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March 23, 2011

SPRING PRACTICE REPORT #4

Filed under: Big East,Coaches,Football,Players — Reed @ 7:38 am

I almost feel like I should apologize for the lack of any substantial information on what is happening during PITT’s spring practices – no real details are coming out at all and everything that is written here is gleaned from controlled articles and videos from the Athletic Department.

Still, there are things that interest and are worthy of discussion so here goes…

The offense won the day to even the scoring at 2-2. Graham feels that the O is still committing too many TOs, but on the other hand that must make the defensive coaches happy.  Graham has his usual post-practice video, found here, and accompanying him were Coach Todd Dodge (QB Coach) and Coach Tony Gibson (Cornerbacks).

It has to be mentioned that Graham’s demeanor and accent is eerily similar to President Bush (the younger)… and along with that he throws out some Bush-quality quotes which raise the eyebrows (that is if you have eyebrows. The Coast Guard made me shave mine off because they said they were ‘unruly’ and scared the Junior Officers)…

Our free safety will go to the field and our bandit safety will be to the boundary. Our free safety is what people call a strong safety and our bandit safety is what people call a free or weak safety. The bandit safety will be more of the run forcer and the free safety will be more of a quarterback. We do not use the usual terminology because then it signifies you are slow. I want every one of my players on the field to be fast.”

Kolby Gray slid back over to safety. We have had a couple of guys have some minor  nagging injuries so Gray will do whatever it takes for the team. He will still represent the role of quarterback but we can only have three in that position right now. He had a great first day and practice went very well.”

I can just see it now.  Gray walks into a Friday afternoon QB meeting and tells Coach Dodge:  “The other guys felt they deserved some time off so they went to Peter’s Pub for happy hour and ask me to represent them at this meeting… so what’s up?”

Dodge talked about the QBs progress so far and wants PITT’s QBs to be All-BE every year… sure, why not?  Of course, I’ve never heard a coach say that they didn’t want that either.

Dodge specifically mentioned Sunseri’s being more comfortable in this 4th team practice and said it showed by his command of the offense in “crunch time”.  Sunseri completed a key 4th + long pass for a 20 yard gain at the end of practice and apparently has been accurate with his passing overall.

Mark Myers still impresses with his arm drawing raves from Dodge about how Myers “can spin it with the best of them” and stated that he was very impressed with Myers’ quick mobility given how big Myers is at 6’5” and 235 Lbs (the kid is still growing apparently).   Myers completed two deep passes that were singled out by Dodge with one going to Devin Street and one to Ed Tinker down the sideline.  Note: Tinker also played some RB during drills today taking one into the endzone from about 20 yards out during the ‘W’ drill (where they start from the 20 with key blockers and defenders in 1-1 matchups).

Dodge also mentioned that Gonzalez has improved over the 4 practice period, blah, blah, blah.  Really, nothing has been said much about Gonzalez this spring.  This seems to becoming more of a two horse QB race as the practices go on.  I wouldn’t be surprised if we break spring camp with Sunseri and Myers remaining as the two-deep guys, in that order.

Coach Gibson talked about how fast our DBs are, and again, K. William, B. Jackson and J. Davis (walk-on) were singled out for praise… but really he didn’t go into any details at all.  As a matter of fact Gibson looks pretty weird when doing this video – like he was programmed to say nothing but platitudes and trite coachspeak phrases.

That’s about it as far as actual practice news.

Odds and Ends:

The Post-Gazette’s Bill Brink wrote an article on Tino Sunseri and the other PITT QBs.

Pat Bostick has another well written and insightful article that showed up on the PITT Spring Insider website, if you remember he’ll be doing weekly dispatches from camp.  This one details how the new offensive system can be QB-friendly.  Give it a read, it’s well done.   Here is a good quote from it which addresses some items we fans have been discussing:

“   there are various other ways for these offenses to generate yards and points without having a quarterback who fits the mold of a Pat White or Cam Newton. For an example, simply look at the success of the 2009 Cincinnati Bearcats and their quarterback, Tony Pike. Pike was tall, lanky and, while he did possess solid speed, he was more of a passer and did not resemble the running quarterback most people expect to direct a spread-style attack.”

The Tribune Review has a nice article on Andrew Taglianetti and what he has accomplished off the playing field.  I didn’t realize that he held the PITT record for blocked punts with five.  A salient quote by tags in reference to the Head Coaching change:

Taglianetti, who holds the Pitt career record for blocked punts (five), said he likes how coach Todd Graham has emphasized players’ actions off the field as much as what they do on it. “I really loved coach (Dave) Wannstedt, and it was tough to see him go, but I really, really enjoy Coach Graham. I like what he teaches.”

ESPN’s Brian Bennett states the obvious with a short piece on PITT’s ‘strongest and weakest’ units.  Bennett must be pulling his hair out with the “Great Wall of Graham” in place.  Bennett has been a great source of info on preseason PITT football in the past and it must be hard to do that this season.

Next practice: Thursday, March 24th.





Based off titles given to the coaches, I fully expect Tino and Myers to be co-starting QBs going into the fall.

Comment by Fred 03.23.11 @ 8:32 am

It looks to me like Tino is Myered down.

