Pitt QB Christian Veilleux Keeps Getting Better
PITTSBURGH -- The bitter taste of a late, heartbreaking loss to Wake Forest lingers in the mouths of the Pitt Panthers as they turn their attention to No. 14 Notre Dame, but among the disappointment have come some reasons for optimism about the short and long-term future.
One of those reasons is the constantly improving play of redshirt sophomore quarterback Christian Veilleux, who has shown statistical and intangible improvement through the first two starts of his young career.
“Huddle command, sideline awareness - anytime a kid starts to play, his reps start to improve," tight ends coach Tim Salem said. "So yes, he is showing improvement there and you can see it, notice it and feel it.”
Veilleux has taken steady and easily noticeable steps forward in each of his three latest appearances. He was not good when thrown into emergency action against North Carolina after Phil Jurkovec went down with an injury, throwing for 85 yards and two interceptions with a 38.5% completion rate.
He returned to the bench for the Virginia Tech game, was elevated to a starting role during the bye week and came out much stronger in his first career start.
The name of the game for Veilleux in the Louisville upset was the big play. He completed just 12 passes but six of them went for 10 yards or more, four went for 20 yards or more and two were touchdowns. Deep balls that fell into the arms of opposing defenders against North Carolina instead found his receivers against the Cardinals and he capitalized on short fields the Pitt defense created.
But that winning performance against then-No. 14 Louisville was incomplete. He struggled to complete the short and intermediate throws and connected on just 39% of all his passes.
There were still some mechanical issues his coaches noticed that prevented him from hitting on shorter passes. Against Wake Forest, it appeared that Veilleux addressed them. He still found success long down the field (10 completions of 10 or more yards), but also completed more than 60% of his passes for the first time since his first collegiate game in 2021.
Those improvements are no accident - they come from Veilleux's work ethic and willingness to learn and change.
“He does a very good job of studying, learning and preparing," Salem said. "And it’s just kind of caught up to him. Everything he’s put into it has caught up to him. Those seeds he put in the ground are now coming out of the ground. … But he’s put a lot of work and time mentally into preparing, so hat’s off to him.”
The eye test and the numbers both tell the same story - Veilleux's arrow is pointed up. That doesn't erase the fact that the offense he leads went eight drives without managing even a field goal. They crossed the 50-yard line just twice in between an opening drive touchdown and late-third quarter field goal from Ben Sauls.
But head coach Pat Narduzzi has seen steady improvement from game to game as he settles into the offense and becomes more comfortable with his role as a starter.
"I think we had three, three-and-outs this past weekend," Narduzzi said. "The week before, anybody remember how many we had? Seven," Narduzzi said. "So when you look at stuff like that, we are moving - we won the time of possession. The week before we didn't. We got crushed with it because you're going three-and-out seven times, you're going to struggle that way. So they are getting better little by little."
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