Pitt Football | Postgame vs. Kent State | Eli Holstein | 8.31.24

first college start I mean how do you think it went um went pretty good uh definitely some things I want to clean up here and there uh decision making for the most part was pretty good uh you know coach called a great game just made my job easy uh especially offensive line receivers running backs tight ends they did everything they needed to do to you know make it easy on me so you know made the game a lot uh slower uh more simple and I was just able to out there and to get the ball to The Playmakers um y'all see we we got a lot of them so it was a lot of fun today when you get even that one pass early in the game you figur this is it I I got this thing handled now yeah well really that just that first completion was kind of like all right you know I'm here you know that the stick out that I threw to him the first play was you know hey I got the the Jitters out the way I got the first completion out of there um you know so then I was able to just go play football from there more than a couple times you when you were throwing the ball especially to Kenny seemed like you were throwing the ball before guys were even into their breaks and you were hitting them in stride how has that been to kind of work that while you're also in a quarterback competition you're sharing reps with Nate to develop that kind of chemistry you know it's just a chemistry you got to develop you know outside of practice um you know when I first got here me and Kenny were going up to the facility you know late at night just throwing balls like that uh me pop CJ you know we'd go out there and just you know go through you know we had a a list of what we were going through we go quick game rpos intermediate you go some deep stuff you know Red Zone and we were just getting the timing down you know cuz we knew you know point in time that day was going to come where we're going to be out there playing together and we got to be on time to make the make the play that 40 that 46 yard was that the was that the call the whole way or is that just the read you just saw it and you're like Kenny's going to go get that one yeah I believed in Kenny you know was Step Up um you know they rolled away and I knew he was one-on-one he he can run so he outran the dude and I was just able to out there just Loft it up there let him go get it and he made a play when did the coach have tell you that you were going to be the starter uh Thursday um they told me uh Thursday right before practice we went out there and everything what was that moment like for you it was a surreal moment uh just a childhood dream to you know play college football you know be a starter in college football um so you just when I got that news you know like coach D said I did shed a tear you know just thinking about all the people that helped me out there uh along the way you know parents grandparents teachers coaches um just people that are helped me and always believed in me since day one you know just finally feel like I made them proud and everything so it was just a real moment it was awesome coach said coach said that you've really come on here over the last couple of weeks what's really improved or what what is that light that's come on or so for you just getting those reps um you know in Spring I had that hamstring injury so I wouldn't I was getting those reps but I wouldn't fully into those reps you know I wasn't full speed you know and just you know that that time you know I was here since January you know January spring fall Camp you know just getting those reps and you know the more reps that I got you know the more comfortable I was out there and you know these past couple weeks you know it's been the most comfortable for me and that showed today talk about first drive you guys marched 90 90 yards down the field kind of what was that feeling like was it kind of like weight off the shoulders in a way or kind of was it was it was kind of like a moment like hey I'm in college football and I can play you know it was kind of a moment telling me hey you can do this uh which was a lot of fun being able to just get the ball to those guys and let them go make some plays uh was a lot of fun just seeing those guys out there you know running great routes you know being in the right spot you know knowing exactly what to do you know just having the trust I feel like we we trusted a lot each other a lot that drive you know trusting the o line tight end running back you know everybody doing their job and it was a lot of fun and putting a drive together like that it's pretty big Playmakers a lot and uh was that just like a normal day for Desmond Reed is that what he does all the time yeah that's that's definitely a normal day for Desmond Reed um honestly he's he's had some better days in practice honestly you know just being able to make plays like that um he's one of the most explosive players I've ever seen um practice with it's it's unreal what he can do you know I handed that ball off on the 45 yard line and as soon as I handed it off I was like oh he's scoring like me and Branson like hugged each other and like we waved by to by to De because we knew he was going to score it was it was it was awesome you got that opportunity to watch the rest of the game after you guys kind of put it away what was that like again I guess The Surreal moment for you to like say hey my debut I did what I needed to do and you kind of got it just it was awesome you know it's a a day you dream about since you were a little kid you know that first start you know and having the performance I did for my first start was you know even a bigger dream and I was able to go out there and do what I need to do to make sure the team won you know that was that was the goal um first goal was to get that first first down you know then I just wanted to go out there score some touchdowns and just make sure my team won what coach say to you afterwards it a great game keep doing what I'm doing you know just make sure this momentum and this mindset and everything goes into next week you break down what happened on the interception for it seemed like there was an intent there and the ball just kind of like went went in a different direction um you know we were trying to get them to bite down on the run you know they they called it great coverage uh they were playing man and what we wanted we don't we didn't want that vers man um and I saw pop you know I was thought I had a little bit of pressure but I didn't I should have just stepped up in the pocket you know delivered the ball um next time you know when I see that I'm just going to dirt the ball throw it away it's probably what I should have done and just make sure we go on to the next play and just stay down there outside of that play though it's like you guys were very smooth especially in the Red Zone using spacing H having reads how comfortable did you guys feel operating in short spaces and throwing as much as you did we felt great you know we've been working on that a lot this week um you know it's pretty much every day we have a period of Red Zone you know and Coach uh Bell you know he takes the Red Zone pretty personal you know he's he's in there you know because some teams want to go in there and just throw the ball uh you know but we're out there to just score touchdowns cuz we know that's what we can do you know we're going to go out there run the ball here in there but you know we're also going to throw it we're not afraid to do that you know the schemes that he put together uh really put everybody in a great position uh to to succeed you know made my job easy I was able to say hey I know where I'm going they do this I'm going here but if they do that I'm going here so it's made my job really easy with Coach Bell we'll do we'll do two more ra here and then Jerry you've already mentioned this offense is full Playmakers um what did you see from Gavin Bartholome the day and got how big will he be for this offense he he's going to be huge you know just being able to get him the ball in a variety of ways you know out the Back Field screens you know down the field um anything like that and he's able to catch it run through somebody you know he's for sure going to catch it he's got some great hands uh you're going to make some plays after the fact after he has the ball in his hands and you know just kind of a safety blanket for me you know especially in some protections you know when I'm hot you know they drop I can always find Gavin and he's going to he's going to be open he's going to catch and he's going to get me at least 10 15 yards which is awesome