If current popular culture has a preferred motivator, it might be proving the haters wrong.

According to social media, particularly in the world of sports, most success stories are driven equally by the desire for success and the desire to make a point.

Everybody has been counted out. Everybody has been doubted. Everybody has been told they aren’t good enough to achieve at the highest level.

Granted, most of these woeful underdogs have a long history of being touted, hyped and praised, but motivation is in the eye of the beholder, so to speak, and if concocting a tale of being dismissed is what drives you, then so be it.

Pitt quarterback Eli Holstein is beholden to his own kind of motivation, and it runs counters to what drives a lot of his peers.

He’s not motivated by people who said he wasn’t good enough to play at Alabama or that he might need to switch positions; he’s driven by the people who said he was good enough to succeed in college.

And after three games leading the Panthers’ offense, that’s exactly what he’s doing.

“Growing up, everybody wants to be the best quarterback and everybody wants to prove people wrong,” Holstein said this week. “But the mindset I have is, I want to prove everybody right - all the people that believed in me since I was little, all the people that have invested time in me. When I got the starting job or I’m getting all of these awards, it’s not a relief of like, ‘I did something;’ it’s a relief that I proved the guys and the people that believed in me - I proved them right.”

The first three games of Holstein’s college career have certainly done that. He has been named ACC Rookie of the Week three times in as many games and added ACC Quarterback of the Week on Monday. He has also been named the Shaun Alexander Freshman Player of the Week and earned a spot on the Davey O’Brien “Great 8” list this week.

Holstein is top-five in the nation and top-three in the ACC in passing yards and passing touchdowns, having thrown for 939 yards and nine touchdowns with two interceptions in Pitt’s 3-0 start, and his strong play has been directly responsible for the Panthers’ perfect record.

That was especially true in the last two weeks, when Pitt came back from a pair of double-digit deficits in the fourth quarter to beat Cincinnati on the road and rival West Virginia at home. Holstein was nearly perfect in the combined 30 minutes of those two fourth quarters, completing 15-of-17 passes for 289 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for 62 yards on seven attempts. Pitt’s six offensive possessions in the fourth quarters of those two games produced four touchdowns and a field goal, and with Holstein at the helm, the Panthers have taken on a certain confidence about their ability to come back in virtually any situation.

“It just lets us know that we can make that comeback if we need to,” Holstein said. “We can have that drive when we need it in big games. We’ve done it twice in a row against two good opponents and two really hostile and intense environments, you know, one on the road and one in a big rivalry. If we’re going to win games and continue to win games, we need to be able to come through at the end of the game, two-minute drill and stuff like that. We’re three-for-three on two-minute drills, I think, right now. That’s huge for an offense and for the whole team. It’s going to help us win a lot of games.”

“He does a great job leading this offense out there under pressure,” Pitt tight end Gavin Bartholomew said this week. “As you saw, we’ve been under tough times at moments, and I think he does a really good job keeping the offense calm, telling everyone, you know, ‘Just relax, we can do this and keep driving.’

MORE COVERAGE FROM PANTHER-LAIR.COM: Is Pitt n a perfect spot right now? | Film review: How Pitt's offense attacked West Virginia | 10 things that stood out in Pat Narduzzi's weekly press conference | Who are Pitt's top five players right now? | Inside the numbers: Who are Pitt's top targets through three games? | 10 notable numbers after Pitt's 3-0 start | Video and transcript: Narduzzi on WVU, YSU and more

‘You’re born with it’

Holstein’s play on the field is there for everyone to see, but on the sideline and in the huddle - when Pitt actually huddles - is more private.

According to his teammates, though, what Holstein does in those moments tracks with what he projects in public.

“It’s always positivity,” Bartholomew said. “He’s never going to talk negative on anyone on the team. If something bad happens, he’ll take the responsibility for it. He’s very responsible in that way and just keeping guys positive and trying to get the next play.”

Underneath the positivity, though, lies an intensity. The kind of intensity that can drive a quarterback to put his team on his back to manufacture comeback wins like Pitt has enjoyed in the last two weeks.

Positivity can go a long way in building comebacks like that, but an intense desire to succeed is just as important, and for Pitt’s quarterback, that element comes from something deeper, something more personal.

Something as personal as his name.

“Being a Holstein, you’re born with it,” he said on Wednesday with the kind of matter-of-fact tone that indicates this is something he has known for a long time.

