Pitt Football Training Camp: Chad Voytik keeps firm grip on starting quarterback spot, but Nathan Peterman impressing

Chad Voytik headed into the spring as the team's starting quarterback and so far in camp, he's done nothing to relinquish that role. Even though no one really assumed anything differently, Voytik is still the starter according to offensive coordinator Jim Chaney despite some competition from transfer Nathan Peterman.

"Here is the deal: Chad [Voytik] is the incumbent starting quarterback and remains the starting quarterback at Pitt," said Chaney. "Right now there's three other people in my room that are fighting their butts off to take his job. Next year there will be an incumbent starting quarterback back and everybody will be trying to take his job. Nothing's going to change. There's competition in that room and it'll continue on. As we stand here today, Chad is still the starting quarterback at Pitt."

As I said, that isn't a surprise to anyone. But FWIW, head coach Pat Narduzzi did say that Peterman and Voytik were involved in a 'competition.' While no one really believes that, the key thing is that Peterman has impressed in camp and gives Pitt a nice safety net should Voytik suffer an injury or even underperform.

Narduzzi said, "Nate [Peterman] is doing a nice job. There's a competition going on. Chad [Voytik] is a leader and you know he's done it in a game, so you feel good there. Nate is pressing him. One thing I know right now is we have two quarterbacks we feel can go in and manage a game right now. I think we feel better right now than what we did in the spring."

Again, I'm not buying the whole 'Peterman is pressing him' deal. But Narduzzi has to say things like that and it's also believable that Peterman may not be all that far behind Voytik. Don't forget, despite not having much success in college yet, he was a top ten quarterback in the 2012 class. But the fact is that Voytik earned the right to begin the season as the starter because he's the incumbent and because of how he finished last year playing really well in the second half.

One key tidbit that Chaney shared is that coming to Pitt was an adjustment for Peterman since at Tennessee, they were running a no-huddle offense and that won't be the case here (at least not exclusively). Despite that, Chaney is encouraged by his play. On Wednesday, he said, "Nathan has been doing a heck of a job. He's been doing everything I ask him to do, and that's what we'll continue to do. We'll try to push this thing as far as we can go."

The good thing out of this is that Peterman gives Pitt a little more insurance than they had last year with Trey Anderson as Voytik's backup. By all accounts, he will be an upgrade over Anderson, despite Anderson having several years in the program. The quarterback job is Voytik's, but Peterman gives Pitt some quality depth.

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