Report: Pitt moves Phil Jurkovec to tight end, promotes Christian Veilleux to No. 1 quarterback

Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi wasn’t kidding when he said there were “a lot of things that need changing” with his team.

Quarterback Phil Jurkovec was benched and moved to tight end in practice this week, leaving Christian Veilleux in line to start the next game Oct. 14 against Louisville, ESPN reported.

Jurkovec, a star quarterback and state champion at Pine-Richland High School, was one of the most coveted WPIAL recruits in the past 10 years when he chose Notre Dame. After two seasons, he transferred to Boston College and the past offseason to Pitt.

Although he has struggled as the Panthers’ quarterback this season, there never was any question about Jurkovec’s athleticism. At 6-foot-5, 235 pounds, he has the frame to add weight, if necessary, and create another opportunity for himself in the NFL.

He joins a tight end position already populated by junior Gavin Bartholomew, who leads the Panthers in receiving yards (258) and average yards per catch (21.5).

When Jurkovec announced his decision to transfer to Pitt, he was expected to give the offense the boost it was missing through most of the 2022 season,. But the Panthers’ offensive unit has scored only seven touchdowns in four games against Power 5 competition this season.

Quarterback Kedon Slovis, also a transfer, left the program last December rather than compete with Jurkovec for the starting job. Part of the reason Jurkovec enrolled at Pitt was his prior relationship with offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr., who held the same position at Boston College.

Pitt opened this season 1-4, with its first four-game losing streak since 2020. In those five games, Jurkovec completed 50.9% of his passes (57 of 112), last in the 14-team ACC. He threw for 818 yards (13th in the conference) and six touchdowns and recorded an efficiency rating of 124.6 (12th).

He also threw three interceptions in the loss at West Virginia and lost fumbles in the Cincinnati and Virginia Tech games. Both turnovers led to touchdowns.

He was the target of boos from the Acrisure Stadium crowd during the loss to Cincinnati, and more might have been expected in the next home game against Louisville.

Narduzzi repeatedly has said this season that blame for problems in the passing game are shared by everyone — coaches and players — but the Virginia Tech loss last Saturday swayed the coach to make a change.

In that game, Jurkovec completed 11 of 22 pass attempts but only five through the first 54 minutes.

Veilleux, a redshirt sophomore, replaced an injured Jurkovec in the second half of the North Carolina game and completed 7 of 18 passes for 85 yards and two interceptions. He also lost a fumble.

Despite the injury, Jurkovec played the entire game the following week against Virginia Tech.

Veilleux transferred from Penn State in the offseason after playing in five games in two seasons for the Nittany Lions, including a victory against Rutgers in 2021 when he relieved Sean Clifford and threw for 235 yards and three touchdowns in a 28-0 victory.

With Pitt off this week, making the move to Veilleux gave him and the coaching staff more than week to prepare for Louisville.

Narduzzi was not available for comment this week.