Kids today. Harumph. Get off my lawn!. Always in a hurry.

“I am ready to get the ball in my hands and have smoke behind me,” [Corey Davis] said. “When I turn on my jets, it’s just about over with for anybody who is chasing me.

“But I am very humble to say that.”

Pitt’s Malcolm Crockett, another freshman back competing for playing time behind Ray Graham and Zach Brown, speaks with equal conviction.

If Crockett is forced to take a redshirt this season, coaches might as well ask him to wear a straitjacket. Coach Todd Graham wants to strain and train his players, but Crockett has no intention of allowing anyone to restrain him.

“When I came here, I had a mindset not to redshirt,” he said. “My mindset was to learn quick, don’t play like a freshman, play like I have been here for a couple years.”

Both will likely see action. The article already indicates that Davis is competing for kick return duties.

(more…)

The Trib’s Dean Kovacevic pretty much nails it down with regards to Tino Sunseri in 2010 and the overall “meh” feeling most fans had towards him.

Yes, he threw for 2,572 yards, with a 64.5 completion percentage and 16 touchdowns, respectable figures all. But … well, there was something missing, and it wasn’t easily quantifiable.

He just didn’t look like a big-time Division I quarterback.

I saw a 6-foot-2 kid playing much smaller, getting dragged down by one-handed grasps. I saw a passing form little different than when he was at Central Catholic, resulting in a lot of wobbly flicks. And in the one that maybe sticks the most in the craw, I saw a blue-chip receiver in Jon Baldwin go underutilized without the deep ball.

You can talk about the perception/belief that he was not a leader at the position that demands it. That he behaved arrogantly and petulantly towards the coaches. That it was fostered by being handed the starting position last spring without any competition — other than what was claimed by the coaches.

The article itself is a positive one on Sunseri. It is encouraging, and I am hoping it isn’t just an optimistic preseason puff piece. He just played smaller. Like the games, the moments were too big for him. That’s part of the perception that Sunseri will have to overcome this year. Well, that’s not true. Fans will have to overcome that perception.

Sunseri is in a different offense. He has different coaches, and seems to have responded well to them, what they are teaching, and the system itself. By all accounts his confidence is much higher and his game looks a lot better. We will all start getting answers in 8 days.