I guess on the bright side, it isn’t like last year when FraudGraham had practices almost entirely closed, and there was little to go on with the spring practices. It’s also better than Louisville where Charlie Strong has closed most of the practices. Or even Syracuse where Doug Marrone has kept all the practices closed — resulting in simply having to make up stuff.
Still with practices having more time between them up until the final practice — the Blue & Gold Game — not to mention giving the kids the Easter weekend off; there just hasn’t been a lot of news.
There should be some tomorrow. Today is Practice 13 — only 2 left.
In the mean time, there are a few stories to review.
The injuries and attempts to swallow a bag of marijuana, have reduced the depth of the linebacking corps this spring. The good news is that depth will improve in the fall once people are healthy. Ejuan Price and Todd Thomas are both out with injuries, but will be ready in the fall. In the meantime, Dan Mason continues to astound and the others are either going to take advantage of the opportunity or recede come the fall.
The starting unit during the spring has been redshirt junior Dan Mason at middle linebacker, with redshirt junior Shane Gordon and redshirt sophomore Eric Williams on the outside.
Pitt has switched from a 3-4 alignment to a 4-3, so the responsibilities of the linebackers have changed, although Mason noted that “playing linebacker is playing linebacker no matter what the system is.”
Gordon (6 feet, 1 inch) is the wild card in the bunch. He has been on the brink of breaking out as a star but has never quite been consistent enough to become a full-time starter. He is athletic and fast and has shown the ability to make big hits but has struggled in pass coverage. The new defense seems to be better suited to his talents.
Williams, who is 6-3, is more slender but, like Gordon, has athleticism and has been working at developing consistency.
“The thing I like about Shane Gordon is he wants to be good, he is a hard worker and I think he has a chance to be a very good player,” Huxtable said.
“Eric Williams is kind of a taller guy who is raw but does have some ability. Again, we’re really just trying to find out what we have and what we’re capable of, but I like [the way] these guys approach things.”
Thomas is likely penciled in to be a starter on the outside when he comes back. Price is slated to compete/rotate with Mason at Middle Linebacker. That leaves one other outside spot. The competition between Gordan and Williams appears to be primarily on consistency. The wildcard in the fall will be freshman Deaysean Rippy. He is an outside linebacker, so he could very well compete for a starting spot right away.
As iffy as the linebacking as a unit has been in the past few years, the unit could be a surprising strenght as early as this fall. Definitely in 2013.
Now over to the other side of the ball.
As easy and as common as it is to blast Sunseri, no one really has forgotten how little help has come from the receivers in the last few years. Despite plenty of physical talent and seeming depth, their actual production and impact has been very muted.
That’s the way it [competition] should be according to receivers coach Bobby Engram, who starred at Penn State and played a number of years in the NFL.
“The No. 1 goal this spring has been for everyone to improve and really learn the offense,” he said. “The older guys, the ones who have been here, they have to know that more is required of them from our standpoint, though Mike is different as I am encouraging him to get mental reps and go through drills.
“And it is encouraging to see that Devin wants to be a consistent playmaker, a guy we can throw the ball to and a go-to guy. I want to continue to raise the level of play of all of them, and this, being our first spring, is a great opportunity for them to establish themselves.”
Engram said he believes Street is the type of player who will take the pressure off the other receivers.
“Devin has the skill set to be a go-to guy, but I am looking for the mental and physical,” Engram said. “So it is, ‘What is his mentality, is he willing to do the extra work, do you want the ball?’ It is all earned around here, you have to earn it every day by the way you perform, and these guys are working hard to earn their spots.”
Saddler, who had three touchdown receptions in a red-zone drill to end practice Tuesday, has caught Engram’s eye with his energy, but there are a lot of inexperienced players such as Ed Tinker, Brandon Ifill, Salath Williams, Ronald Jones, Kevin Weatherspoon and Brendon Felder, who are getting noticed.
“We’ve got a lot of younger guys and guys who haven’t played much, so that is part of my challenge — getting them ready to play,” Engram said. “The good thing is we have some guys with talent and I think we have some very good parts so that’s always a good start.”
