I like to think Pitt fans on the whole have been doing their best to be relatively open-minded about the QB situation for this season. Some might have their preferences, or “anyone but” feelings, but overall there is a “wait and see” attitude. If for no other reason than simple pragmitism.

— Practices were barely underway and pads only went on over the weekend. There has to be time to see what progress has been made, especially with a new OC.

— Coach Dave Wannstedt has declared that Bill Stull is the starting QB. Whether out of pure faith that Stull is the guy, to forestall a QB cotroversy or try to instill some confidence in Stull to just go out and play without looking over his shoulder.

— It wasn’t going to be freshman Kolby Gray, and that was even clearer now that he will have shoulder surgery and take a medical redshirt.

— It’s not like anyone is absolutely sure what to expect from any of the QBs.

— Wanting to see what new OC Frank Cignetti does with them, and if he has a final (any?) say on the QB situation.

That said, it  did not escape many that both the Trib (Gorman) and P-G (Zeise) beat writers felt the need to note on the blog side of things that Stull is not looking good, while Sunseri is surging and Bostick is at least progressing. Zeise started it with a “don’t panic –yet” post about the overall QB play.

Yes, I know it is early and a lot of time is left in camp but……..it has not been the finest hour for the quarterbacks the last two days since they started playing in shoulder pads and actually faced a little bit of heat from the defense.

I had written after the first two days that the quarterbacks threw the ball well and they did. But I also cautioned they were throwing in 7 v 7’s and without a pass rush. Well, yesterday the defense turned up the heat a little bit and it all came crumbling down.

Starter Bill Stull looked a lot like the player who ended last season and Tino Sunseri looked a lot like a second-year player. And Pat Bostick was the odd-man out yesterday as he barely participated in any of the team stuff as he and Sunseri will be alternating days to get the bulk of the work with the second team.

Again, much like I said a few days ago — don’t over react to a few good days — I’ll say the same thing now, perhaps as camp progresses they will all settle in, get used to the speed of things and figure it out.

And most treated it as such. Pitt’s defense is strong. Everyone who has seen the practices has talked about how dominating and overwhelming the D-line has looked that the QB situation may not be getting a fair shake.

But then both came out and stated things after Sunday practices that really caught Pitt fans’ attention. First Gorman’s view:

Through the first six days of camp, however, Stull has lost his vise-like grip on the starting job. And he has no one to blame but himself. Sure, you have to take into consideration that he’s running the first-team offense against the first-team defense, which has him running for his life at times. And that Tino Sunseri is playing well when given the opportunity.

But that’s not the reason Stull has struggled.

Simply put, Stull isn’t making the throws. He’s missing open receivers. He’s off-target, whether it’s too short, too long or over the wrong shoulder. That’s not the worst of it. On Sunday, the fourth consecutive day Stull has struggled, he threw three interceptions and two touchdowns despite working on gold zone (15 yards in) and red zone (15 yards out) drills.

Unlike Wannstedt, Frank Cignetti Jr., Pitt’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, hasn’t declared one quarterback the unquestioned starter. He’s charting every play, and also knows that Pat Bostick threw four touchdowns and two interceptions, Sunseri one score and no picks.

Then Zeise:

The bottom line is Tino Sunseri has made it fairly clear that while he’s young and inexperienced, he isn’t just going to roll over and accept his role as a back-up as he’s played pretty well. Meanwhile, Bostick hasn’t played poorly or well in recent days because, his opportunities have been limited and Stull, at least the last two days, has struggled.

I know the spin – the defense is so much ahead of the offense it isn’t fair to evaluate. I’ll buy it to a degree and Stull is and should be the starter for now and going into the season. But there is no question this competition is a lot closer now than it was five days ago so it should be fun to watch develop.

And before I even reached other thoughts on this, Zeise has a blog post from this morning’s practice that speaks volumes.

Unless the goal of the quarterback is to make sure his receivers have no chance to catch the ball, I can’t quite figure out why a change hasn’t been made yet.

I know, I know, I know the company line is ‘we can’t use a redshirt freshman at that position he has no experience and well, you have to remember last year was our starters first year as a starter…….” My first reaction to the “it was his first year as a starter” line is this — please remind me how many starts Tony Pike had before last season and how that turned out for Cincinnati. And Darryl Clark, how many times did he start prior to last season and how did that turn out for Penn State? Heck for that matter, USC’s Mark Sanchez had three career starts before last season and well, he did OK I think.

College football teams all across the country use young players at key positions all the time and win with them. It is a fact of life in college football, rosters turn over every year and some years significantly. The idea that you always must have an experienced player at every position to win is ridiculous. Yes, ideally you’d like to but if the best player isn’t a senior, well, you need to look elsewhere.

And frankly, if you have an entire training camp plus the added bonus of three mulligans (to use another golf reference) to start the season (i.e teams you should be able to physically overmatch and thus win while protecting the quarterback and helping him gain confidence and get his feet wet and get used to the flow of the game) – that’s seven weeks of work you could have to get a guy ready before the varsity games start. But the key is getting him as many reps as possible and well, you’ve now wasted an entire week.

Wow. Not good. Or good. Depending on whether you believe Coach Wannstedt will change his views on who is running the 1st team.

It is clear that neither beat writer has seen anything from Stull that makes them believe he can hold on to the job. Zeise appears to be in the corner of Sunseri. Believing he is the best option at QB and will be/should be the starter based on performance in camp. Tha’s some raw frustration coming from an observer.

Cat Basket was already down with letting Sunseri run the first team a little. Eye of a Panther wonders if Wannstedt can break free of his thinking — something Zeise clearly echoes today.

I remember Wannstedt has always stressed he wants the best player on the field, but we all know what kind of premium he puts on experience (i.e., upperclassmen). Sunseri is not even a true freshman, but a redshirt. If he is performing the best of all three QBs, then he at least needs a chance to run the first team.

If the concern is about Stull’s confidence, then it is already too late. He has struggled and if he can’t respond to the challenge of being even temporarily demoted then he isn’t the player/leader the coaches think/need him to be.

I root for Stull. Hell, I root for Bostick as well. I really never gave Sunseri a thought this season, because of Wannstedt’s predilections. So, I really can’t say I was rooting for Sunseri this season, since I figured he had a very small chance of impacting.

Ultimately, though, I root for Pitt and want to see the QB out there that best helps the football team win. If it’s Sunseri let’s find out. If it is the defense just killing the O-line and not giving any QB a chance the coaches need to be sure.