As for observations from the scrimmage, well that is where the beat writers’ blogs come into play. The posts are chock-full of good bits, and I’m not going to provide annotations of them. Everyone takes different things from them, and later we really find out what was foreshadowed.

The obvious thing that jumps out is that the scrimmage featured bad QB play all-around and Coach Wannstedt decided to just skip it.

The one thing you have to understand about a controlled scrimmage is that the play-calling can and will be manipulated by the coaching staff, which makes training camp scrimmages no different than the dog-and-pony show in the spring called the Blue-Gold Game.

So, for those hoping that the second scrimmage would create separation in the quarterback competition and force Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt to play backup Tino Sunseri ahead of starter Bill Stull, think again.

Wannstedt, after all, is the one calling the shots.

When it became evident that Pitt’s passing game wasn’t going well — Stull was 2 of 7 for 3 yards, Sunseri 4 of 10 for 36 — Wannstedt made it a day to focus on the running game. Smart move. Instead of Pitt fans walking away wondering why star receiver Jonathan Baldwin hasn’t caught a pass in two scrimmages, they marveled at the elusive open-field running of freshman tailback Ray Graham.

“Of the quarterbacks, I don’t think anybody really did anything bad,” Wannstedt said. “I don’t think anybody did anything to make you jump up and down, partially because of the limited number of passes we threw today and the emphasis being on the running game.”

Bostick was 3 of 4, but was working with 2nd and 3d teams. It seems he might be headed for a redshirt year at long last.

Bostick has worked exclusively with the second- and third-team offense this week, and it appears that he’s headed for a redshirt year. Neither Wannstedt nor offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. has mentioned as much, always counting Bostick when talking about quarterbacks, but Bostick addressed the idea when asked about it Saturday.

“I’m open to it,” Bostick said. “I don’t know what they’re thinking. I can’t read minds. I’m not too concerned about it. I’m just concerned with getting better every day. Those decisions are out of my control. I go out there every day, try to improve. Whatever decisions are made, those are the decisions that are made. If the redshirt’s in the back of their mind, OK. If not, OK, let’s move forward. I just try to take it all in stride.”

No, not too much to figure whether to try and read between the lines or simply take at face value.

Zeise looks at seven items from the scrimmage. He really seems high on Graham because of his ability to make the big play running the ball, Aaron Berry has looked really good and the depth is really far better than it ever has in years (something Gorman also noted). Then there was this bit.

The right tackle position is the only shaky position on the offensive line and mostly because the starter is a sophomore (Lucas Nix) who needed a lot of work but spent the past four or five days watching with a leg infection. And even before he got hurt he was swimming a little bit, though trying to block Jabaal Sheard would make a lot of guys look shaky. There is no question, however, that Nix needs to get back and work his tail off over the next two weeks in order to get ready to play. If he does come on, the line will be pretty good as the other four guys, and in particular Jason Pinkston and John Malecki, are playing really well. And that is regardless of who emerges at left guard because both Chris Jacobson and Joe Thomas have played solid throughout camp.

Nix is starting to make his way back on the field, but the infection is scary. No one has uttered that dread word of locker room/athletic infections to this point (rhymes with laugh), but you can bet it is being monitored and watched closely. Just get Nix healthy and healed first, then worry about getting him back up to speed.