Backyard Brawl comeback cements Pitt QB Eli Holstein as rising star

The Pitt Panthers seem to have found a quarterback in redshirt freshman Eli Holstein. After securing the team's starting job, he might be on his way toward stardom in the ACC given the way he has started his career at the school.

Holstein not only topped the 300-yard mark for the third consecutive game during Saturday's 38-34 win over the West Virginia Mountaineers in the Backyard Brawl, he did so by leading a fourth-quarter comeback that saw Pitt score two touchdowns in the final five minutes of the game.

He did it with both his arm and legs, also leading the team with 59 yards rushing.

With Pitt trailing 34-24 and just over three minutes to play in the fourth quarter, Holstein started the comeback by dropping in a beautiful touchdown pass to Daejon Reynolds between three West Virginia defenders.

Then, after Pitt forced a three-and-out on the ensuing West Virginia drive, Holstein helped engineer a six-play, 77-yard drive, one which included a 17-yard run from the signal-caller to get the Panthers down inside the 15-yard line.

Holstein actually had to leave the field for Derrick Davis Jr.'s one-yard touchdown run to take the lead because his helmet had come off on the previous play, but he did most of the heavy lifting on the series and in the game for Pitt.

Through three games this season, Holstein has already passed for 936 yards (at least 300 in each game) and nine touchdowns (three in each game) while also leading consecutive come-from-behind wins. Saturday's win over West Virginia comes just a week after he helped Pitt fight back from a 27-6 deficit for a 28-27 win on the road at Cincinnati.

Holstein arrived at Pitt with pretty significant expectations after transferring from Alabama. He was a top-30 recruit in the country in 2023 and one of the top quarterbacks in his class. Without a clear path to a starting job at one of the nation's top football programs, he entered the transfer portal and chose Pitt. It has been a great move for both player and team. Holstein has an opportunity to be an immediate starter at a big-tine program and Pitt has a rising star quarterback that might be able to make them a surprising contender in this season's wide-open ACC.