I look at the names. You see the potential with these guys. Especially based on their physical attributes, but I have no idea whether they are going to make a real impact.
Devin Street is a great example. Physically, he looks like a pro WR. Long, lean. Not explosive fast, but a strider who is deceptively swift. But… all of last year if the defender was with him, he was not someone who would fight for the reception. Salath Williams and Ed Tinker have yet to be on the field for any significance. Cam Saddler has battled injuries most of his career.
And of course, any discussion of the receivers brings us to the position that has to get them the ball, and the player who polarizes debate on the blog. The debate being primarily: Is Tino Sunseri just not very good, or is he the worst ever?
Sunseri got a puff-piece about being able to handle all the criticism he has received. And Sunseri should get some credit for never biting on the FraudGraham stuff. But they got his father to do it for him.
“With (Paul) Chryst coming in, he is extremely excited,” said Sal, the defensive coordinator at the University of Tennessee. “He has answers where there weren’t answers last year. He is having fun right now. I am finally glad to see the young man smile.”
Sal Sunseri has been involved in football most of his life, including seven seasons as defensive line coach of the Carolina Panthers and the past three as assistant head coach/linebackers at national champion Alabama.
He watched last year when former Pitt coach Todd Graham installed a speed-based spread offense that Tino, the quarterback, had trouble running.
“What they were doing wasn’t sound,” Sal said, speaking from the perspective of a defensive coach. “Those types of players (for a spread) aren’t there.”
Asked if Graham was trying to pound a round peg into a square hole, Sal said, “Big-time. It was unbelievable.”
At the same time, as much as Sunseri has avoided complaining, Sunseri has shown plenty of petulance and immaturity in other ways. From the interactions on the sidelines with teammates and coaches when things aren’t going well. To getting too high and boastful after good performances.
The difference, generally, has been when Sunseri has time to control his emotions. Right after games, during the games. When the emotions and adrenalin are flying. That’s when the other side comes through.
And yes, I’m aware many of you are already making a connection between Sunseri in practice (controlled environment) versus Sunseri in a game (emotion and adrenalin).
‘Yah whatever’. Let the whole season be a training session.
Look at it this way, how many of his teammates have talked him up the last 3 years? Don’t bother because they know his limitations first hand.
I agree that this team is all about Chryst and staff. I have a hunch they will make the recent coaching regimes pale in significance…
The bad news is Tino tried his hand in the egg toss as well and was soundly beat out by his two nephews, being unable to throw anything over 20 yards and with accuracy also being an issue.
Quoted later, Tino expressed frustration because early in the day when practicing he stated that he was right on target spinning eggs out there to 40 yards with ease. Who could have guessed??
i am with those who have a good feeling about the staff. i dont know if any of you heard the radio interview with barry alvarez when chryst was hired on the fan, he said the biggest attribute was chryst’s attention to detail in all 3 phases of the game is second to done. this team, no matter who is the quarterback, will execute and will be disciplined. some positions, ie quarterback, just dont have the talent level as others. and ive been thinking about voytik and chryst and playing time and so on—- chryst is no dummy. he knows how big of a jump it is in competition from the big east to the acc and he knows that you cant enter a conference with a completely green quarterback. that does not mean that chryst will start him and play him all game every game, but i have no doubt that chryst will get voytik some invaluable pt. you can say tino has experience, but theres a difference between having experience and learning from it
Either way, give the kid a chance. You know that you have not and you know that you never will. However, I still hold out hope that you do…
He did not have a lot of help and it sounds like Graham’s system is more akin to a high-level form of backyard ball. Nevertheless, the track record is the track record and any excitement about the prospect of seeing him starting under center in early September is just not possible for most fans, even if he is the best option.
Take a look back at the blogs and see how they barely mentioned when Tino did have one of his few good games.
I know the kid and I can say this, he has handled himself better amidst this criticism, that has often bordered on hatred, better than most of the people that criticize him would handle the same treatment.
Thanks again for your thoughtful response.
@TX, lol, maybe it was Tino! Better check his Twitter feed for incriminating evidence.