Comment by steve 03.23.11 @ 9:11 am

If Tino Sunseri is named the starter in September, my enthusiasm for the entire season will be greatly diminished. I don’t care what type of offense or pace it is, Tino will ruin it.
He is not THE man! I know it has only been 4 practices – but if we don’t have a QB on the roster who can displace him – we’re in for a long season! Graham had better recognize this if he wants to keep his job very long.

Comment by ROCKY20 03.23.11 @ 10:05 am

Whatever happened to “its Tino time!” No love for our experienced QB. I’m with you ROCKY20. Sunseri has proven his potential and it is limited by his inability to throw the accurate deep ball as well as not managing the pace of the game effectively IMO. I’m still waiting for Myers to prove me wrong that he is NOT the man. Hopefully he impresses Graham enough so that he gets his time in the limelight to make it or break it on the field when it counts in real game situations. Tino’s had that audition already and IMO did not knock it out of the park.

Comment by Dr. Tom 03.23.11 @ 10:17 am

I find it so funny that everyone was screaming for Tino last year before the season started. (I was in Bostick’s corner, but I do not know if that is something to brag about.. The kid is a winner) We want Tino! We want Tino! What a joke how 1 season turns everything around. He belongs on the bench, but don’t play the Tino stinks card when you were singing his praises 1 year ago. You were wrong now eat your crow.

Comment by Todd Gack 03.23.11 @ 10:44 am

Guys – I’m working on another article about the QBs, more detailed than the last, that I’ll post today or early tomorrow… it will generate some good discussion I think.

Comment by Reed 03.23.11 @ 10:45 am

Todd – not everyone was singing “It’s Tino Time” there were more than a few posters, myself included, that were wary of the way he was anointed to the position so early on.

Actually I’d say that it was about 50/50 and I follow this stuff pretty closely.

Comment by Reed 03.23.11 @ 10:48 am

I’ll remind everyone again: Last year’s team was firmly behind playing Myers instead of Tino.

Comment by steve 03.23.11 @ 12:09 pm

A year and a half ago, just about everyone was yelling for Tino to play. Now they are asking him to sit. This confirms the theory that the backup QB is always the most popular.

Just like in 2009 when the coaches stuck with Stull, I’ll put my faith now that the coaches will play the QB that gives the best chance to succeed.

Comment by wbb 03.23.11 @ 12:18 pm

I along with Reed was one of the posters backing Stull, and I even argued against Chas who had no issue with all of the booing.

Steve, you posted about a month ago that the players were firmly behind Myers last season and now you do it again … funny but I have been following this blog regularly as well as much other Pitt coverage, and those are the only two times that I’ve ever heard of it.

Comment by wbb 03.23.11 @ 12:22 pm

wbb,

As I recall, I didn’t approve it. I understood it. Not a fan of booing college players. Coaches on the other hand…

Comment by Chas 03.23.11 @ 12:29 pm

Chas, that is another argument I had with you. Booing the coaches was in effect booing the QB … what’s the difference? Further, who can distinguish who is being booed unless you’re right next to the booer

Comment by wbb 03.23.11 @ 12:35 pm

wbb – although through other channels I had heard the same thing about the team wanting Myers to play last year.

Comment by Reed 03.23.11 @ 12:44 pm

This is the 1st time I’ve heard that Myers is the players choice regarding QB preferences by the team in general. Where does this information originate?

Comment by Dr. Tom 03.23.11 @ 1:16 pm

I had heard some snips of it back in September of last year. I’m not sure how much, if any, credence should have been put on it then.

Whatever the source it would be third hand anyway. Of course, a full years past and things may be completely different now.

To me the whole issue of who starts should be based on on the field talents anyway – determined by a real competition which it appears to be with this staff.

Comment by Reed 03.23.11 @ 1:37 pm

There is little doubt that Myers has the physical tools to exceed … he is tall (unlike Tino), apparently is pretty mobile, and maybe has the strongest arm at Pitt since #13. This may have swayed many, but inserting a natural freshman with less than a month of practice and not getting starter snaps is pretty risky.

In fact, it may be the same situation as the year before. Tino, practicng the 1st two weeks at camp against the backups, looks like the best QB in camp while Stull struggles aginst the likes of Romeus, Sheard and Williams. Yet, people seemed to ignore the reports that Tino struggled against the first team in camp when he got to face them.

Comment by wbb 03.23.11 @ 1:43 pm

How did I learn that Fields was viewed as a “bull in a china shop?”

That Phil Bennett was a cold and distant coach?

That Schiano uses a helicopter to recruit?

etc., etc.

Um, why would I make this stuff up?

Comment by steve 03.23.11 @ 3:13 pm

wbb – hold those thoughts for a few hours, you’ll weight in on the next article I’m sure.

Comment by Reed 03.23.11 @ 5:29 pm

I believe Pitt could have gone at least 7-5 starting Myers or Bostick last year. If it would have been Myers, he would now have a lot of game experience and had delivered some wins. If it would have been Bostick, then Myers would have been redshirted since Tinny would have been the backup.

Since Wanny went with the legacy and son of his good friend Sal, we are now faced with the horrible possibility of now going into a new Pitt football era, with a new coach, with an entirely new offensive scheme……..with the same old weak armed, heavy legged junior QB who couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn if it was longer than a 20 yard pass.

And that possibility added together with last week’s 2nd round flameout in hoops is almost to much to bear.

Comment by melvinbennett 03.23.11 @ 8:25 pm

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