The Spring Game scrimmage is right around the corner and is being played on Saturday afternoon at North Hills High School’s Martorelli’s Stadium.  There are a lot of questions unanswered, some questions answered they way we don’t necessarily want them to be and a lot of concern about our 2012 season under a new coaching staff.

  After attending a practice, reading everything I can get my hands on, watching all the interviews and having some conversations with people in the program,  here are the questions that I’m most looking forward to seeing answered out on the field Saturday.

  Can Sunseri carry practice success onto the field against competition?  We all know by now that Tino Sunseri is going to be the starting QB on Sept. 1^st unless something drastic happens.  Mark Myers didn’t rise to the challenge and Trey Anderson, while a good passer, isn’t going to overtake our incumbent QB starter.  I want to see if what we are seeing and hearing about Sunseri’s calm demeanor and accurate deep throws in practice can translate into completions at game speed.

  What will Mark Myers do when the spotlight is turned on for more than a play or two?  If Sunseri has a rep of being a practice star then can’t the opposite happen and someone who has struggled in practice play well when there is less thinking and more doing?  Myers has struggled with the short/intermediate passing game.  I watched this happen in practice and I’ll be watching Saturday to see if that is still an albatross around his neck.  If it isn’t then new life may be breathed into the competition for the fall.

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Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long sits alone in his office. It is the morning after firing football coach Bobby Petrino. He is still physically and mentally exhausted from the events. He is reviewing some paperwork.

The phone beeps.

: Yes?

Secretary: Sir, you have a phone call on Line 3.

(wearily): Carol, I said I did not want to talk to any boosters or reporters right now. I just need some quiet and the soothing peace of low-grade administrative paperwork.

Carol: I know sir, but it is Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione… your friend and old boss… And…

: It’s okay, Carol. Yeah, I’ll talk to Joe.

[Pushes a button on the phone.] Joe, good to hear from you…

Voice on the phone: Jeffy, finally! It’s not easy to get to you. That secretary of yours is a tough one to crack. She may have to go as we make the changes for Arkansas!

: Um, you aren’t Joe. Who is this?

: Todd Graham, your next football coach, the Good Lord willing! Oh, sorry about the trickeration there, Jeffy. It just took a some doing to get to speak to you.

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This is just too good not to post.

Those dementedly brilliant Taiwanese animations of news events now includes the Arkansas-Bobby Petrino scandal and firing.

Enjoy.

Savon Goodman has a week to make a decision about Pitt. I’d put it at about 55-45 that he picks Pitt over the others based on what tidbits I’ve noted. The issue of eligibility is completely unknown to me — so don’t rule out prep school and Pitt taking a run at him in 2013. Goodman and his family are not saying much, and he has been out of the news as most of the late recruiting news is all about speculating on where Nerlens Noel and Shabazz Muhammad choose to be one-and-dones.

Meanwhile, it may be that Coach Dixon is more determined than we realized to add a power forward to this class. Last week or so Sheldon Jeter, the senior forward from Beaver Falls, made some tweets indicating that Pitt was trying to contact him again. He dismissed Pitt as being too late. It wasn’t a big deal. Yeah, he’s “local” but he’s a mid-range prospect with some upside. And I don’t begrudge him being tired of Pitt apparently playing coy with him: showing some interest then backing off. If we, as fans, get tired of high-level recruits playing games; how do you think mid-level recruits feel about major programs appearing to do the same.

And yet…

6-5 Sheldon Jeter of Beaver Falls, PA could have a decision by early next week his father said Tuesday. Jeter will visit either Vanderbilt or Pittsburgh this weekend his father said. And on Sunday, he will have an in home visit with Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan. Jeter met last Thursday with USC coach Frank Martin while Pitt’s Jamie Dixon was in last Saturday.

So there’s that.

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