Don’t count this kid out.
I really don’t want to hear how Tino gives us the best chance to win. Get him his degree, thank him for putting up with all the bs and move on. Please.
Ah, enough about Tino, but I need someone to refresh my memory. In 2010 Pitt came within a Ray Graham fumble in the UConn game of winning the BE and going to a BCS Bowl. I remember that the QB had some pretty good statistics that year, but I can’t remember his name. Someone help me out.
I’ve said this before….but if Tino does have a good year, where he doesn’t miss as many passes that are gimmes and maybe connects once in a while on the deep ball, that’s all this team needs. We all know Pitt isn’t that far off. Sure up the linebackers, the o-line and Tino and this team can go somewhere for sure. Remember, last year’s team lost 4 games by a total of 11 points. That doesn’t mean Pitt should have won them all, but it does mean Pitt was in every game regardless of how poorly some of the players played.
Reed told me on one of my earlier more pessimistic posts that some people think this team can go 11-2. II am starting to believe that would happen if everything goes right for us and with a little bit of luck.
We are very lucky to have Chryst and company as our coaches.
Tino’s stats for that game? 20 of 28 for 220 yards. 1 TD. 2 INT
Not exactly impressive.
It’s been pointed on this blog numerous times: he had two good games that season. Syracuse and Rutgers. Much of his success came from Baldwin winning jump balls. And he regressed as the season went on.
you all know when the real games start tino panics
if he get it togther this year i will say i was wrong but he will need to show me i have very little faith in him at this point.
Game DBs react differently from the ones you practice against each week. Guessing the receiver routes who are reacting to a new game time set of DBs in back of an ailing O-line only made matters worse for Tino. Certainly I understand this forum is one where we all can state what we want, but let’s just remember what has been written about the transformation of this year’s line during the spring. I recall reading how some now on the line shouldn’t be playing. I really believe we have a solid HC with solid ACs in place for the first time in ages. Let’s see what they can accomplish.
Hail to Pitt!
Regarding Tino.. his biggest problem is that he’s not an improviser.
When he’s running a play he’s one-track minded… meaning his total focus is on the primary thing at hand.
This is the main cause for both his interceptions and sacks.
When Tino locks on to a receiver downfield, he’s oblivious to everything else going on around him. This includes 230 lb linebackers bearing down on him for a sack (see Maine).
However, his ego and one-track mindedness aside… Tino is resilient and steadfast… traits that will pay dividends long after football is over.
Until then he will fail to be the gamer that we dearly need at the QB position.
I have to wonder: why Chryst & Company, with a whole year to work, can’t get a QB ready to play with better skills than Tino the Magnificent? Not exactly a ringing endorsement.
Because you or I could get Russell Wilson ready at Wiscy, he already had a full toolbag. All the OC had to do was call plays that used those tools.
It’ll be verrrry interesting to see what Chryst can do with calling plays for a guy (our incumbent) with no toolbag and no arm and no football IQ and no game? Why can’t he get a guy ready with at least the tools & arm (Myers) or the brain (Anderson)?
But if not, then what are we paying him for? And if not, then I personally judge Chryst’s first year a failure. You or I could name the incumbent (Cirq du Sunseri) and start looking for hotels in Birmingham, and save Pitt $2M.
Jim Ferry .
Now if 2 full years at the starting QB position is NOT giving the Kid (and since when is a man aged 21 to 23 a “kid”?) then I guess I don’t understand the meaning of what “a chance” is.
BTW, can you please explain to me why in the world Tino is not just walking away with the starting QB position in Spring ball considering his vast experience over any of the other contentors for the position?
And, BTW if you’re going to associate your blog name with PG and then go and firmly stand by Sunseri’s 2 year starting record, then please show me one victory that even comes remotely close Pete’s victory over Miami when he was Pitt’s starting QB??? Don’t waste your time thinking too long because there are NONE.
Sunseri has had more than his share of opportunities to rise to the top and IMO has been cut a lot of slack up to this point in his career. You want to support a Pitt QB that got a raw deal then review Bill Stull’s Pitt career, he got the shaft from the fans for sure, way too early in his career. And in his last year, he rose above it all to produce a pretty good season for both himself and for the team.
