Pitt Football | Newcomer Press Conference | Eli Holstein

good um a year ago maybe almost to the day you were signing with Alabama what's it what's it like you know Cho you it's it's been a great opportunity since I've gotten here um definitely uh interesting things are happening back back in Alabama right now with Coach sa retiring but you know coming up here to Pit's been a great opportunity meeting a bunch of of great people uh getting a new Fresh Start you know in a great offense with Coach Bell uh which I'm really excited about was it wasn't the coach Alabama reason no I before I uh enter when I entered the portal I had no idea that coach St was retiring so really didn't play a factor in me entering the portal it just wanted a new Fresh Start you know I didn't really see myself you know growing in the ways that I wanted to at Alabama and I knew that I needed to you know pursue other opportunities to grow the way that I wanted to and P like was the was the place for me to do that part of being in the portal is doing your own research looking into you know places where you might fit what did you learn about pit when you were researching this program you there the great culture that you know Jake was talking about you know there's culture not only in the locker room and in the building but you know in the city of Pittsburgh uh I've I've had some family members that have lived in Pittsburgh and all they talk about is how great the people are in Pittsburgh uh and it's how how the culture kind of is similar to the South you know everybody's really inviting you know everybody wants to help each other put others before themselves and that's something that really interested me and you know looking into the offense was something that I wanted to you know just what the quarterbacks have done in coach Bell's offense you know they're they're throwing it 30 40 times a game you know got 300 plus passing yards but they're also running the ball themselves is something that I wanted to do and they score and score a lot which sounds really good for a quarterback just coming in and just learning as much as I can um you know we're going to go through spring uh see what every everything goes with that um but you know I just got here so you know those guys are definitely going to be in front of me because they've obviously played you know have playing experience so I mean I'm just going to come in here learn as much as I can grow as much as I can because there's a lot of things that I want to work on in my game and I feel like coach Bell coaching ardi and everybody can help me in that aspect so I'm just going to learn as much as possible and work on perfecting my game off much different what you're used to yeah you know in Zachary uh back home at Zachary High School you know it was a really balanced offense I was throwing maybe 20 25 times a game I think the most I've ever thrown was 30 times a game but we had a really good running game which we able to compliment with each other and same thing at Alabama you know we had a really good run game with a really good pass game that complimented each other um I've never really thrown at 30 40 times a game so that's definitely something that I'm going to have to get used to and I'm really really looking forward to and obviously the Run game is going to come with that so I'm really excited about that as well El what are you doing to speed up the learning curve what can you do in that you just throwing going uh constantly with guys you know with tight ends receivers uh just going over the offense uh we've gotten a packet of what the offense is going to uh look like for a little just a brief kind of packet of what it's going to look like so just going over that as much as possible making sure I know it like the back of my hand uh making sure I'm you know watching film of myself throwing uh speeding up footwork you know quicking up my release everything like that I know you were only there for a year but how valuable was that year of learning under Nick sain and all those coaches and great players and you know teammates with it's that's as valuable as it gets you know you got to being coach saens you know last year you know he put a lot of a lot of commitment a lot of effort into that team that year and I was I had the opportunity to be the scout team quarterback so I was going up against the in my opinion the best defense in the country you know every day for a couple months so I got to get better as much as I wanted to you know I got to learn from jayen milro who had a fantastic year I got to you know learn under coach ree who's a great offense of uh coordinator and just got to learn as much as possible you know learn what it takes to you know be a champion cuz you know those they're always Champions at Alabama it seems like so I got to see you know the work ethic that you know you do in the weight room you do in the film room you know in school just what overall what the entire staff has to do to you know take that team to the next level it was an easier quarterback for you to emulate when you on Scout team Jen Daniels or JJ um I would say yeah I would say KJ Jefferson is a big one that I had to do I was I was live for that week because you know he's just a big old strong guy that can run and I've kind of similar that I'm not as big as him but uh you know just a big guy that can run and throw and I got popped a couple times here and there you know some big dudes coming to hit me so kind of brought me back to what football is really like so that was a lot of fun how do you think that uh experience of um learning from gaji to like their Champions at Alabama recently how do you you think that can maybe help you as a leader on and off the field just just knowing what it takes to you know Be A Champion you know just the the work ethic that you have to have the commitment and what you're doing on and off the field uh is going to be a big thing to you know make sure we get to being a champion you uh you said you've been throwing with guys trying to throw a lot develop that chemistry who have you been really developing chemistry with and and what do you kind of think of some of the past catch you've been working with so far we've everybody's been out there throwing from the entire receiving room the entire tight end room you know running actually are getting out there as well so I'm just kind of everybody's building a relationship and chemistry with everybody so it's not really certain guys it's the entire room is uh getting better and getting better together which is most important there were some quarterbacks that maybe you loed up to C up maybe able try to your game after more growing up I always looked up to my brother um he was a quarterback at St Thomas Moore in Lafayette Louisiana and had all types of State records school records state championship records and you know he was always somebody that I was driving to you know be as good or better than and uh he taught me almost everything I know of you know how to throw football being a quarterback and everything like that so he's definitely somebody that I've always you know looked up to strive to be but now um looking at like