Pitt freshman quarterback Eli Holstein made his first career start on Saturday, and it went pretty well. In fact, Holstein was named ACC Rookie of the Week on Tuesday for his performance in Pitt’s 55-24 win over Kent State. Holstein went 30-of-40 for 336 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception.

Holstein, a redshirt freshman from Zachary, La., was named the starting quarterback on the Thursday leading up to the opener, ending junior Nate Yarnell’s bid for the job. In his first game, Holstein seemingly seized the job for good, finding himself alone atop Pitt’s depth chart that was released yesterday.

Pat Narduzzi was impressed with Holstein’s performance, and spoke of the efficiency he displayed during his weekly press conference on Monday.

“Yeah, I think just composure I would say,” Narduzzi said of what stood out in Holstein’s debut. “You just look at how he just kind of was out there smooth. You don't ever know how a guy is going to react. I don't care if it's a quarterback or a D-lineman. How are they as far as just his composure on game day, how he carried himself, how he led the offense, how there wasn't a bunch of false starts and mechanical issues as far as just the operation. It was a clean start. That's tough to do for a redshirt freshman.”

On his first drive as Pitt’s quarterback, Holstein marched Pitt’s Pitt 95 yards in nine plays capping off the possession with an 11-yard touchdown to Konata Mumpfield. Along the way, he placed a sideline throw to Kenny Johnson for a 46-yard gain to help set up the score.

Holstein led Pitt on three more touchdown producing possessions. He helped lead the Panthers to 570 yards and 55 points, the best single game outputs for the team since 2021, when Kenny Pickett was the team’s quarterback.

As far as historical performances, his 336 yards was the best for a Pitt freshman quarterback since Alex Van pelt threw for 354 against Texas A&M back in 1989.

“Definitely some things I want to clean up here and there,” Holstein said on Saturday following the game. “Decision-making, for the most part, was pretty good. You know, Coach called a great game, just made my job easy.”

Holsein became the fourth freshman quarterback to start a game under Narduzzi following in the footsteps of Pickett in 2017, Nick Patti in 2019, and Yarnell in 2022. When he takes the field this weekend, he will become the first freshman quarterback to start multiple games in a season at Pitt since Pat Bostick started seven for the Panthers back in 2007.