So do everybody a favor and get off your soapbox. Football is a competitive sport and up to this point Sunseri has shown only that he can’t compete. (excluding the USF game last year where he actually had a great game). Right now he is the best we got and because of that we all want him to be successful. And if he is our starting QB come September I’ll be the 1st to cheer for every pass that he completes although I’ll continue to hold my head in my hands for every unnecessary sack that he takes, under thrown ball that he throws and every scramble that ends up right in the arms of the nearest defender he runs to.
I just hope that his starting game #27, that I’m doing more cheering than head holding, it would be a nice change from the last two years of my following of Pitt Football.
But if anyone can do it… it’s Chryst.
FYI, Wilson was the first really skilled QB Chryst had to work with in Madison… and I think he did OK in his stint as OC.
I’m on the record saying that going into September… it’ll be Myers No. 1 and Anderson No. 2.
One thing you’ll find about Chryst… he doesn’t play favorites.
If he was okay to decent, I’d say play him, let’s go out on top. But he isn’t, thus we won’t.
Don’t forget, this guy very nearly lost to Maine and Buffalo… at home! And who can for get the abortions of performances games against UConn & WVU (and Utah and Notre Dame and Miami…) in 2010, playing in the exact same pro-style Pitt will use this year (except with far worse WRs this year…).
So why not start looking for [whomever] will be the next guy(s) now, break him in while playing easily the weakest schedule since I began following the program in 1973 to ease him in?
It’s a whole lot better breaking in a rookie QB while playing against Gardner-Webb and Youngstown and Temple than playing against Fla State and Clemson and The U.
And sez here that even Myers or Voytik or Anderson can get us to Birmingham with that schedule.
Mr. Sunseri tried to push blame on Fraud and to be candid, that wasn’t the problem. It doesn’t matter if you are a qb under Paul Chryst, Todd Graham, Dave Wannstedt or Johnny Majors. When the rules of the game say you can throw the ball away when you are out of the pocket and on your way out of bounds, you throw the ball into the first set of bleachers. You do not take a seven yard loss and sack by just running out of bounds. I don’t care what system you are in. You either get it or you don’t. Tino doesn’t get it.
If Paul Chryst watches tapes of our team the last two years, he will see Tino getting hit and on the ground and an offensive line that didn’t help him up! That speaks volumes of the lack of respect the players have for the starting qb. Coach Chryst should not under estimate this and I am confident he won’t. Finally, the most recent telling of Tino’s lack of understanding came in the practice clip this spring when CC explained to Tino that if he took a deeper roll out, he would have more time to make a pass completion. Tino should not need to be coached on that at this stage.
Interesting tidbit. Coach Wannstedt was just mentioned on ESPN as a possible replacement for Petrino in Arkansas because of his relationship with Jeff Long and Jimmy Johnson. Interesting.
DAVE “The Freaking Stache” Wannstedt
16 TD’s, 11int.
3,078yds
Pinstripe Bowl MVP. ugh.
i say go with voytik or anderson get ready for the ACC
i love the stache dave is a good man just dont want him coaching our team
pk you got it let our future QB get his feet wet now so he is ready for the ACC.
Chryst plays to the strengths of his team we are told: then most of our QBs fit the undersized slightly mobile category and not the strapping but slow releasing mold of Myers.
Sunseri and Anderson will play significantly and I see the kid from TN taking a redshirt. Myers plays only in the event of injury.
As for Tino, he has a touch of false bravado…it doesn’t fool anyone any more. He is best served to take it one play at a time and stop trying to do too much.
Besides, Mason is the leader of this team.
As for LB’s, wasn’t Nicholas Grigsby a supposed stud coming out of high school? Any mention of him anywhere?
I don’t have any info to suggest he has the maturity to lead an offense. But it’s obvious he’s got the physical talent if the desire is really there.
On the other hand… Anderson (my pick for No.2 goint into the season)while lacking height… has enough arm and moxie to run a Chryst offense.
