Narduzzi and Watson have 'a lot of confidence' in naming Browne the starter
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Max Browne didn’t travel all the way across the country to be a backup.
On Tuesday, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi revealed that, after a battle with redshirt freshman Ben DiNucci, Browne will be Pitt’s starting quarterback when the Panthers open the 2017 season against Youngstown State on Sept. 2.
“This year we had decisions to make as coaches, and it wasn’t an easy one,” Narduzzi said after Tuesday’s practice. “But Max Browne is gonna be our starting quarterback, and we have a lot of confidence in him.”
The Washington state native Browne transferred from USC to Pitt this past December after redshirt freshman Sam Darnold overtook him as the Trojans’ starter three games into the 2016 season.
“I have had a bunch of competitions, I’ve been in competitions in my career more times than not,” Browne said. “You kind of learn from each time. The biggest thing is to not get worked up in it. It’s really just a competition with yourself.”
He feels better about his hold of the starting quarterback job this season than he did in Pasadena a season ago.
“If we’re being real, I feel a lot more secure,” Browne said. “I knew the deal.”
The former No. 1 quarterback recruit in the 2013 recruiting class only has two touchdowns to his career, but he is strong-armed and sports the traditional size and skills of a prototypical quarterback.
“The thing that really stands out, is that he’s such a big guy, he has a big arm, he’s an arm talent,” offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said. “He can see over and through things. He can make throws that guys that don’t have his height can’t make. He can make strong throws and accurate throws in small windows.”
It was that ability, along with overall experience, that Watson say won Browne the job.
“It’s the body of work over a consistent period of time,” Watson said. “What tipped it is consistency and performance. You get to a point where you can just feel that Max started to take off.”
The player he beat out, Ben DiNucci, isn’t as long in the tooth as Browne is; nor does he have the pedigree. DiNucci threw his first career passes in the Pinstripe Bowl last year when he replaced an injured Nathan Peterman and finished that game 3-of-9 for 16 yards with one touchdown and two picks. He was also a two-star recruit who originally committed to Penn before flipping to Pitt after Narduzzi was hired.
Still, DiNucci impressed the Pitt coaches with the way he battled Browne.
“We have a lot of confidence in Ben DiNucci as well,” Narduzzi said. “Last year, we had one guy. This year, we have two guys that we think can win football games for us.”
Watson also appreciated the fire the ex-Pine Richland quarterback displayed.
“Ben fought,” Watson said. “I’m really proud of him for the player he’s become because of competition. I feel like we have two guys in that room that we can win with.”
Browne said he and DiNucci have not spoken about the decision yet, but that their relationship is “fine.” Watson said delivering the news to the second-string quarterback is always difficult.
“When the competition is this awesome, it’s always hard,” Watson said. “But I think what comes out of it is the respect that they have for each other, and what the team has for what they’ve done.”
Despite all the talk of battling for his starting spot, Browne was internally confident that he would be the signal-caller the coaches opted for.
“Once I got here, no [I didn’t have any doubts],” Browne said. “That’s not to downgrade the other guys in the room. We have good quarterbacks…It’s not like anything was handed to me. I had to go out there and earn it.”