Pitt will have its top two quarterbacks available for Saturday's game at Louisville, Pat Narduzzi said Thursday.

Redshirt freshman Eli Holstein, who missed last Saturday’s loss to Clemson, is cleared to play against the Cardinals, Narduzzi announced.

“He’s cleared to play right now,” Narduzzi said. “So we’ll see. We’ll see game time.”

Holstein started Pitt’s first nine games of the season but left the loss to Virginia after taking a late hit when he slid at the end of a run play. Redshirt junior Nate Yarnell replaced Holstein for the remainder of that game.

Last Thursday, during his final press briefing of the week, Narduzzi announced that Holstein had not yet been cleared to play against Clemson. Yarnell started in his place and completed 34-of-54 passes for 350 yards, one touchdown and one interception, setting career highs in attempts, completions and yards.

With too many field goals and not enough touchdowns, Pitt’s efforts to come back from a 17-7 halftime deficit fell short and the Panthers lost to the Tigers, 24-20. But Yarnell performed admirably, as he has in all four of his career starts:

In wins at Western Michigan and against Boston College and losses at Duke and against Clemson, Yarnell has completed 79-of-120 passes (65.8%) for 1,0001 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions.

After closing the 2023 season as Pitt’s starter - he started the final two games - Yarnell entered this past offseason as the No. 1 quarterback for the Panthers, but by the end of training camp, Holstein, who transferred from Alabama, had usurped him on the depth chart.

In his first five career starts - all wins - Holstein threw for 1,567 yards, 15 touchdowns and three interceptions on 65.7% passing, with 300+ yards and three touchdowns in each of those games.

His play took a step back in Pitt’s wins over Cal and Syracuse, with just 241 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, and he threw for 248 yards, no touchdowns and one pick in the Panthers’ first loss of the season at SMU three weeks ago.

When he left the Virginia game, Holstein had completed just 10 of his 23 pass attempts (43.5%) for 121 yards.

On Saturday, Pitt will face Louisville, which is coming off a loss at Stanford last week. In that game, Cardinal quarterback Ashton Daniels threw for a season-high 298 yards and three touchdowns with one interception.