NFL quarterbacks college quarterbacks I feel like I kind of familiar with myself with uh Josh Allen you know just a a big quarterback you know he's not afraid to run the ball and not afraid to run through somebody which I kind of I kind of like you know it makes me excited watching him play like that you know he's always able to make big plays uh with not only with his arm but with his feet uh get the ball out quick has a lot of velocity and strong arm and stuff like that so it's it's a lot of fun watching him and I try to do as much as he does as as I can what's the challenge the quarterback room where there was you know both guys started last year and they went back and forth and now the same thing with Jak you guys are learning a new offense with the quing yeah I mean it's it's not much of a challenge right now you know cuz we're all learning a new offense we all kind of somewhat on the same playing field because of it's a new offense but you know those guys have you know played you know they they know what the expectation here is at pit you know with coaching our Dy and everything so obviously they got a upper hand right there but you know we're all in the same playing field with a new offense so it's going to be a lot of fun you know this this offseason learning the offense and in Spring what we're going to be able to do you mentioned Josh Allen so fans expect to see you using your legs that much if you know um yeah you know I like to run the ball I'm not not afraid to run the ball um did a lot in high school uh which was a lot of fun for me but um it's it's it's within coach uh Bell's offense you know coach Bell always talks about hey you know if you don't have what you want take off you know you you can run too it's not just you have to sit back there and try to find somebody to throw it to you can you can take off and I'm sure there's going to be some design runs you know just Zone reads stuff like that which which is something that I've always done did in high school uh and so I'm really looking forward to that mention family a couple times just how important is family to you and how important were they throughout this entire process you coming here to head family means everything to me um you know I've always looked up to grandparents Papa uh dads uncles brother um just how much family is involved in with each other I mean my entire family lives in Baton Rouge so I was around them my entire life you know just going to going to games with my uncle um tailgating with my family going to each other's houses for pretty much everything uh we were always together so you know I'm always going to take in consideration what they think and just you know my job or my goal is to you know just make my family proud you know take that hosting uh last name to the next level and kind of just do the best I can to honor it how much you on them during this process as well when you were going to the portal and eventually decid me to come here to pit I I leaned on my dad a lot with this you know especially my brother as well cuz you know my dad was a punter at LSU he knows kind of the whole college football landscape but it's it's a little different now but um my brother was he was at Louisiana Tech um so I'm always communicating with them seeing what they think um I would always bring my brother on some like recruiting visits when I was coming out of uh High School kind of seeing what he thought cuz you know he he was he had been through it uh and he was kind of like our little lie detector kind of guy he kind of knew if people were being honest with me and stuff like that so I was it was really uh easy to get some information from uh my dad my brother on what I should be doing and what I should be looking for in a program that L detector on you at all um I'm sure he has a little bit he's probably gotten me in trouble with it a couple times you like what you told your family about this um it's it's a lot like home uh and I'm be honest with you I don't know why but 20° here feels like 40 45° back home I guess it's something to do with the humidity so it's it's not as cold as I thought it would be but it's it's still definitely cold but uh they got a lot of great food up here I'm you know being from Baton Rouge Louisiana you I got high expectations on food especially with how good my mom can cook but uh you know I got a a lot of great places to eat here a lot of great things to do uh you don't have to just sit in your room and do nothing you can go out and do some stuff you know have some fun with other people and some teammates and um just how great the people here are you know that everybody's I haven't met one person that's been rude or anything like that you know everybody's helpful always putting other people before themselves and just want to help out as much as they can but your brother and your dad's name how much your my my dad's name is uh Scott holin uh and my brother is Caleb holin and he's 22 so he's about three and a half four years older than me so he done playing football yeah he's uh he's at uh LSU right now uh and trying to get into med school getting some interviews right now to get the med school you arrived here and you know an offensive coordinator was just hired right before came in and he's out on the road recruiting how have you been able to build a relationship with him since he got yeah I mean obviously over the phone you know he's been texting the entire quarterback group chat you know kind of keeping up with us telling us what we need to do you know throwing wise getting guys out there and throwing but um on the weekends he's here so we we're able to you know see him you know spend some time with him and everything like that how's it been for you just building a relationship with your skill guys you got some new guys coming in with you also a lot of returning players at receiver running back tight end what's that been it's been great you know with the news guys you know I kind of similar to them and what position I'm in you know coming in as a new guy so we've been able to bond over that but all the guys that are older and have been here for a while they've all taken us in kind of shown us shown us the ropes show us how things go and just everybody's coming together pretty much weather a little bit what else has surprised you the most about this first been here I will say how good the food is it definitely surprised me there's a lot of great places to eat around here um um didn't have high expectations I'm going to be honest with you coming from the south you know and some great food but I've had a lot of great things to eat around here commitment photo was taken in snow is that the most snow you had seen um that was the first time I had ever seen snow me and my little sister uh we got to take a picture in the snow and that was our first time playing in the snow she got to throw a lot of snowballs at me got to throw it at my dad uh hit his back a couple times had a lot of fun but yeah that was that was me and my little sister's first time ever experiencing snow and see now what's your sister's name her name is Mary Grace Mary Grace yes you very much thank you thank you thanks a lot