That one horse race finished yesterday with Tino Sunseri winning the pot for all intents and purposes. He started for the “Blue team” yesterday and played well, that is if you don’t like deep passes called by your Offensive Coordinator. He was accurate with a 64% completion rate on 55 attempts and threw for 418 yards. His main receiver; Shanahan, Street and Saddler all did well but also missed accurate passes in the rainy and windy weather that showed up for the first 2/3s of the scrimmage.
He can make all the short and intermediate throws, especially on called rollouts, and he does that with power behind the ball. But we saw again yesterday that he lacks the arm strength and touch on the deep ball. That is rather weird in that you’d think that if he can throw strongly between 15-25 yards he should be able to go deep, but that really isn’t the case. He underthrows on the fly pattern on a continual basis. That 51 yard TD to Shanahan was a great catch and run on Shanahan’s part, not a deep pass by Sunseri.
I particularly paid attention to how Sunseri looked out on the field as far as “generalship” goes and he was fine. One point to note is that I timed the ‘no-huddle’ from the placement of the ball to the snap probably 50 times and only two (that I counted) were over the 15 second target… plus I saw only one procedure penalty. Surprisingly for only three weeks in this new offense that went very well – and I think is the basis for Todd Graham to be saying the players are ahead of where he and the staff though they would be. Sunseri has a good command of the nuts and bolts of this new offense and ran it well yesterday. The execution of the actual plays had some poor moments though – but he obviously ‘gets’ the no-huddle at this point.There were no problems with the Center – QB exchanges yesterday and that had to please the staff. The OL looked fine but it was hard to tell just how effective they were in pass protection as the QB wasn’t “live” so they had to pull up before knocking the snot out of the QBs – which they would have on some plays.
Running back was pretty well taken care of yesterday – Ray Graham looked good in very limited action. He had the opening two series with the Blue team then walk-on Randy Morris came in for the bulk of the work. Des Brown took almost all of the White Team’s snaps and he can play. First off he is fast as hell and second he has some moves on the run. Don’t be surprised if he gets playing time this season. Saddler looked good on his carries also and had a real nice reverse.
Our special teams play looked good – Buddy Jackson tore another KO back for a TD, he may blow up in that role. Harper and Yoklic had good days – Harper hit two FGs from 54 and over 40 yards; strong leg and accurate yesterday. Our punter had a good day as well and can really boom the ball at times. We also blocked one FG attempt.
Basically the spring game was, as it always is, a glorified scrimmage. Now, that said, it is my belief that we’ll do pretty well out there this season. Maybe not BCS well, but I think we’ll see an exciting offense and – if yesterday was any indication – a very aggressive defense. Taken into account that this is three weeks into the new coaching staff’s time, then throw in the fact that a lot of our talent has been sidelined with injuries this camp combined with the fact that we’ll have all of the summer training camp to work, and I think we are in good shape.
Odds and Ends:
So, it really looks like, at this point, the QB depth chart will be Sunseri, Gonzalez – who didn’t impress yesterday except with his feet – and Myers. Myers thumb injury is a bit more serious than just being jammed, but nothing that should keep him out of Summer Camp should he not exercise his transfer options. I would think that there will be some long and tough discussions between Coach Graham and Myers family regarding his future at PITT, as there should be. This kid has real talent and from his point of view needs to be in a position to show that on the playing field. If he transfers, and again folks this is a bit of conjecture, it will be because of the depth chart and type of offense being played, not because of being disgruntled with the new staff.
I also feel that PITT fans should brace themselves for other players to take a hard look at what they are faced with now, after the change in the coaching staffs and how PITT football is going to be played now the Graham and Co. are onboard. We have to realize that when these kids committed to PITT it looked like Dave Wannstedt and his approach to college football was going to be around for some time. That isn’t the case any longer. We may get some unsettling news over the next few months.
I sat up in the press box yesterday for about an hour and a half then when the weather got better went down on the sidelines. Right next to me on my left was the Coach’s Box and I could hear everything that was being said (yelled). For some reason one of the coachs kept screaming Jake Delmonico’s name… DELMONICO!! DELMONICO!!…all the time, even when the kid wasn’t out on the field. Either the kid got his ass chapped after the game or the coaching staff uses “Delmonico” as some sort of code word – but it was funny as hell. Larry Fitzgerald was wandering around up on the 4th level also. I think he was still looking to kick the collective asses of the two local sportswriters whose votes cost him the Heisman.
