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Pitt QB Eli Holstein, offensive coordinator Kade Bell are on the same wavelength entering year 2

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Pitt QB Eli Holstein, offensive coordinator Kade Bell are on the same wavelength entering year 2
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Pitt QB Eli Holstein, offensive coordinator Kade Bell are on the same wavelength entering year 2

2025-04-12 23:35 Last Updated At:23:41

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Kade Bell's first spring as Pittsburgh's offensive coordinator was chaotic. And crowded. Way too crowded.

The Panthers had more than a half-dozen quarterbacks on the roster this time last year, far too many to get any real sense of who could do what and who could be what.

“How (was) I supposed to get everybody reps ... and then try and develop them (at the same time)," Bell said.

Things are far calmer now. Eli Holstein emerged from the masses to eventually become the starter and was putting together one of the finest freshman seasons in recent memory before injuries set in as the Panthers saw a 7-0 start fade to a 7-6 finish.

Holstein is healthy now, and there's a little more space in Pitt's quarterback room, which now just consists of Holstein, Julian Duggar (who started the Panthers' bowl game loss in place of Holstein), David Lynch and Mason Heintschel heading into Saturday's annual Blue-Gold spring game.

The upshot is that Bell had a chance to teach more this time around rather than focus on getting everyone's name right, as was the case a year ago. Bell estimates Holstein and company have thrown 900 passes over the last month, plenty of opportunities for them to learn, Bell to guide, and confidence to build.

Holstein certainly sounds eager to get moving after being forced to sit out bowl prep while he recovered from a leg injury. Bell made it a point to praise Holstein for the way he remained mentally engaged even as he rehabbed. The proof that Holstein has been listening comes during meetings, when Holstein sometimes knows the questions before Bell even asks.

“As a QB, when you can answer the questions before the OC tells you something, we’re going to be in a lot better situation,” Bell said.

Bell's up-tempo attack requires quarterbacks to think and move quickly. Holstein still wants to be a threat with his legs, even though he took a fair number of shots last season playing behind a line that at times had trouble protecting him.

While Bell doesn't have a problem with that, he's also just fine if Holstein takes the snap, makes the right read and gets rid of it to a group of playmakers that Bell believes could be better than what the Panthers had a year ago. Outside of running back Desmond Reid and the occasional big play from wide receiver Konata Mumpfield, there weren't a lot of big plays to go around.

“Last year, it felt like we only had 4-5 guys that could play that we trusted,” Bell said. “This year I think we’re going to be in the 7-8 range. ... The goal is to stretch the defense vertically as opposed to 13-play drives.”

Holstein needed to beat out Nate Yarnell to win the starting job last summer, a decision that wasn't made official until the start of the season. There are no questions this time around, making Holstein more comfortable trying to be a leader, though he noted getting people in line has rarely been a problem.

It wasn't uncommon during Holstein's childhood for his father, Scott, a strength and conditioning coach, to ask his preteen-aged son to go tell much bigger, much older college athletes where to go and what to do. All that practice has paid off.

“I’ve had the guys (here) tell me, ‘Hey, I need you to be on me this year,’” Holstein said. “And I told them, 'I’m going to be honest with you, but you’re not going to like me sometimes.”

Holstein isn't interested in winning any popularity contests. He wants to prove that the Panthers are much closer to the team that ripped off seven straight wins to start 2024 than the one that limped to the finish.

It seems that Holstein is in for the long(er) haul. The Alabama transfer insists he enjoys Pittsburgh, and after Bell signed a three-year contract extension during the offseason, Holstein jokingly told Bell he thinks he deserves one too.

“I respect (Bell) a lot,” Holstein said. “He respects me a lot. It’s another guy that I can talk to about stuff other than football. We have a really close relationship now, which I’m really, really grateful for. Now we’re able to go out there and make a lot of plays. I’m excited for it.”

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FILE - Pittsburgh quarterback Eli Holstein (10) looks to throw during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Virginia Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed, File)

FILE - Pittsburgh quarterback Eli Holstein (10) looks to throw during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Virginia Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed, File)

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Sudanese paramilitary group says its forming a rival government

2025-04-16 17:05 Last Updated At:17:10

CAIRO (AP) — A notorious paramilitary group fighting against the Sudanese military announced that it was forming a rival government, which will rule parts of the country controlled by the group including the western Darfur region where the United Nations says recent attacks by the group have killed over 400 people.

Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the Rapid Support Forces, announced the move in a speech on Tuesday as the northeastern African nation marked two years of civil war.

“On this anniversary, we proudly declare the establishment of the Government of Peace and Unity,” Dagalo said in a recorded speech, adding that other groups have joined the RSF-led administration, including a faction of the Sudan’s Liberation Movement, which controls parts of Kordofan region.

Dagalo, who is sanctioned by the U.S. over accusations that his forces committed genocide in Darfur, said that he and his allies were also establishing “a 15-member Presidential Council” representing all of Sudan’s regions.

The move came as the RSF suffered multiple battlefield setbacks, losing the capital, Khartoum and other urban cities in recent months. The paramilitary group has since regrouped in its stronghold in the sprawling region of Darfur.

It raises concerns that Sudan is heading towards partition, or a prolonged conflict like that one in neighboring Libya where two rival administrations have been fighting for power for over a decade. The nation of South Sudan won independence from Sudan in a 2011 referendum that followed a war in which Janjaweed militias, a predecessor to the RSF, fought on behalf of the government.

The Janjaweed were accused of mass killings, rapes and other atrocities.

Many countries, including the U.S., have rejected the RSF efforts to establish an administration in areas they control.

“Attempts to establish a parallel government are unhelpful for peace & security for the country, and risk further instability & de facto partition of the country,” the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs posted on X in March when the RSF and its allies signed what they called “transitional constitution” in a Kenya-hosted conference.

Sudan was plunged into chaos on April 15, 2023 when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open warfare across the country.

Since then, at least 24,000 people have been killed, though the number is likely far higher. The war has driven about 13 million people from their homes, including 4 million who have crossed into neighboring countries, and pushed parts of the country into famine.

The fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in Darfur, according to the U.N. and international rights groups.

Dagalo’s announcement has come a few days after his forces and allied militias rampaged through two famine-hit camps, which shelter some 700,000 Sudanese who fled their homes, in North Darfur province.

The multi-day attack on the Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps killed more than 400 people, including 12 aid workers and dozens of children, the U.N. humanitarian office said, citing local sources.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday the attack forced up to 400,000 people to flee the Zamzam camp in recent days.

He said the camp has become inaccessible after the RSF and its allied militias took control of it, “restricting the movement of those remaining, especially young people.”

FILE - Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy head of the military council speaks at a ceremony in the capital Khartoum, Sudan, on Aug. 4, 2019. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy head of the military council speaks at a ceremony in the capital Khartoum, Sudan, on Aug. 4, 2019. (AP Photo, File)

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