USC quarterback Transfer Max Wittek reportedly considering Pitt

Vanderbilt quarterback Wade Freebeck made some headlines when he decided to back out of his verbal commitment to Pitt. As I mentioned, that put the Panthers in a bit of a bind as far as their quarterback stable and hurt a little bit in terms of depth.

Enter Max Wittek.

Wittek, if you're unfamiliar with him, is a USC quarterback transferring out of the program. He was a blue-chip recruit, ranking as the third-best quarterback per Rivals back in 2011. His career never panned out the way it was expected to, and Wittek has played sparingly over the past two seasons for the Trojans after sitting out in 2011.

He's transferring out of the program and is reportedly considering Pitt, along with Texas, Louisville, and Hawaii.

One plus in adding him is that he would be able to play immediately since he plans to graduate this spring. And unlike Tom Savage, he has two years of eligibility left.

I'm all for adding talent to the program and Wittek obviously fits that bill. With Tom Savage moving on and Freebeck backing out, it's easy to see why Pitt would want a little insurance just in case the Chad Voytik experiment doesn't go as planned.

An interesting aspect in all of this is that Chryst said he didn't have any plans to add a quarterback despite the Freebeck defection, as stated by the Post-Gazette. That either has changed or was never the case. It's worth noting that I've not seen any comment by Pitt on it yet, but it's hard to imagine Wittek would list the Panthers as an option without finding out if there was any mutual interest.

My hope is that Voytik goes into the Spring and Fall camp as the No. 1 starter. It's time to figure out what he has and he's been patient thus far with redshirting 2012 and sitting behind Tom Savage last year, who was a band-aid fix. Voytik will be entering his third season in the program and it's time to find out if he's ready.

I'm all for competition and if Wittek comes in and is considerably better than Voytik, he obviously deserves to play. However, my preference would be to give Voytik the reins first and see if he can take control. I think that after two years of sitting behind Tino Sunseri and Savage, and playing well in the bowl game, he's earned his shot.

Alienating Voytik at this point isn't something Paul Chryst and company should be interested in and while the staff can't play him simply to appease him, they should also realize that forcing him to sit another season behind a player brought in on a transfer is something that could drive him away from the program.

Be sure to join Cardiac Hill's Facebook page and follow us on Twitter @PittPantherBlog for our regular updates on Pitt athletics. Follow the author and manager/editor of Cardiac Hill @AnsonWhaley