And I do know he’s shown the ability to pick up and execute what Chryst is teaching.
The real wild card come fall has got to be Voytik.
But I sugggest caution to those ready to buy into having Voytik be Pitt’s future.
He’s from a “Double A” level school in Tennessee and had an abismal senior year at best. Add to that his less than impressive performances in the nationally televised game on ESPN and in the High School All American game.
A good athlete… yes… Pitt’s future at QB… seriously doubt it.
But again he’ll have Chryst as his coach and that has got to make a difference.
But you get the point.
Zeigler jones now sam cassell we dont have room less we run more people off team and if goodmen comes than we have to run off 2 or 3 players plus i thought we needed another PG BUT 3 SG EXPLAIN PLEASE.
I LIKE THE PLAYERS but 6 SG on team is alot.
You must have watched a different game than I did.
Voytik’s receivers were not the best and did drop a couple, but he himself did not look anything like a top rated quarterback.
The kid for the other team played better.
In fact the junior who came in for Voytik when he was pulled in the second half played better… and strangley enough started completing passes to the same receivrs who apparently had no hands in the first half.
Rumor at Cleveland High is that the junior is better than Voytik.
As for the All-American game, what exactly did you see from his passing game that you liked?
Voytik’s higlight was his leap into the endzone… I did say he his a good athlete.
But he has some glaring weaknesses as a quarterback… his strong arm aside.
He runs well but only when running. Otherwise he moves poorly when it comes to buying time to pass.
He also showed a tendency to shy away when throwing a pass in the face of a rush rather than stepping up with a commanding presence.
As for his “strong” performance at the Elite 11… I think that was in shorts. Tino Sunseri is great in shorts.
It is possible that Voytik will become a good starting quarterback at Pitt. With Chryst’s tutelage he’ll have his chance to show it.
But let’s not fool ourselves into thinking the next Dan Marino has just been signed.
if ZEIGLER OR JONES are comeing to pitt they
should sign there LOI today yes or no and if
they both sign we have to have another player
leave yes or no
do any of you know some info please
It is disappointing as hell to watch Mark Myers basically fail when this new Chryst offense should have been his bread and butter. No wonder why PITT fans are upset with Sunseri, the two great hopes at recruited QB, Bostick and Myers, failed to beat out an average at best Sunseri for starting jobs, or in Bostick’s case wasn’t even allowed to compete.
So, yeah, Sunseri gets the brunt of the criticism regardless. But let’s be honest about this also. Sunseri deserves the criticism he gets from the rational posters. We can’t deny he makes poor choices out there and we can’t deny that he freezes and hold the ball in crucial situations. No QB takes 62 sacks in one season without a having to shoulder a large part of the blame.
Worst of all, he panics and does these things in critical and crucial situations. I can’t remember one game where you can point to and say “Sunseri ‘won that game with his play” but there are at least four games where the opposite is true and he takes us out of contention to have a chance at winning.
Forget about the fact that he’s completely lacked a main component of QB play is not being able to throw a deep pass completion. He had maybe one or two – I think just one – of those last season.
All that said there is certainly a possibility that Sunseri can turn things around and be a productive QB this season. Perhaps he’s starting to do that now with his play in spring practices. I’m actually one of the more optimistic PITT fans regarding that possibility.
But you just can’t talk about our QB situation going into 2012 without being brutally honest about what Sunseri has done, or not done, out on the field over the last two years.
As some of you wrote above very well, there’s room for doubts about all of them. Voytik didn’t exactly impress the masses in that game on ESPN-U against a weak AA team.
So what if he’s NOT the guy? That means we still need THE GUY, that he’s not on the current roster.
Better to find that out NOW! Because we cannot go into the ACC with, not only an unproven guy, but with a guy who simply lacks the tools to ever be anything approaching a “franchise QB.”
That’s what we have now in anti-Tebow Sunseri. Bad as it — and he — has been in the Big East, I shudder to think of Pitt’s record playing in the ACC with another similar guy.
As far as I can tell, the only guy on the roster with both the size and arm to thrive in a pro-style system is Myers. The big questions for him are from the neck up. Maybe he never gets it.
