After starter Nate Yarnell, Alabama transfer Eli Holstein 1st quarterback chosen by Pitt teammates in spring game draft

ACC Network cameras will be stationed inside Acrisure Stadium on Saturday to record every move Pitt players make in the Blue-Gold spring game.

Offensive coordinator Kade Bell will react accordingly. No sense tipping off conference foes and giving them all summer to figure out how to defend Pitt’s new offense.

What will be interesting to watch, however, will be just how efficient the quarterbacks will be in directing the up-tempo scheme. Especially backup Eli Holstein, who was the second quarterback chosen Wednesday when players assembled to draft teammates onto the Blue and Gold squads.

Nate Yarnell is the starter, and he was the first quarterback chosen by teammates (Blue). But Holstein, who transferred from Alabama in the offseason, was next, getting the nod from the Gold team over Christian Veilleux, who started five games last season after replacing Phil Jurkovec.

Veilleux went third and will back up Yarnell. After that, Ty Dieffenbach, freshman Julian Dugger (Penn Hills) and walk-ons Jake Frantl and David Lynch were selected in that order.

Holstein’s name coming off the board immediately after Yarnell was chosen might be an early indicator of coach Pat Narduzzi’s depth chart when training camp opens in August.

Tight end Gavin Bartholomew, a Gold co-captain with fellow seniors Daniel Carter, Rashad Battle and Donovan McMillon, said he and his teammates have been impressed by Holstein showing “a lot of consistency” during the first 13 spring practice sessions.

“He’s shown that he’s very comfortable working with the 1s and 2s,” Bartholomew said. “He’s really comfortable in the pocket and he makes the throws we expect him to make.”

No matter who will be under center, quarterbacks will run a vanilla game plan.

“Looking at the big picture, it’s a good thing down the road,” Bartholomew said. “It’s a little upsetting, but it will still be fun.”

The first overall selection in the draft was sophomore wide receiver Kenny Johnson, who was a backup last year but will assume a bigger role this season. Bartholomew said he and his Gold co-captains chose Johnson because senior wide receiver Konata Mumpfield had been pre-selected as a Blue co-captain.

“We needed him as a weapon,” Bartholomew said. “He’s shown tremendous growth from last year.”

A friendly rivalry has ensued this spring, with the defense winning all three scrimmages over the offense, according to Narduzzi’s scoring system.

“They’ve been chirping pretty hard,” Bartholomew said, “but we’ll get them at the spring game.”

Middle linebacker Brandon George, a Blue co-captain with Mumpfield, Ben Sauls and Nate Matlack, jokingly predicted a 50-point victory. But he said what will really matter is the alertness and conditioning linebackers must exhibit to keep up with the fast pace on offense.

”Everybody knows fatigue makes cowards of us all at the end of the day,” George said. “It’s definitely a fatiguing offense to go against every day, but we’ve consistently come up to bat and improved every day.

“There’s a lot of competition to see who can improve the most on a daily basis, who can get the most turnovers, the most TFLs, sacks, tackles in general. I think that has propelled our growth forward, just having that internal competition within our room.

“We need to be an almost maniacal group on the field, understand that is our job as linebackers to be scary individuals. We’ve taken that role to another level.”

Overall, the game will be a watered-down version of what Narduzzi expects to see in camp this summer and during the season. And not just because of Bell’s desire to keep his best plays hidden.

There are 19 injured players who have been ruled out of the game.

Among the injured who will not play are safety Cruce Brookins (Steel Valley), who has been the subject of continual praise this spring; running back Rodney Hammond, wide receivers Censere Lee, Raphael Williams and Che Nwabuko; linebackers Solomon DeShields and Jordan Bass; cornerback Tamon Lynum; and offensive linemen Terrence Moore, Ryan Jacoby, Branson Taylor and Dorien Ford (Baldwin). Narduzzi also listed cornerback Tamarion Crumpley as questionable.