The coaching staff ran the hell out of the team yesterday. It was almost two and half hours of non-stop football as there was no halftime break; sprinting out onto the field with possession changes and scrambling around to get in position for the next play. The staff stayed right on the kids until the last play. I was right next to the Blue Teams benches and even toward the end of the scrimmage when Graham called the starters back into play the kids were obviously tired but jumped right up and you could tell they were pretty excited about getting some more plays in.
I’ll do one more Spring Practice wrap-up article before the football doldrums set in.
Real good job, Reed
Which I think this new offense will accomplish. I don’t think we are going to have problems moving the ball from the 20 to the 20. What I wonder about is how we’ll do when the field tightens up – red zone offense and goal line situations. We may not be able to power the ball in those instances like we have in the past.
But as you say, we’ll see. Summer camp with the new recruits is going to be interesting also. I think PITT fans are banking on one or two true FR RBs to waltz in but I think Des Brown may have cemented the 2nd string RB slot. He really has been a pleasant surprise. We may get some true FR speed on the field at WR and LB though – at least in the two deep.
This is going to be, and already has been, an interesting year in the history of PITT football.
I told Chas I’ll keep contributing on a limited basis during summer camp and the season but I’ll scale back when my new job starts in July… this takes more effort than you think and I’ve new found respect for Chas being able to produce as much as he does on here.
en.wikipedia.org/…/2009_Pittsburgh_Panthers_football_team
In all seriousness – I asked about season ticket sales in the press box and was told we were ahead of last season.
Did anyone watch Pat Bostick on TV? I couldn’t record it in Maryland.
Sure hope he stays as we would be really thin at QB if he bolts. I don’t believe we even have a QB in the incoming class, we had one (Nova) but he decided to follow Cigs to Rutgers along with several others of the lost class.
Someday !
As I said – I’m sure there will be some long discussions had by Myers and his family as to how his future shapes up. Just as I’m sure kids in other positions will do also.
Hell, even if he’s 2nd or 3rd string he’s still only a few plays away from playing a full season – just ask Pat Bostick about his freshman year.
But really, it still is early and things will firm up over the summer and into the summer training camp. Best guess right now is that Sunseri has cemented the starter’s role and Myers and Gonzalez will be battling for that 2nd string spot.
The offense was the same play over and over again, the short dinks, the only thing that changes was whether it was to the right , left , or over the middle.
The game should have matched the first string offense against the first team defense. I realize it was short time frame to get a new offense and defense together but it felt like both sides of the ball were being protected or sheltered from their weaknesses.
Frank I don’t want to speak for Reed but it seemed he was making his best, reasoned assumption about the QB depth chart, just like the Trib. I don’t think either were told explicitly by the coaches that Myers will be no.3. It’s just where things stand now: why put a guy who can’t play high on the depth chart?
Again, I am by no means a sports news reporter but a blog contributor. Big difference there, no matter how drunk I am.
But speaking of Sunseri supporters – I took a whiz right next to a Sunseri family member in the press box men’s room. He had to be a Sunseri as he looked exactly like Tino. i really had to refrain from asking the guy questions I want answers to….
What I base my opinions on may be info I glean from other conversations but in the long run it is still speculation on my part and should be taken as such.
It seems that just 18 short months ago, most of the people on this site were just so damned sure that Tino was better than Stull … didn’t anyone learn a lesson there?
lol at men’s room scenario..
Any chance you could brief us on the format for “Summer Camp?” i.e. rough estimate of when it runs and what it will most likely entail.
1) It’s a wet ball which means it’s heavy and thus if you throw the long bomb, it will be underthrown.
2) It’s a wet ball which means it’s slippery and if you grip it too hard you throw a “wounded duck”. Even when it’s a dry ball, it’s slippery because it has that new “slippery sheen” on it.
3) Wind also plays a factor when throwing into it. The more air you put under it when you are throwing it into the wind, the more likely it will be underthrown.
These are just a few reasons why there were not very many long bombs completed in the receivers stride and many were underthrown. PS- I don’t like Tino as a QB, but, I can see why he threw the way that he did. He did good today in my opinion.
