(This is a long look at the current QB situation so far this season)
Pitt is in the midst of something we haven’t had in a very long time and that is a genuine quarterback competition being played out in real time and for the world to see. We have been told there were competitions in the past but those were lip service to the media. This season however we are being treated to something this new staff feels is of uppermost priority, finding the QB which is the best overall for the team. Here is background on the issue and some Q & As that may help to enlighten our fans as to what is and has been transpiring in this interesting development.
How did Pitt get the two principal QBs, Chad Voytik and Nate Peterman, on the roster?
For that we have to go back to 2011 when both Voytik and Peterman were in their senior years in high school. Both players were star high school QBs and one left his hometown state of Tennessee to go to Pitt and the other kid left Florida to go to play his college ball in Tennessee.
In high school Chad Voytik was a 6’0” 192 lb running QB and played for the Cleveland Blue Raiders, located in Cleveland, TN, a small town of 42,000 located 30 miles northeast of Chattanooga and in the western foothill of the southern Great Smokey Mountains.
Voytik had a very good career there being named both an All-State player and a high school All-American. He was a dual threat QB at Cleveland, passing for over 5,000 yards in his three years starting and was also a prolific runner.
Voytik was a Rivals.com four star (4*) player who was also ranked 4th nationally among senior QBs and the #1 player at any position in TN. Twelve other D1 schools wanted Voytik as a recruit including PSU, Clemson, Virginia, Syracuse and Louisville. Those are all good football schools and play in competitive Power Five conferences.
