Eli Holstein not cleared medically while Pat Narduzzi prepares for 'a game-time' decision on Pitt quarterback's availability

Pat Narduzzi walked inside the big conference room adjacent to his office Thursday afternoon and correctly read the minds of the assembled reporters.

“Probably the big question is how is Eli doing, right?” Pitt’s coach said of quarterback Eli Holstein, who has left two of the past three games with an apparent head injury.

Good guess, coach.

Unlike two weeks ago — when Holstein was cleared by Pitt’s medical people three days before the SMU game, and Narduzzi made the happy announcement on his radio show — he had no such definitive news Thursday at his weekly news briefing.

“He’s not been cleared yet, or I would have probably announced it (Wednesday) night on my radio show, or called you up,” he said, reminding reporters to keep their cell phones handy at all times.

“So, it will be a game-time decision. We’ll continue to wait and make sure we take care of our guys.”

If Holstein is not cleared by noon Saturday when the Clemson game kicks off, Nate Yarnell will make his first start of the season and fourth of his Pitt career.

“Whether it’s Eli or Nate, we have a ton of confidence,” Narduzzi said. “I’ve said that since I named Nate Yarnell the starter a year ago (for the final two games of 2023). We have great confidence in him, and he’ll go out and play even better (than he did against Virginia) because he got more reps this week.”

That statement and quick glimpse into Pitt’s closed practices are indications Yarnell might be on track to start. That could change anytime Friday or Saturday morning, but the staff apparently has prepared Yarnell with more intensity than when Holstein was healthy.

Speaking of intense preparations, Narduzzi said there’s no “secret sauce” to Pitt’s 2-2 record against Clemson, dating to the Panthers’ 43-42 upset victory in 2016 while the Tigers were on their way to winning a national championship.

“If there was a secret sauce, something we could sprinkle on it, I don’t know,” he said. “We know it’s a good football team.”

To that end, the coach said the staff has gone through all 327 offensive plays — “at least,” he said — Clemson used in its past four Pitt games.

“It’s amazing how similar their offense is, which tells me (coach) Dabo (Swinney) is pretty involved with the offense, as far as what they do, how they do it. We take a lot from what we see on that video tape, and it’s pretty revealing when you compile four games together. Hopefully, that helps us defensively.”

But nothing will help more than avoiding the eight offensive penalties and nine drops by Pitt pass catchers that led to the 24-19 loss to Virginia last week.

“We can’t have first-and-15. We have to move the sticks,” Narduzzi said.

He added that all the pass catchers “need to step up” so the quarterback can have multiple options in the passing game. But the drops, he said, were unexpected.

“I can’t tell you I watched practice and saw a lot of drops. I didn’t see any last week, either, though,” he said.

“Look it in, try to catch it first before you get up the field and try to gain yards,” he said, repeating the message he had for pass catchers this week. “Patience, take care of the details first. We can’t have nine drops this week, can’t happen. You’d be in trouble.”

Narduzzi said his players practiced well this week, but it’s not necessarily a predictor of things to come.

“Never had bad practice,” he said. “You can have a great week of practice. It doesn’t matter. You’re playing against scout team guys. You’re not playing against Clemson’s defense or Clemson’s offense. It doesn’t mean you’re going to play well. Your have to be locked in and focused. Your mind better be right on game day.”

Narduzzi has been trying to explain what happened in the Virginia game.

“Maybe they think they’re just giant killers and (can) show up and beat a Virginia team,” he said. “I tell them that a million times. It ain’t going to happen. You ain’t that good. Nobody is. You better play.”

He also pointed out that Pitt has lost its starting left tackle to injury in three consecutive seasons: Carter Warren in 2022, Matt Goncalves in 2023 and Branson Taylor this season.

“That’s a hard thing to recover from. You can’t go on the waiver wire and get a free agent. We didn’t have another Branson Taylor. Maybe we have to go out and buy a few more linemen,” he said making an NIL joke.

“I’m not throwing anybody under the bus. Depth is hard. You lose a linebacker. You lose an offensive lineman. I think it’s hard on everybody.”