He has no ties to anyone here. Whether he wants to win for a couple years, and move on to bigger and better things, or he wants to win here, and his family loves it, and he wants to end up staying here and making Pitt a power, Coach Graham will pick the QB that is going to get him the most wins.
Believe me, I know all about internal pressures, and yada, yada, yada…. this guy is not going too, nor should he, listen to a couple people elbow him and whisper, “hey, that Sunseri kid, ah, ya, ah, his Dad played linebacker here 30 years ago, so, ah, ya, just so you know”!!
Not gonna happen. As a matter of fact, if anyone ever even implied that to him, I’m sure they got a quick kick in the ass, and were told to hit the road before I toss you out.
Bottom line, he wants to win, whoever gives him the best shot, will be at qb come September.
P.S. I was on Sunseri as much as anyone, I thought he had some good throws, and I was on him all year about the deep baloon balls as much as anyone on this blog. Not a Sunseri backer, but he has a full year under his belt and is being coached by new people. Perhaps he has improoved??
When it’s time for fall camp, if someone progresses past Sunseri, he will be the q.b., if not, then Sunseri will be. That simple, IMHO!!
I just wonder if Graham didn’t go with the easiest choice right off the bat thinking that the offensive change was so great he didn’t want to let a head to head competition interfere with the learning process of the incumbent.
And as adamant as I was that this was the wrong approach for an open spot at QB this time last year, I can see it a bit easier this year because of that incumbency status. But I still don’t agree wholeheartedly with it. To me, honest competition is what sports is all about. Of course, Head Coaches who get paid to show concrete results in the W/L column may differ with that thought.
And really, this isn’t a bad choice at all, and most probably is the right one. His QB1 is showing strong signs of assimilating the complex offense, has demonstrated the ability to execute most of the plays and, at this point, looks to be the right choice.
Thanks again for all your hard work. It sounds like Coach Graham has got a lot accomplished in a short time. It also sounds like this team will be anything but boring. I am pleased to hear that Sunseri looked good. The lack of a deep threat won’t hurt as long as he is able to hit the intermediate passes accurately.
I am just guessing but I think the QB will take a lot more punishment in this offense. Sunseri seems like a sturdy guy, but Myers would be wise to stick around.
Like I said, I was a 50/50 guy on Sunseri. I didn’t think he was a “bum” as some posted last year and still do. I thought I saw flashes of “this kid could be real good”, tossed in with the proverbial deep baloon balls that were horrible.
I’m willing to default to the coaches decision, he’s knows a little more than me.
Great job, enjoyed your words!!!
Just as I think it is, in part, this season with Graham also. To me, as a fan, it is a bit like not wanting to deal with the ramifications that may arise if two QBs are really battling it out in head to head in competition… it may just be easier to pick one and go with him.
On the other hand this season is a bit different in that, again IMO, there really was only two QBs who could compete for that starting spot – Sunseri and Myers – if Graham wanted to have any sort of a competent passing game.
That then leads to the question of how Graham wants his QB to function in the offense? If he wants a mobile QB who can actually be called on to rush from scrimmage, not just scramble; then Sunseri is the clear choice.
If Graham can do without that and take the QB on his passing merits only then it would have been much more of a decision to make by the HC and Myers would have had to be right at the top.
My gut tells me that after watching a year of 2010 film on Sunseri then seeing what Myers and Gonzalez have to offer in all the aspects of their games – he opted for the one kid who could be a mixture of both and one where he could install as the QB and not have to modify his offense that much, as he would to a much larger degree for either of the other two. Slicing some deep throws out of the gameplan for Sunseri pales in comparison to the changes he’d have to make for either of the other two IMO.
I guess that I think the bottom line for the HC was that there was so much involved with instituting this new offense he wanted to pick someone early and stick with him.
I don’t necessarily like it though.
Steve, the web site says that Dion is a Day 3 propect. I thought that the draft takes place over two days. What is a Day 3 prospect? An undrafted signing???
Thanks for the post on the spring game and all the coverage of the spring practices. This continues to be premier Pitt blog on the web.
