Pitt's 2024 Spring Game: Panthers Facing Panthers

The Pitt Panthers will showcase their growth this spring in an exhibition at Acrisure Stadium.

PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers will put a bow on spring practices with the 2024 Blue-Gold Game, a capstone performance for the team after spending the semester working out and training under an almost wholly new coaching staff.

With a new format in place and so many moving parts still settling in, there will be plenty to keep an eye on as Pitt wraps up the spring season with an intrasquad scrimmage.

Game Info
Opponent: Blue Team vs. Gold Team
Time: 2:00 p.m. EST
Location: Acrisure Stadium; Pittsburgh Pennsylvania
Broadcast: ACC Network

Three Storylines

Kade Bell Debuts New Offense
The talk of the offseason has been Pitt's new offensive system, designed by first-year offensive coordinator Kade Bell. The Panthers were downright anemic with the ball in their hands for the overwhelming majority of last season and Bell's youth and forward-thinking system seems to have given the program a shot in the arm, if nothing else.

But after spending weeks installing the system behind closed doors, Bell will put his unit out in the open for the world to see. It is not reasonable to draw many meaningful conclusions from these snaps, given the disjointed lineups created by dividing up the teams and limited practice time that has come before it, but the process and execution will still be mightily scrutinized.

Can Bell's play designs translate from FCS to ACC competition? Will he be able to get Pitt's talented playmakers open consistently? How has his development of the quarterbacks progressed? Does the pace create more chaos for the offense or defense? These are the questions won't be answered fully but the Spring Game will serve as a status report for this work-in-progress offense. The Panthers are making a massive change of pace - both literally and figuratively - and everyone will get their official introducion Bell and his scheme for the first time this weekend at Acrisure Stadium.

QB Competition Brewing?
The Gold team turned heads when they took redshirt freshman quarterback Eli Holstein before pressumed back up Christian Veilleux, who started five games for the Panthers last season. There is a growing sentiment that the Alabama transfer is challenging Veilleux on the depth chart, if not officially then in the minds of his teammates and coaches. The praise for Holstein has been high - freshman wideout Kenny Johnson was complimentary of his arm strength and head coach Pat Narduzzi said he and starter Nate Yarnell have committed the fewest turnovers of any signal-callers on the roster.

"I think you get the same guy every day," Narduzzi said. "[Holstein] has protected the ball. He’s probably got the least turnovers, I think. Between him and Nate, I would say those are the two guys who have turned it over the least."

Understanding that neither player will be working with a full, cohesive unit and they likely don't have a complete knowledge of the offense just yet, it will be a chance for both players to show how they've grown over the spring and give themselves some momentum going into fall camp.

Need One More CB
The format of this year's spring game will severely limit how much one will be able to gather about this Panthers team and project what they'll look like when they they hit the field for the season opener against Kent State. But at cornerback, there will be no hiding and no excuses. Players at this position are almost exclusively left to play man coverage, one-on-one against opposing receivers. That means it's one of the few position groups about which some strong conclusions can be drawn following the spring game, given how little their circumstances are changed by splitting the roster down the middle.

Pitt has penciled Ryland Gandy in as one of it's starters but that leaves a lot of snaps up for grabs with plenty of candidates ready to step up and claim them. Noah Bigelow, Tamarion Crumpley, Rashad Battle, Tamon Lynum and Javonte Royal all have varying chances to land starter or reserve snaps and this is a critical time for them to prove they are capable of serving as a replacement for Marquis WIlliams, MJ Devonshire and AJ Woods - a trio that had served as Narduzzi's starting cornerback group for more than two full seasons.

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