Playing the guessing game, Pitt's Pat Narduzzi, Hokies' Brent Pry tight-lipped on quarterbacks

Pat Narduzzi said revealing who will start at quarterback when there’s some question about it hands the opposing coach no specific advantage.

“I don’t think it really matters,” he said, noting that each of Pitt’s top three quarterbacks is capable of running the offense.

Nonetheless, when he was asked Thursday to reveal his starter for the game Saturday night at Virginia Tech, he declined.

“I have a good idea (who it will be),” he said, teasing reporters gathered in a big conference room for their weekly chat with the coach.

Asked to share his thoughts, he said, “Nah.”

Narduzzi, confronted with a quarterback question … pic.twitter.com/vG0Tl7juWb

— Jerry DiPaola (@JDiPaola_Trib) September 28, 2023

“We don’t know who (Virginia Tech’s) starting quarterback is. They aren’t going to know who ours is,” he said.

Narduzzi will choose from among Phil Jurkovec, Christian Veilleux and Nate Yarnell. Yes, he continually brings up the name of Yarnell, the redshirt sophomore who was third on the depth chart last week.

But Jurkovec, who missed the second half of the North Carolina game Saturday night, should be considered the favorite to start. While there’s no public clarity on the extent of Jurkovec’s injury — it can’t be insignificant, or he would have finished the game Saturday — the senior from Pine-Richland is clearly Pitt’s best quarterback.

“Phil had a good week,” Narduzzi said without elaboration. He also suggested the first half of the North Carolina game was Jurkovec’s best effort against a Power 5 opponent this season.

“You know what, it’s been a while since I looked at Wofford, but he was pretty good against Wofford. But it was Wofford,” the coach said. “So as far as a Power 5 game, I would say that first half was really solid.

“He made good decisions with the football. That’s the first thing. It’s about decision-making. And I think he was on-target more. I think he was a little bit more comfortable, for whatever reason.”

While professing his “faith” in Veilleux, he did share with reporters some constructive criticism of him.

“When you get your first action of ’23, you learn a lot,” Narduzzi said. “He has to get into the right checks at times, which he didn’t all the time. Those are some obvious things that we see in our room. Some different alerts that he needs to be aware of, that he needs to make sure he does what we want him to do and not does his own thing out there.”

At that point, Narduzzi shifted his remarks — without being prompted — toward Yarnell.

“You might think I’m like a broken record: I love Nate Yarnell, too,” he said. “I’ll say it again, wish we could play a three-quarterback system.”

But he didn’t mean rotating quarterbacks.

“Three at the same time,” he said, joking. “I didn’t say three different series. Put all three of them in there.”

It’s good to know that, despite Pitt’s 1-3 start, Narduzzi hasn’t lost his sense of humor.

Getting down to business, Narduzzi said he is not sure if Kyron Drones or Grant Wells will start at quarterback for the Hokies (1-3, 0-0). Coach Brent Pry said it will be a game-time decision.

Wells, a redshirt senior transfer from Marshall, started the season, but he injured an ankle against Purdue in the Hokies’ second game (a 24-17 loss). Drones, a redshirt sophomore transfer from Baylor, started the past two games, losses to Rutgers (35-16) and Marshall (24-17).

“He was hurt, and there’s a chance he’s back,” Narduzzi said of Wells.

Playing the guessing game, Narduzzi said he expects Drones to start. But he said Wells was warming up in pregame last week.

“So, it looked like he could have played,” Pitt’s coach said. “Has (Wells) been beat out? I don’t know. Or, is it still a lingering injury? You don’t know. We will prepare. We have a game plan for both of them.”

Narduzzi said Drones has the stature of a running back at 6-foot-2, 234 pounds.

“He’s a powerful guy, explosive. He’s got a gun on him. He can make every throw,” he said.

But Drones is Virginia Tech’s second-leading rusher (164 yards), and he’s about 30 pounds heavier than top running back Bhayshul Tuten (192).

“We’re going to have to wrap him up, hit him low. He’s a load,” Narduzzi said of Drones. “I would think they are going to run the ball with Drones more than they would with Wells.”