In the least obvious move of Pitt's training camp, head coach Paul Chryst has finally named Chad Voytik as the team's starting quarterback. Voytik beat out backup Trey Anderson for the job and will officially get the nod against Delaware in the season opener.
There was never really any true suspense here. Voytik didn't play terribly well in camp, but was still a pretty obvious choice given Pitt's other options - the little-used Anderson and true freshman Adam Bertke.
On Thursday, Chryst didn't talk all that glowingly about what Voytik has done so far this year. Rather, it's been the same theme as it has been during camp - that he's working hard. "He’s taken all the reps with the ones," said Chryst. "I think he’s proud, and he should be, of the work he’s done. But he wasn’t real high. I think all of them are competitive and want to play, and I think absolutely it means something to them. I don’t think he feels like he’s arrived or anything like that, and that’s what I like about it. He keeps working."
I pointed that out earlier but anytime Chryst has talked about Voytik this year, it seems like it's been mostly about him putting in work. It's not terribly alarming or worrisome at this point, but not the best of signs in that he really hasn't praised his actual play all that much during camp. Part of that is Chryst's mentality, but the other part is, by all indications, he hasn't been putting on a show.
There really wasn't much of a rush to need to name him as the starter and unlike the spring, Anderson wasn't grabbing reps with the starters from him in camp. Waiting so long to declare him the guy just seemed a little odd when it was clear he was going to be the choice.
But as expected, Voytik will get the start at quarterback for the Panthers.
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