Can’t help but think that under the surface there is more. All the lauding of Tino by Graham in my mind is positive reinforcement. Tino started last year and is one of the team’s leaders. It makes sense to laud him for two reasons: Being a leader others will want to follow him and secondly it pushes Tino to learn the new O and the implementation of it.
That is great but there are still issues to be dealt with. Can Tino run the O when the lights are on so to speak. Will he be able to make the quick reads/decision that need to be made in this offense. Will this new O be hamstrung by Tino’s inability to throw a good deep ball which leads to opposing Ds bringing the D up closer because of it. How will Tino look against live game time conditins.
Also if Gonzo is 2nd string going into the season will he be more efficient/accurate with passing the ball because if Tino is hurt he will have to step in.
All in all still think that Myers will be in the equation come late summer. He has the best arm and the inteligence/intangeblies to learn the intracies of Graham’s O. I for one aint counting him out and as for the Trib piece, it was positive reinforcement Graham style, nothing more, nothing less.
“As of today we will no longer be high octane. Instead we are going Hybrid, the socially accepted thing to do. So we’ll be scrapping the spread (yes, I confess, the spread) for Coach Sutherland’s Single Wing (a bonus: we can play as many as 3 QBs on any down).
You spoke, I listened. Plus gas prices are too damn high.
hail to pitt (sigh)”
Coach Graham
Being a Day 3 pick, however, seems like the player is going to sign for the minimum. Most draftees make the team the first year. It’s the 2nd year where many of the late rounders get axed. I don’t think that either Dion or Henry did themselves favors, but time will tell.
I saw him play last year, and I was underwhelmed most of the time. I think we need a big upgrade in the QB play if we want to get to the elusive BCS Game.
That said it seems clear to me that the other guys just are not that good either. Let’s be real here, DW was not very good at recruiting QB’s. I think there is a real chance that the best option we have is Tino, as sad as that sounds.
I find it very difficult to believe Graham has not given all 3 players the chance to earn the starting spot. Tino may actually just be outperforming the other two to a degree that makes him far and away the best of a bad bunch. We may not know this until later this fall, or even next year – after Graham has had a year to recruit a better suited player.
ME
Aaaaaa……we’ve watched him play. (just kidding) The belief is that a D1 program with Pitt’s reputation should have a better QB on the roster than what we’ve seen so far. Throw in recent history when we had a NFL 1rst round draft on the roster who wasn’t given a fair & square opportunity to compete for the job and transferred out. (yes I’m talking Flacco)
Then last year, the guy with the experience (Bostick) was passed over in favor of the local kid again and again that guy was not given any snaps with the 1rst team offense.
I think we have the right to be very skeptical about the whole process, don’t you ME ?
Dan are you suggesting TG isn’t aware that Sunseri’s father is and has been a football coach for the last 25 years. and is therefor a colleague of TG’s. And he is presently on Nick Sabin’s staff (one of the choice jobs in CF) as his asst. head coach. So Tino has two things going for him right off the bat, the other 2 QB’s do not: 1) His father is in the college coaching fraternity 2) Tino is a Legacy at Pitt
No matter how you cut if, if say Myers was about equal to Tino in playing ability, those two factors listed above would trump that. To say that it wouldn’t indicates to me, that favoritism and nepotism is ok with you. Because it is with a lot of people in America, especially those who benefit from it. Go figure.
Tino might be the best QB on the team, but we’ll never know if Myer’s doesn’t(and he didn’t) get any snaps with the 1rst team, will we?
I doubt very much that is going to happen now, if it was going to happen it would have happened in Spring Practice.
I would have to believe in watching these types of offenses, you have to ‘SPREAD’ the field in order for them to work. If you don’t ‘SPREAD’ the field (meaning can’t stretch it vertically as well as horizontally), these opposing defenses will roll up their secondaries to take away the short to intermediate passes. From what we saw last year, Tino was ok on short & intermediate routes, terrible on long throws and so/so on down & outs. This might be the reason why McGee/TG is saying we’re going to run the ball more out of the spread. But again we’re going to see defenses crowding the line & the receivers if we can’t loosen it up by throwing and completing anything long. Also that means we’re going to have to sustain long drives like last year (which didn’t work so well). No quick strike capability could be a severe problem for a dink & dunk offense.
