On 1st day of spring drills, Pitt QB Nate Yarnell says 'there’s no room for complacency anymore'

After the first day of Pitt’s spring practice, no one knows if offensive coordinator Kade Bell’s system will work any better than Frank Cignetti’s did.

Sure, players and coaches have ideas and high hopes, but this fast-paced, no-huddle offense is on the other side of anything Pat Narduzzi has implemented in his previous nine seasons at Pitt.

Nate Yarnell is the starting quarterback, but it’s less than a week into March and there are four scholarship players behind him on what is always a fluid depth chart. They include Christian Veilleux, who was named a starter ahead of Yarnell only five months ago.

Narduzzi crowed Monday morning that the team as a unit got “bigger, faster, stronger” in the offseason. But he also had a warning.

“Now, we’re going to find out if we’re better football players and better coaches.”

Nonetheless, there is talk of a different attitude running through practice fields, meeting rooms, the locker room and weight rooms — and Yarnell articulated it best when he met with reporters.

“I definitely sense a different vibe than last year,” he said. “There’s no room for complacency anymore. We’re not here to be average. Last year, we obviously could have been better. Everybody knows that, and everybody feels sick about it. We’re all moving in the right direction now.”

That’s a burst of leadership and accountability that Narduzzi expects from his starting quarterback. The next nine months will determine if Yarnell can turn it into victories.

Narduzzi is confident he made the right choice this time.

“Nate has always been a guy who’s led,” the coach said. “The guys have always trusted in him. That will also come with going out and doing it every day in practice. Leadership goes with making plays and being the guy. Everybody wants to see him go out there and do it, too, protect the football and do what’s best for the team.“

Narduzzi suggested that Yarnell’s status last year as the No. 3 quarterback who didn’t take snaps with the regulars early in the season led to him remaining on the bench while Phil Jurkovec and Veilleux struggled under Cignetti’s watch.

“I don’t make those decisions. You guys know that,” he said.

But Narduzzi has eyes that now suggest to him that Yarnell is ready to shoulder the responsibility of a starter.

“I just felt like this guy’s a leader, and I think our team has believed in him,” Narduzzi said. “He did a pretty darn good job out there when he got into games (the last two of 2023). To me, he deserves that opportunity to find out where he goes from there.”

Narduzzi decided early in the offseason there would be no quarterback derby in the spring. The job belongs to Yarnell with no guarantees as long as he proves he deserves to keep it.

“It means everything (for the coach) to have confidence in you and believe in you,” Yarnell said. “It allows me to go out there and just play football and try to be the best I can be.”

Yarnell, a rising junior approaching his fourth year on campus, worked under a different offensive system with former coordinators Mark Whipple and Cignetti. But he said he’s comfortable in Bell’s offense because he was exposed to a version of it as a junior — he was injured as a senior — at Lake Travis (Texas) High School.

“The speed we’re going to play at is something I’m used to,” said Yarnell, who’s listed at 6-foot-6, 215 pounds. “Something that will play to my strengths.”

He described practice Monday as “fast, never stop, getting reps. the way it should be … open receivers everywhere.”

“I’m ready to take my game to the next level. I think this is the perfect opportunity, and coach Bell is the perfect coach. He’s hungry. He wants to win. He’s coming in here making sure we get wins this year. We’re not here to be stagnant. He knows what he’s doing, and he’s confident.”

Narduzzi deferred judgment until after he reviewed practice video.

“I’m sure we had mistakes out there on both sides of the ball,” he said. “Lot of different things out there. It’s going fast. You have no time to dissect and think about what happened on that last play. It’s move onto the next one.”

As the team’s COO and a defensive-minded coach, Narduzzi said he will learn the new offense in time.

“I know some of the things already, just by repetition hearing it,” he said. “The things I need to know, I know. I’m not sitting in every offensive meeting. I’ll gradually get it by fall. I know enough to be dangerous.

“I trust our offensive staff to get that done. I’m going to coach where I know how to coach and fix what I know how to fix.”

He knows this much, for sure.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever have a delay of game (penalty) ever again.”

Notes: Defensive line coach Tim Daoust said West Mifflin graduate Nahki Johnson, who came to Pitt as a defensive end, will play “a lot of defensive tackle” this spring. Johnson has added 20 pounds to reach 275. … Offensive lineman Ryan Jacoby, who missed all of last season because of a preseason injury, hasn’t returned to action yet. “He looks like he’s ready,” Narduzzi said, “but I’m not the doctor or the trainer.” … When Narduzzi said the team is faster, he had the metrics to back it up. “In one group (last year), there were two guys who were running over 20 mph. We have 10 or 12 (this year).”