It's going to take time for redshirt freshman quarterback Joey Yellen to adjust to ACC football and become a starter, but he has all the tools to mature into a quality quarterback for Pitt.
Now that he's eligible for the season, Yellen can focus on developing the skills he'll need to adjust to the system change. He transferred from Arizona State, a PAC-12 program that ran a spread offense — the conference's general style of play.
Yellen spoke about working on that transition Monday via Zoom from the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.
"On the field, starting out it was a little weird," Yellen said. "Went from a spread to a pro-style spread-ish offense. I'm back in a huddle again, which it's the first time since high school. ... saying the plays was actually kind of difficult at first. But really it was going through the motions, seeing all the concepts for the first time and building chemistry with the receivers."
Huddle or not, Yellen flashed potential in his lone start at Arizona State last season, when he completed 28 of 44 passes for 292 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions in a 31-26 loss to USC.
Watch this touchdown on third-and-goal when he faced two untouched blitzing defenders in his face, but still had the patience to wait for his man to clear. Kyle Williams runs a slant while another receiver runs to the flat, clearing the field of any interior defenders. Once the safety flew to the flat, Yellen connected with Williams for a touchdown:
These were the types of reads Yellen was comfortable making in a spread offense. By lining up so many receivers and running a quicker-paced offense, Arizona State put USC on their heels and played a numbers game, evaluating which part of the field will be easiest to attack.
Here's a similar look where Yellen faces another untouched blitz but has the patience to wait for the slant to clear the middle of the field for an easy touchdown:
That kind of patience under pressure translates to any college team. A more pro-style offense will require a different set of reads in the route combinations and concepts behind the blitz, but having the gusto to stand in the face of pressure and fire into the end zone is the first step.
Like all redshirt freshmen, Yellen has a lot of growing to do — and not just on his 6-foot-3, 215-lb. frame. There are times you can see his throwing motion tighten up and lead to misfires, something he'll work to cut down on while at Pitt, like this missed out route:
Being the backup isn't a role that bothers Yellen as he knows he has plenty of developing to do as a player. He was the backup in 2019 for Arizona State and is facing the challenges of learning a new offense, the verbiage and the pace of how to operate within it.
"This is nothing new to me as far as being a backup in college football," Yellen said. "I'm trying to make myself available as needed, trying to get better day to day. Making the most out of the practices, trying to get in the full swing of things inside the offense, I'm starting to see it a little better now."
Some of that improvement comes in learning to make different reads within a system. Watch how he never looks off the safety on this deep pass that gets intercepted. The ball is actually in a good spot for the receiver to fight for a jump ball if he were facing a cornerback, but the safety follows Yellen's eyes the whole play and picks off the pass:
Yellen did show off a good deep ball last year when he did see his one-on-one opportunities. That last pass was a good throw that wasn't given the proper head fake. But this next touchdown pass resulted when there wasn't a safety overtop.
And again, watch how an edge rusher comes free into Yellen's face and even jumps up to give him a hard time throwing the deep ball. Yellen never flinches and leads receiver Frank Darby on a bomb that results in a 62-yard touchdown. Note how the ball is leading Darby and on his outside shoulder — the perfect placement of a pass, even if the cornerback is tighter with his inside leverage in coverage:
The 2020 Pitt Panthers are absolutely Kenny Pickett's team. Yellen may get some snaps for experience here and there — he can play in four games without burning his redshirt — but Pickett has worked in this offense for three years and is ready to work with a receiving corps that's familiar with him.
Yellen gets to learn behind Pickett, work on his reads and his throwing motion in what he describes as a friendly learning environment.
"The quarterback room has been great, everyone kind of helps each other. Everybody is good friends in there and it's just a fun group to be part of."
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