Someone actually asked the question in the Zeise Q&A before the Brawl?
Q: What happened to Bill Stull? I thought after having a very shaky start to the season he played very well against Rutgers, too bad the ‘D’ stunk, and L-Ville. But against Cincinnati, he looked like a dear in head lights, his passes all looked like floaters in the first half and he had no pocket awareness. He took some bad sacks and down the stretch it only got worse. Was he just nervous in his first “Big Game?”
ZEISE: No his first big game came against Iowa, and then South Florida and then Louisville – and he did well enough. I don’t think he was nervous, I don’t think he was panicked, I think he just didn’t play well. He clearly held the ball too long a few times and he missed some easy passes, but that is what happens sometimes, guys just don’t play well for whatever reason. I do think this — he didn’t get a lot of help from his receivers in that game as they dropped too many passes for anyone’s good. Stull will be fine and like I’ve written before, he is what he is — I don’t think by any stretch he is a great quarterback, but he is by far Pitt’s best option so the Panthers fate is in his hands.
Then came yet another shaky (at best) performance by Stull.
…Bill Stull had his worst game of the season. He threw two really bad interceptions and both were just terrible throws. He fumbled once, he missed Conredge Collins on a fourth-and-short, and he had one of the worst attempts at a quarterback draw we’ve ever seen. He has to be better. There is just no way around it. He wasn’t terribly accurate and, outside of an early touchdown throw to Derek Kinder, he didn’t do much to contribute to the win.
He just hasn’t been the same since he got concussed. Maybe it’s a coincidence. I don’t know. Before the concussion he was acceptable with moments where it seemed that he was making significant progress. Since coming back, he just doesn’t seem to have it. I sincerely doubt that it is a lingering physical effect. It seems more psychological. Hesitant when dropping back. Completely messed up footwork. Staring down the receiver even more than before. I don’t know if he’s thinking too much or what. It was masked in the Louisville game, with the Cards selling out completely to stop the run. Louisville does not have a particularly good secondary, and being stuck without help made it easier.
Zeise, then faced a slew of people questioning Stull and accusing Zeise of defending him.
…But here is what I’d like to know — when did I become the great defender/apologizer of/for Bill Stull? The only thing I have maintained through all of this is that Stull has limitations, but he is a gritty guy, a guy with leadership ability and most importantly the best option Pitt has. That’s what I have said all along. I don’t think he is a great quarterback, I don’t think he is the second coming of Dan Marino, Rod Rutherford, Alex Van Pelt — or for that matter John Turman. He is a serviceable quarterback with limitations who plays with some heart and grit and can make enough throws to give Pitt a chance to win. That’s it. But the more important part of the equation is this — there is NO better option on this team right now. Yes, I get it, he didn’t play well the last two weeks, and that’s probably being too kind. He made bad decisions, bad throws and bad turnovers…
There is no other option right now. I don’t think anyone is sincerely or rationally disagreeing with that. It’s just that it is such a glaring issue… well people are trying to make sense of it and want some sort of answer.
Really, this seems more like an off-season argument/debate/discussion, but people are already talking. So much, that Coach Wannstedt had to take a question on it during his weekly press conference.
On Bill Stull’s recent play:
“I think it’s a little bit physical with Bill. Everything comes with success. We had success — I’m going back here now against Louisville. All it takes is one game. We go up and struggle against Cincinnati for several reasons. Unfortunately the quarterback is, as we say, going to get more credit than he deserves when the team plays well and more negativity and blame than he deserves when things don’t go well. That’s part of being a quarterback. I think that when you have a first-year starting quarterback like Billy is — he’s dealing with that right now. He’s trying to work his way through. He is more than capable of hitting the fullback in the flat but we don’t hit him (against West Virginia). He has to set his feet and get the ball up. He makes that throw ten times a day in practice. The other thing of course is making good decisions. Not forcing the football and managing the team are things he has to do and he understands that. He made some good plays though early on. He opens up and makes a good throw to Derek Kinder and a great pass to Nate Byham. He starts off the game hot and he has confidence. All of a sudden he throws some incompletions and a pick down on the goal line and his confidence is shaken. He has to get it back. Is he struggling right now? I would say no. I don’t think he’s struggling, I think he’s just working extremely hard to get better. West Virginia has a pretty good defense. So does Cincinnati and Connecticut for that matter. He’s going to need to step up this week.”
Stull, to his credit, has admitted that he hasn’t played particularly well.
“If [the passing game] is out of sync, I take that on my shoulders,” he said. “I have to make sure we are in sync because I am the one who is responsible for distributing the football to all of our talented receivers.
“I am not sure if we are or aren’t in sync but we are looking pretty good so far during practice this week and hopefully this weekend you will see us be more in sync.”
The good thing for the team about having a bowl bid. Nearly an extra month of practice.
I expect this to be a very loud and cantankerous issue in the offseason when there is nothing to do but speculate.
Personally, I see little difference between Stull and Bostick other than the coaches having greater confidence in Stull. So if those intangibles and leadership factors are really there, then yeah, he has to be the starter.
[If you want to play devil’s advocate on Stull or Bostick for next year, consider this. Bostick came in last year as a true freshman, definitely not ready, had a worse receiving corps, was without the best WR, and a patchwork, porous O-line, took a beating but kept getting up. Bostick had to come in cold for the Rutgers game this year and then had to prepare for his first full game being on the road at ND — the game after the starting center went down and the O-line had to re-shuffle. No he wasn’t that good, but he was no worse than Stull has been the past few games, and not that far below Stull for most of the season.]
Plus, there is no way that this coaching staff would even contemplating a change at QB without an injury. And if you want to start looking ahead to the spring and next year, well Zeise is all about killing that dream.
Q: Throughout the season you have maintained that there will not an open competition at quarterback in the spring or next fall but after Bill Stull’s last two performances do you think that is still true?
ZEISE: What I have maintained is this: Given what we know about the way this coaching staff views experience and given how hesitant it has been to playing less experienced players regardless of their talent level — it will take an absolutely magical performance in the spring by Tino Sunseri, Kevan Smith or Pat Bostick for it to become a competition. There will be a competition and I’d love to tell you it will be wide open and Sunseri — who many people within the program and other observers will tell you is the best of the bunch in terms of throwing the football and doing so with velocity and accuracy and delivering it on time — will have a legitimate chance. But what has this coaching staff done in three years to suggest that it will put a redshirt freshman out on the field, even if he’s more talented, over an experienced fifth-year senior and that’s especially true at quarterback. I just don’t see it happening. …
Again, this really should be an issue of debate for the offseason. Right now, I’m just going to hope that Bill Stull is right and these are correctable mistakes on his part.