I am NOT arguing Tino is a good QB – I saw his play last year, he was terrible most of the time
He might be the best OPTION on the current roster. This is my argument!
@melvinbennett
YES, Pitt SHOULD have a better QB, but it does not seem to be true. Please stop with the Flacco comparisons for two reasons: 1) That coaching staff is gone. It’s silly to project their mistakes on to Graham’s staff. 2) Palko was coming off a terrific year, no one, you included, would have accepted Flacco starting over Palko, especially if you consider the OC at the time refused to adjust his game plan. Flacco would have been terrible (just like Palko) and we would have gone ballistic.
Is experience a good thing or a bad thing?? You say Bostick was the most experienced and should have gotten the nod at starter because of it. Yet, Tino has the most experience now. Should he get the nod at starter because of it? I say NO! Also, Bostick is an example of why I say DW could not recruit QB’s. I know he was a 5*, but he was clearly overrated. My proof of that is that he is now writing about, instead of actually playing, football.
You claim that “if say Myers was about equal to Tino in playing ability, those two factors listed above would trump that”
What do you have to support this claim? First, it seems that Graham and his staff do not think the Myers currently is “about equal” to Tino. No one on this board can say that Myers is “about equal” to Tino because we’re not privy to the practices. Speculating is the BEST we can do here.
I just cannot believe that Tino is the starter for some other reason than this: he is our best option right now!!
That COULD change come the fall, but judging from what I read it doesn’t seem probable. Tino could also have a great 2nd year, like Stull did. We’ll have to wait it out.
ME
“I just cannot believe that Tino is the starter for some other reason than this: he is our best option right now!!”
Are you then saying you don’t believe nepotism or favoritism exists in sports today?
He wanted the job
I’m sure he knows who is father is, why should he care that he’s an assistant at Alabama? What does that even mean??? So what, this is supposed to be big time college football. Saban and Sunseri may not even be there in another year. Saban could retire, Sunseri could be head coach at Utah St for all we know. I’m sure he knows lots of coaches that have kids playing ball.
Are you suggesting that Graham will give the nod to Sunseri because his Dad is some assitant at Alabama?? Really, because if that’s the case, we ought to go get a new coach right now. What is this midget ball or high school ball??? Someones Mom said Billy should get more bats???
From what I’ve seen, Coach Graham looks to be a professional, and his main goal is scoring, and winning. If his main goal is to move on to a power team like Alabama, USC, Michigan down the road, I would think, he would serve himself better, by, going with the guy he feels can give him the most wins.
Do you really think he would go with Sunseri this year, and possibly the next year, to go 6-6, 7-5 or 8-4, if he had horses in the stable that could get him going 10-2, 11-1, 12-0 and to several BCS’s bowls in a row???? Really????
Is there nepotism, sure, everywhere, but you don’t give your top sales position, and top engineering positions to your brother n law (at least I don’t), you might find a spot for them in the mailroom, but if Graham is a pro, wants to advance his career, I find it hard to believe, he would give the main cog in his offense, the offense his reputation has been built around, and what his career will be remembered at Pitt for, to a kid, just because his Dad is in the coaching circle and used to play here.
Do you realize how many people are in the “coaching circle”?? What, 120 teams, 14 coaches, that’s 1500 or so right there, just in D1!!! I mean is Graham best friends with the Sunseris??? If he is, then, ya maybe, my apologies, I didn’t know they were so tight!!!
Has anyone ever thought, that Coach Graham knows his offense, his offensive philosophy, looked at Gray and Myers and realized, “wow, these two are least a year away, we’re in trouble if Sunseri goes down”, or, wow, “I gave these guys the playbook two months ago, didn’t they study, or do they not just get it???”
I don’t know why they didn’t get snaps, but, from what I’ve seen and heard with Graham, he is all about scoring the most points he can, and winning the most games he can. If this is the case, he wouldn’t give name-dropping or legacy a second thought!!
In this matter, I will defer the QB choice, to the man that has the most knowledge about the QB posistion, especially the QB position in this type of offense and go with his decision.
p.s. I bashed Sunseri as much as anyone last year, threw crap at the t.v., swore up and down just about every game. I could care less whether he plays a down, or plays the whole season, but until I see different, I’ll go with who the man in charge says is the best qb that we have, for his offense.