If the other two simply don’t have the intangibles to ovecome their small size (both Voytik and Anderson), better to get a sense of that in 2012, while we still have time to address it.
As for me being on a soap box, aren’t we all – including yourself?
Lastly, how many people are going to the Blue/Gold game on Saturday. I’m going with my kids and grandson.
You should write a book.
But then you talk about how Myers will be the starter. Come on now. What were Myer’s stats in a HS All-Star game? Oh wait he didn’t play. Myers is all measurables and no real performance. With the coaching change, Myers had a great shot to win the starting spot. But he hasn’t competed to win the starting spot and he’s sitting behind Trey Anderson a walk on who a lot of people on here said didn’t deserve to be at Pitt at all. It’s more than just having it from the head up. Myers is also really inexperienced as a QB. He only started one season in HS. Myers will be behind Voytik, Anderson and Sunseri on the depth chart come the start of the season.
Good points about Myers… Not so good about Voytik.
Voytik was pulled during the regular season game televised on ESPN.
If you watched it, you saw his backup come in and immediately start completing passes and moving the team.
My “snap judgements” are based on two games in which Voytik failed to impress me and many others.
Some rushed to his defense after the ESPN game blaming it on the receivers.
Doubt you can do that in the All-American game where Voytik threw some horrible passes.
I don’t have it out for Voytik. I wish he was the second coming of Dan Marino or Drew Brees.
We’ll see.
As for Myers… my pick for him starting going into the season is based, maybe wrongly, on what he brings to the table in terms of size, better than expected athleticism… and his reported ability to throw the deep ball.
Yes he has yet to show the other stuff.
My choice of Myers is also based on all the critiques above on Sunseri which accurately forecast we can likely expect in tight games if he ends up being the guy.
But, hey, what better story than for Sunseri to go out a winner after everything he had to deal with last year from Graham.
The truth is… I believe Anderson is the best gamer of the bunch with a stronger arm and more athletism than Sunseri… and a proven winner at the highest level of Texas HS football which I understand to be pretty good.
I also understand he’s come a long way from being thrust into chaos last year as a freshman.
No doubt, Chryst will figure out who gives him the best chance of winning.
You have a valid point mentioning that we’re all on or own soap box. I’ll give you that one. Just that some people’s are bigger than others. As a matter of fact now, after thinking about it, size does matter and all of a sudden, now I’m kind of hoping that mine is bigger than yours, for some odd reason.
No hard feelings Ghost, you’re entitled to your opinion, popular or not. For the benefit all Panther Faithful, I hope that Tino makes liars out of all of us who have shone a bright light on his QB shortcomings up to this point in his career by having a great Senior season, bringing home a BE Championship and a BCS win. I’d be the first one offering to carry him off the field on my shoulders if he pulls it off. Hail to Pitt.
“He is an outstanding dual-threat quarterback that has a strong and accurate arm. He’s also very quick and can do a lot of damage running the football. Sunseri is a very poised QB, he can take a team on his back and lead them to greatness. He is a tremendous leader. He is very accurate and can thread the needle. His lack of ideal size causes people to relax until they see his arm strength and it is a lot better than most think.”
Rivals had Sunseri as the 24th best QB of that HS class. The only thing that matters with these kids is how they look once they get to college and start practicing with the actual team.
Who knows maybe this is the year that Tino unwraps his superior arm streangth and carries the team on his back to greatness.
Again I will ask, how many of us will be there on Saturday?
Nothing illustrates this better than his first start at Utah where he could be heard yelling to the sidelines “Put the game on my back.” They did and he threw an interception in overtime.
His playing to the crowd after his touchdown run against USF last year is another example.
However, regarding Chryst and the lack of news. I put that on the backs of reporters who obviously don’t have the time or don’t care to pursue stories demanding a little enterprising.
That said, the big story this Spring, in my opinion… Chryst himself.
The impact he’s making with his players, WPIAL coaches, and players’ parents with Sal Sunseri being just one.
The guy seems to be changing the whole culture of Pitt Football for the better.
I dare to say it will show with wins in the Fall.