Five Takeaways from the Blue-Gold game

The Pitt Panthers wrapped up spring football on Saturday for the annual Blue-Gold game held at Acrisure Stadium. The Gold team defeated the Blue by a score of 17-10. It was not exciting, but spring games hardly ever are in that regard. Despite the limited action, there were still some things to take from the game itself and from spring football at large.

Hard to judge

The spring game is always billed as a big deal, mainly because it’s the only game for a while. Realistically, it's a chance for tailgating friends to get together in April and also for the schools to sell some extra merchandise.

That’s truly all this thing is.

Most of the time, you are not going to see any kind of exciting or compelling football. Maybe other schools do it differently, though I doubt it, but this Pitt program likes to keep it pretty vanilla all things considered. Well, that’s exactly what transpired on Saturday at Acrisure Stadium. It was a low-scoring affair of course, with only three touchdowns for the whole game. I think at one point when the backups were in, there were four consecutive three-and-outs. The fourth quarter was played with a running clock like a JV basketball game.

Most of the serious work in spring football happens when the doors are closed at the practice facility. Spring football is a 15-session arrangement, and the first 14 is where most of the work gets done. All I am saying here is, do not take most of what you saw as gospel or fact. There are jumbled rosters, injured players, and in this case, a brand new offensive system being installed. Saturday was the definition of taking something with a grain of salt. It’s not good football, the spring game probably won’t be next year either, but it is football, and that is certainly better than no football.

Limited star power

The Blue-Gold game on Saturday was certainly still a big showcase for a lot of players looking to make a name for themselves. If anything, it’s a chance for young players buried on the depth chart to go out and get some meaningful reps they may not receive in a normal practice setting because a lot of the main players are not going to play all that much.

That was especially true of this year’s Blue-Gold game. Pitt was down three projected starters on the offensive line in Ryan Jacoby, Terrence Moore, and Branson Taylor. Projected starting running back Rodney Hammond got on the field for two plays, with one touch, while wearing a red no-contact jersey. Neither of Pitt’s two wide receiver transfers, Censere Lee and Poppi Williams, played in the game either.

On the defensive side of the ball, it was a similar situation. Star linebacker Solomon DeShields was not in uniform, neither was promising second year player Jordan Bass. The recipient of the Ed Conway award, redshirt freshman safety Cruce Brookins, was also unavailable for the game.

In his postgame press conference, Pat Narduzzi said that the team got out of spring football relatively clean. Most of the injuries do not seem like ones that will seep into fall camp, which is a good thing, but ultimately does not help the product of the spring game itself.

Undoubtedly QB1

Nate Yarnell ended last season as the starting quarterback and reprised that role at the start of the offseason. Following 15 spring football practices, nothing has changed. Yarnell is clearly the top option at quarterback for this team, and currently it does not seem all that close.

Eli Holstein worked as the No. 2 quarterback, or the starter for the Gold team, and had some moments, but also was 10-of-23 for the game. Holstein did finish with 131 yards and a touchdown toss, but also did throw one interception. The other quarterback expected to be in the race has seemingly fallen behind considerably. Christian Veilleux, who started five games last season, did not see any action in the first half. Veilleux got a couple of possessions in the third quarter and finished the day 0-of-6 on his passing attempts.

Yarnell was sharp, yet unspectacular in the spring game, but I think a lot of that could have been attributed to the choppiness of the rosters. He was working behind the second team offensive line, but in reality, it was more of the third team. Pitt had three starting offensive linemen out on Saturday, and it showed, and carried down the depth chart.

Despite working behind a patchwork line, Yarnell looked poised and delivered the ball where it was supposed to go more often than not. He finished the day 12-of-16 for 108 yards and one touchdown. Yarnell opened his day with eight straight completions and never looked uncomfortable when he was making his throws.

Narduzzi was quick to point out that this year’s spring ball was the first time ever Yarnell worked with the No. 1 offense in the offseason. He was third string most of his first two seasons, aside from a few spot starts, so his work has always been limited when working with the starters. After seeing him perform on Saturday and throughout spring, Yarnell clearly carries himself in a way a starting quarterback would. He can also control a huddle, is willing to learn, and aside from those intangible things, he also has some ability and upside as a player. It’s hard to say what that will translate to on the field when the games start to count, but within his own roster, Yarnell is QB1 for certain.

Kenny Johnson can be really good

Kenny Johnson had the look of a promising player as a true freshman in the 2023 season, but the Pitt offense struggled to incorporate to get him the ball. Johnson flashed potential last year, but it does appear he will be a more prominent player as a sophomore.

The York (PA) native was the first selection in the player-led draft before the spring game, and he certainly showed why almost immediately. Johnson played for the Gold team, with No. 2 quarterback Eli Holstein, and the Alabama transfer was looking for him early and often. He came down with two big catches on the first drive and continued to make some plays throughout Saturday’s spring game.

Johnson totaled six catches for 77 yards and one touchdown. On his scoring play, Johnson caught a pass out in the flat from redshirt freshman Ty Diffenbach, and turned it upfield for a 18-yard score, showing off the burst that has always been talked about in his game. Prior to that play, he also hauled in a 20-yard pass to set up the scoring drive. It’s hard to make too much of anything based on what happened in the spring game, of course, but there’s no doubt Johnson will have a much bigger role in 2024 and in this offense, that should be a good thing for this Pitt team.

Keep an eye on the portal

This is not really any new information and it is obviously something we have been tracking since the 2024 recruiting class signed back in December, but Pitt is technically over the 85-man scholarship limit, or at least is projected to be as it stands today.

By our count, the Panthers have 93 scholarship players who ‘could’ be on the team next season, and obviously that means some changes are on the horizon now that spring football has been completed. Senior defensive end Nate Temple is already out for the season, so it is likely they can place him on a hardship waiver of sorts, but that would still mean Pitt is over by seven players.

It is hard to say what will happen over the next two weeks, but there will undoubtedly be some movement for Pitt, but all across college football as well. The portal itself opened on Friday and players have until April 30th to put their name into the portal before it closes.

Pitt has been opportunistic in adding players late, like grabbing Bub Means two seasons ago after spring ball. The program was also on the wrong end of a late transfer when Jordan Addison went to USC that same offseason. I’m not sure either of those scenarios are going to happen for Pat Narduzzi’s program, but rather, there is going to be some areas of the roster that will likely see some attrition. It’s nothing new, but of course, over the next two weeks is when we should start to see the roster take shape for next year.