“My Paw-Paw is a guy that grew up without shoes to play sports, had to go to the local church to get food and clothes. He could have gone to play sports in college but he couldn’t because he had to go back to take care of his mom and little sister. It was tough like that.

“My grandpa, the Montgomery’s - my real name is Elijah Montgomery Holstein. I got my Paw-Paw’s last name and I’ve got my grandfather’s last name, so having both of their last names in my name is pretty special to me. I feel like I get to represent them when I’m out there.

“My grandpa grew up in Missouri, had to work his tail off growing up, worked his tail off in the salt mines up in the Midwest, just providing a better life for his family than he had growing up. And so did my Paw-Paw. Just seeing where they came from and where we are now, the Holstein name, it’s pretty cool. I got a text from my dad earlier talking about how awesome it is to see his dad’s name on the ACC Network, ESPN, stuff like that; it kind of brings a tear to his eye and my eye, too, just to see where we are now and where we used to be.”

Both of Holstein’s grandfathers passed away in the last five years, but their influence on him doesn’t just live in memory. The lessons he learned from his grandfathers - the dedication to working hard and doing what needs to be done - have stuck with him, and they’ve shown up repeatedly since he came to Pitt in January.

The most recent examples were the comeback wins in the last two weeks. But before that, before he could put the team on his back and carry them to victory, Holstein had to earn the respect of his teammates. So when he arrived on campus as a transfer from Alabama, his approach drew on what he learned from his grandfathers - namely, that action makes the man.

“I feel like the easiest way is, you don’t have to be a vocal guy; you just have to be able to go out there and prove that you’re going to work hard, no matter the situation,” Holstein said.

“When I first got here, I didn’t really talk. I was a quiet guy when I first got here. I felt like I had to earn people’s respect before I spoke up and said anything. So I just got in here everyday, worked my tail off in the weight room and the film room learning the offense, just doing the little things right. I felt like, once I earned the respect of how I do things, I can earn the respect of being able to lead them vocally.”

‘It’s an awesome feeling’

Positivity, intensity, earned respect; these seem to be the dominant themes in Holstein’s Pitt legacy so far. But lest one starts envisioning a “Good vibes only” sticker on the back of Holstein’s truck, the Pitt quarterback does have a few complaints.

Two, in particular, come to mind.

There was the time a West Virginia defender grabbed his facemask during a play on the Panthers’ game-winning drive Saturday. Holstein is inclined to forgive the offender on that one; defensive tackle T.J. Jackson had a handful of facemask on that one, but according to Holstein, the grab spun him around, creating a sort of slingshot effect that propelled him forward for a key 17-yard scramble.

More egregious, in Holstein’s view, was the facemask that came a few plays later. After a pass interference penalty gave Pitt first-and-goal from the 6, the Panthers lined up in an empty formation. Holstein took the snap and started running for the end zone. West Virginia got him down before the goal line, but in the process, Holstein’s helmet came off.

Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi said after the game that the helmet removal was apparently intentional on the part of the Mountaineer defender, but officials had no sympathy and sent Holstein to the sideline for the mandated-by-rule one play he had to sit out after losing his lid.

That one play, of course, turned out to be the game-winner, as Nate Yarnell handed the ball to Derrick Davis, who powered through the left side into the end zone to put Pitt ahead for good.

“It’s an emotional game from start to finish, and especially at the end it was an emotional finish,” Holstein said Wednesday.

“That last play, I was pretty frustrated. They blatantly just ripped my helmet off the play before, and just not being in there for the last play was kind of frustrating. But Nate did a great job going in there operating the way he needed to and getting us that touchdown to win the game.”

Holstein didn’t hold onto the resentment for long. He had led his team to a comeback victory that became an instant classic. In a rivalry full of legendary individual performances, Holstein had put up one for the ages.

So that helped him overcome any lingering bitterness.

And if that wasn’t enough, he had his father, his mother, his sister, his brother and his uncle all at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday. Two childhood friends were also at the game with Holstein’s family and, in a way, that tracks with everything else that has gotten him to this point, Saturday’s win was a culmination for those friends and their families, too.

“Their dad was my first football coach ever,” Holstein said. “Coach Steve, that’s my guy. He’s a guy that’s been there every step of the way.

“Like I said earlier, you know, proving people right instead of proving people wrong, he’s one of those guys that I felt like I proved right. He’s believed in me since I was six years old playing right tackle. Right tackle and third-string quarterback is what I was my first year of tackle football.

“He’s believed in me ever since that, and it’s an awesome feeling proving him right.”