Pitt and Penn State fans don’t agree on much. But over the first month of this college football season, PSU fans and many Pitt fans began to clamor for former Penn State QB Christian Veilleux to become Pitt’s starter.
Now, it looks like that’s happening.
Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Wednesday afternoon that, per multiple sources, Phil Jurkovec has been benched. Now, Veilleux is expected to get the start Saturday night against Louisville in Pittsburgh.
Breaking: Multiple sources have informed the Post-Gazette that Phil Jurkovec is not longer Pitt's starting quarterback. Full story here: https://t.co/9dqcQ3QOH8
— Noah Hiles (@_NoahHiles) October 4, 2023
Pitt is off to a disastrous start. The team’s 1-4. It’s only win came against FCS Wofford in the season opener. Of Pitt’s four losses, only one has been by single digits. The latest loss happened this past Saturday at Virginia Tech. Former Penn State DC Brent Pry, now Tech’s head coach, got a 38-21 win over Pat Narduzzi and Pitt. Veilleux has appeared in two games for Pitt. He’s 12-for-27 with one touchdown, two interceptions and 145 yards.
Before Pitt, Veilleux spent two seasons at Penn State. As a true freshman in 2021, Veilleux played in two games and completed 16-of-26 passes for 238 yards and 3 touchdowns. Most of those numbers came in a start against Rutgers. Before the 2022 season, Veilleux was surpassed on the depth chart by Drew Allar and appeared in only three games, completing 7-of-9 passes for 44 yards.
Before this season, Narduzzi had an exclusive with Hiles at ACC Media Days, and made comments regarding Veilleux that, despite Narduzzi saying weren’t intended to be disrespectful toward Penn State, many PSU fans perceived that way.
Here’s the full quote.
“Christian is a guy that, well, things are brand new for him. He’s coming from a one word offense to a real offense. But it’s a totally different one. This offense is NFL-style with sophisticated terminology. We’re going to see a different version of Christian.”
