec are still fresh, Jurkovec especially, but Eli Holstein is not like his predecessors. We don’t really know what to expect from Holstein at this point, but it’s certainly not a bad thing that he’s a blank slate. He has years to grow under the tutelage of new offensive coordinator Kade Bell.
Holstein — a 6-foot-4, 240-pound quarterback from Alabama — is coming to Pittsburgh with four seasons of eligibility. He has not played a single down of college football, but he isn’t far removed from a dominant high school career either. And there’s a reason he was consistently rated as one of the 10 best quarterbacks in the class of 2023.
His arrival is a massive win for the Pitt coaching staff, which worked quickly to secure his commitment after entering the transfer portal earlier this month, and it gives the coaching staff a lottery ticket to work with.
But this also isn’t a case where Holstein will just waltz into the starting spot.
Pitt now has five quarterbacks on its roster following Holstein’s commitment. But you can count the number of starts those five quarterbacks have made on two hands. Three of them haven’t seen the field since high school.
Yarnell ended last season as the Panthers’ starting quarterback, starting the final two games of the 2023 season. And in the process, he looked like the best quarterback on the roster. It wasn’t as if he looked like prime Kenny Pickett, but he looked comfortable running the offense, progressing through his reads and spreading the ball to his targets.
He completed 36-of-54 pass attempts (67%) for 472 yards with three touchdowns and an interception, adding another rushing touchdown, in those two starts. It wasn’t the stiffest competition of the season, facing Boston College and Duke, but it was Power Five competition, nonetheless.
Yarnell should still be considered the likely favorite to start the season opener against Kent State, but a true quarterback competition this offseason is about to be underway.
Holstein will have every opportunity to come in and immediately earn the starting spot, but it’s not as if he will just be handed the starting job.