That’s not what I said, I went ti Butler High School, nepotism has killed every sport they do!
I don’t believe that nepotism is the deciding factor in Tino being the starter.
Other than the fact that you don’t like Tino – I agree that he’s not very good – what makes you think that nepotism is the reason he’s starting?
What evidence do you have to show me that Myers and/or Gonzalez is “about equal” to Tino?
Again, I’m not saying Tino to a good QB, only that he seems to be the best current option on this roster. I hope Graham goes out and gets the next Marino, has an open competition and he blows Tino away. But for now, neither of the back ups seem to be pushing the starter in any way.
ME
I’m with you 100% with the fact that Graham is best guy to make the decision of who is the best QB on the roster. I’m trying to get others to see that the reason for Tino to start has nothing to do with his last name, how many starts he made last year, favoritism, etc. It’s based simply on how he runs the offense in comparison to how the other QBs run it.
There is no agenda for him not to be playing the QB that will provide the ebst chance for success.
If his goal is to move on to bigger and better things, going 11-1 and going to the Sugar Bowl will have 100x the clout of someone putting a good word in for him.
Anyone who read anything that I wrote on the message boards over the last two years knows that I don’t scream “It’s Tino Time!” like some fans do. However, I also think we have to give some credit where it’s due with this kid. He didn’t stink out the joint no matter what your expectations were, nor did he light the world on fire – he was an average college QB.
So, if your expectations are again too high you’ll probably be disappointed again. I myself expect to see about the completion percentage and around the same numbers given the ratio to increased snaps per game – maybe with a slight across the board increase due to having a year of experience under his belt.
We have already heard Graham go from (and I’ll paraphrase) ‘the QB should put up big numbers‘ in January to ‘he has to be a competent game manager‘ in mid-April. This is because he know really understands what he has to work with at that position. But… Sunseri can be wildly successful as the TEAM’S QB if he fulfills that role as Graham wants him to do. His stats may not be great but the offensive production can certainly be good with that kind of QB. We saw it in 2009 when we averaged over 32 ppg, 21st nationally, with Bill Stull at the helm… and that was with the lumbering Wannstedt approach to offense.
That said and that alone does not mean Sunseri isn’t the best choice for PITT for the 2011 season when compared to the other two candidates. It is pretty obvious that Graham has made his choice as to the starter. We pretty much have to accept that – and ratchet our expectations accordingly. What concerns me know is that Graham will not do what Wannstedt did and play his choice every snap of the season regardless of how poorly the QB is playing.
There were obviously some times where Sunseri should have been sat down last year, if for nothing else to be reminded that he wasn’t the only QB on the roster.
I would like to think TG would make the decision based on who is the best player too. Isn’t that how the world is supposed to work?
And in a Utopian World it is. In reality, experience how shown us (at least me) that this isn’t the case in a lot of situations.
@ME
“That’s not what I said, I went to Butler High School, nepotism has killed every sport they do!”
Thanks for admitting this stuff goes on. I mean some on here obviously don’t think so.
Hail to Pitt
I’m sorry if my tone is reading like I’m attacking you, that is not my intent at all. I just want to talk a little about the QB position. You have respectfully responded to my posts and I have tried to give you a counterpoint for each point you make. Not trying to be combative, just letting you know how I think differently about this situation than you do.
@Reed
With all respect, even if you and I could agree on a definition of a “good” college QB, it might be very different from coach Graham’s definition. His definition is the one that counts.
I hope Todd Graham makes his best choice for the team. I have no reason to think he wouldn’t on purpose.
Can we please stop writing that Myers IS transferring? He MIGHT. So might a lot of players. Some have written this a lot and I even saw one poster wrote that he saw someone write this on this board and cited that and that they wouldn’t write such a thing without a source. Well, what is your source? If you have none but merely speculation, then don’t write it. Or, write that it is speculation.
This is a great blog. Informative, interesting and entertaining. Let’s keep it that way.
I may need to bring back the “Who is the Author?” quiz to get our minds on something else.
We’ll have time to revisit this later guys.
Graham is going to pick the guy who he thinks gives us the best chance to win. END OF STORY.
Thanks for all your work on spring football. You have done a great job of keeping us informed & entertained!