Justin Holmes

#88 · TE · Sr. · Pittsburgh6′3″ · 245 lb · Kutztown, PA · Northwestern Lehigh

Justin Holmes is a tight end who has not played this season; the last season with a stat line was 2025, at Pittsburgh.

Holmes shows up in the passing game from any alignment. The four seasons span three programs and four head coaches: Sean Lewis, Kenni Burns, Charles Huff and Pat Narduzzi. On tape: 100 receiving yards and 6 receptions against East Carolina, Bowl, 2025.

Style of play

Play style

No single go-to route — the receiving numbers show up inline and split out alike.

Similar players

Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.

Christian TrahanHouston · 2022 · 78% season match
Tristen TewesNorthern Illinois · 2022 · 78% season match
Lance MasonWisconsin · 2025 · 76% season match
Henry PearsonApp State · 2022 · 75% season match
Trace BrucklerNew Mexico · 2023 · 73% season match

Where to follow

Career stats

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Season	Team
2025	Pittsburgh	28	301	10.8	4	23
2024	Marshall	1	11	11.0	0	11
2023	Kent State	20	188	9.4	0	41
2022	Kent State	--	--	--	--	--
Career		49	500	10.2	4	41

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Wk	Opp	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Wk 2	W 45-17vs Central Michigan	2	25	12.5	1	13
Wk 3	L 24-31@ West Virginia	2	14	7.0	0	9
Wk 5	L 27-34vs Louisville	2	17	8.5	0	11
Wk 6	W 48-7vs Boston College	3	40	13.3	1	22
Wk 7	W 34-31@ No. 25 Florida State	1	0	0.0	0	0
Wk 9	W 53-34vs NC State	2	22	11.0	0	19
Wk 10	W 35-20@ Stanford	4	34	8.5	0	14
Wk 12	L 15-37vs No. 9 Notre Dame	2	16	8.0	0	12
Wk 13	W 42-28@ No. 15 Georgia Tech	1	19	19.0	1	19
Wk 14	L 7-38vs No. 13 Miami	3	14	4.7	1	6
Bowl	L 17-23vs East Carolina	6	100	16.7	0	23
Total		28	301	10.8	4	23

Signature game

Bowl · 2025

L 17-23

vs East Carolina · neutral site

6 rec · 100 yds

With M. Heintschel — 256 yds · 1 TD · 1 INT · QBR 42.8 · C. Junko — 39.7 yards per punt · 3 punts · 45 long

Signature plays

The plays that mattered most

Week 13 · Georgia Tech · 1st and 15 · Q1 · EPA +2.89Heintschel to Holmes: a 19-yard touchdown pass.
Week 9 · NC State · 4th and 2 · Q2 · EPA +2.62M.Heintschel pass complete short right to J.Holmes caught at NC ST24, for 19 yards to the NC ST23 (R.Royal, III), out of bounds
Week 1 · East Carolina · 2nd and 10 · Q4 · EPA +2.60Heintschel to Holmes: a 21-yard pass.
Week 6 · Boston College · 1st and 10 · Q1 · EPA +2.55Mason Heintschel pass complete to Justin Holmes for 14 yds for a TD (Trey Butkowski KICK)
Week 2 · Central Michigan · 1st and 10 · Q2 · EPA +2.53Eli Holstein pass complete to Justin Holmes for 12 yds for a TD (Trey Butkowski KICK)
Week 14 · Miami · 2nd and 6 · Q2 · EPA +2.53Heintschel to Holmes: a 6-yard touchdown pass.

4 more plays

Week 10 · Stanford · 2nd and 10 · Q3 · EPA +1.93Heintschel to Holmes: a 14-yard pass.
Week 1 · East Carolina · 1st and 10 · Q2 · EPA +1.28Heintschel to Holmes: a 23-yard pass.
Week 1 · East Carolina · 1st and 10 · Q4 · EPA +1.25Heintschel to Holmes: a 20-yard pass.
Week 3 · West Virginia · 1st and 10 · Q3 · EPA +1.23Eli Holstein pass complete to Justin Holmes for 9 yds to the WVU 46

Situational

Situational · Share of own targets (PBP, 2025)

Third-down role

11%4 of his 37 targets came on third down · TE median is 22%

Teams and coaches

2022Kent State5-7HC: Sean Lewis · Run-leaning

2023Kent State1-11HC: Kenni Burns · Run-leaning

2024Marshall10-3HC: Charles Huff · Run-leaning

2025Pittsburgh8-5HC: Pat Narduzzi · Balanced

Our ratings

CFB Zeitgeist Score 52 (#62 of 156). Show the ratings

Where this profile ranks vs the TE cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles · 2025 season

52Rotational starter #62 of 156 · 2025?

11 metrics · season cumulative

2025 score: the 2026 sample is not big enough yet. The rows below are 2026 so far. Elite: td rate (84th percentile). Strength: rec tds (80th percentile). Concern: long catch (15th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

TD rate#122 / 798 · 84th pct

5.4%

Catch rate#486 / 798 · 39th pct

64.9%

EPA / target#492 / 798 · 38th pct

0.34

Explosive rate#496 / 798 · 38th pct

8.1%

Yards / catch#501 / 798 · 37th pct

10.5

Box-score rates (6)

Rec TDs#27 / 175 · 80th pct

Fumbles lost#1 / 33 · 74th pct

Receptions#63 / 175 · 64th pct

Rec yards#70 / 175 · 60th pct

301

Yards / catch#81 / 175 · 53rd pct

10.8

Long catch#148 / 175 · 15th pct

Season trend

EPA / target— first qualifying season

Explosive rate— first qualifying season

Catch rate— first qualifying season

TD rate— first qualifying season

Yards / catch— first qualifying season

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps in 2025. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Splits

Home and road splits, scheme and staff

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Home6g	2.3	22.3	9.7	0.5
Road4g	2.0	16.8	8.6	0.2

First half vs Second half

	REC/g	YDS/g	YPR	TD/g
Weeks 1-76g	2.7	32.7	9.7	0.3
Weeks 8+5g	2.4	21.0	10.2	0.4

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Pat Narduzzi

Pass share

52.3%

464 pass / 424 run

Plays / game

68.3

13 games

Team sack rate

7.1%

478 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Balanced.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

28 catches in 11 games

About as many catches a game as a typical FBS tight end who plays every week.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score

52 · #62 of 156 TEs · 2025

Three-star recruit. Now #62 at the position.

2026 outlook

In the mix for All-ACC

Based on 2025: #8 of 22 ACC TEs

How the All-ACC base rate is computed

A base rate for the rank, not a forecast of this player: 35% of returning players who ranked #4–10 at their position in their conference made an all-conference team the next season (95% confidence interval 31–38%).

Starter

The No. 1,731 recruit in the country is starting at tight end in the ACC as a senior.