One FINAL Spring Wrap-Up

Okay, so I saw some new spring football stuff out there and wanted to throw it in. After all, unless there are any big stories over the spring/summer, there won't be much football talk until the fall.

Paul Zeise of the PG talks about filling holes, including the one left by Adam Gunn:

A player who came into his own this spring is sophomore middle linebacker Dan Mason, who won the starting job early in drills and has not looked back.

Mason, a Penn Hills graduate, played some last season but his inexperience was evident. He struggled making the right defensive calls and at times was out of position on the field.

But he said last season's game experience, combined with the fact that he took nearly every snap with the first-team defense this spring, he will be ready to play at a high level.

"I learned a lot this spring," Mason said. "I really learned the calls this spring and we will add some in the fall. But just learning all of the basic calls and getting a chance to play in a lot of situations is really something I needed to do.

"I got the opportunity to do a lot of different things and play a lot so I feel like when the season starts I'll be ready to go."

I'm really looking forward to see Mason in there full time. He showed some glimpses last year and I expect him to have a big year.

And speaking of Mason, it's a little hard to determine just what he meant by this quote:

“It was a good conclusion for the spring camp, as far as the defense was concerned,” Pitt sophomore middle linebacker Dan Mason said. “The scoreboard tells the truth on things like that, so I really don’t have to say anything.

Meanwhile, the Trib provides another breakdown of the Blue-Gold game that I didn't mention yesterday.

What's that you say? More Blue-Gold breakdowns? Brian Bennett of ESPN.com has another one. Frankly, I'm a little surprised Brian took the bait on the whole Pitt offense struggling thing:

One thing about springs games is, you don't really want one side of the ball to dominate. Because then you worry more about the side that got pushed around than you praise the side that controlled the action.

That was the case Saturday at Pitt, where the defense won 62-24 in a modified scoring system. The offense scored only one touchdown, a 9-yard run by quarterback Tino Sunseri. Dion Lewis had a 52-yard run, but he totaled just 74 yards on five carries. As a team, the Panthers managed just 119 yards on 38 carries.

Pitt's players said they kept things very basic because the game was broadcast on the NFL Network and they didn't want to give opponents a lot of scouting material. Still, the lack of a strong running game raises questions about the offensive line, which needs to find answers at center and right guard before the season begins.

Brian acknowledges that Dion Lewis only had five carries, but then notes how badly the running game struggled. Well, Dion's the starter, and he looked fantastic. True, it would have been nice to see a little more from Ray Graham who figures to get some carries, but the bulk of the work will go to Lewis - and he looked very good. So, no, I'm not buying that the running game is taking a hit due to the offensive line just yet. If Dion had struggled, that would be one thing. And even then, it's still Spring and the offensive line is going to take some time to get going. I imagine they'll improve at least a little by the fall.

Pitt attendance wasn't so hot, but all of the Big East teams struggled with that same issue this weekend. Bennett hit this one straight on. You can make an argument for the Big East if you talk about them having better teams than the ACC. But when you look at some of those attendances from schools such as NC State, North Carolina, Clemson, and Florida State, you see that most of the Big East really pales in comparison in terms of interest. Yes, the weather wasn't great. But I've been at Blue-Gold games in good weather and the attendance wasn't so hot then. Yes, Pittsburgh is a town with three pro sports teams. But none of them were playing at the time. Bottom line is that the reason the Big East gets little respect is because it has a long way to go to catch the other conferences in terms of fan bases and prestige.

The main page on Pitt's home page (off to the right) has some video highlights of the game and the recap page also includes some post-game interviews.

Also, Chas of Pitt Blather was on the sideline at the game and took some photos.

Finally, Greg Cross and Antwuan Reed received the Ed Conway Award, signifying the most improved player during the Spring.

Spring Wrap-Up

So Spring ball has now concluded and it's a good time for a few last thoughts.

The question about the starting QB position appears to be answered. Even though I havne't seen an official announcement, here's what we know:

- Tino Sunseri took a greater number of the first-team reps in practice.

- Sunseri played much better in the Blue-Gold game.

- Comments by the coaching staff seem to slightly favor Sunseri.

As I alluded to yesterday, Wannstedt seemed like Tino was his favorite and in comments about Bostick, there was a lot of talk about, and I'm paraphrasing here, not to leave Bostick out of the discussion. I think it's a done deal. And I give Wannstedt credit for putting himself in position to do what he said he wanted to do - name a starting QB by the end of the Spring. He hasn't done that yet, but it appears he's in a position to do that. The advantage is that Tino can take the bulk of the snaps in the Fall and give himself time to get in sync with teammates. And if he really struggles early on, there's nothing that says he can't go back to opening it up (though I think once Tino is named, he'd really need to struggle for Wannstedt to do that).

Looking back at the Spring game, the easy observation is the whole caveman "Offense good. Defense bad" theory. But you've a few reasons that contributed to the defense's domination:

1. The offense was likely watered down due to the game being televised nationally:

"I don't think there was much concern about [scoring only one touchdown]," said quarterback Tino Sunseri, who completed 9 of 17 passes for 82 yards. He scored the lone touchdown on a 9-yard run on a bootleg.

"We wanted to keep it very simple because [the game] was on the NFL Network and things of that nature, and we wanted to establish the ground game and get certain guys touches and we wanted to spread the ball around and we did a good job of that.

"It was very vanilla by design. We wanted to come out here and just do some things that were very basic in our offense."

2. The offense's two stars, Dion Lewis and Jonathan Baldwin didn't play a whole lot. Lewis did nothing to make fans think he won't have a strong season with that long run yesterday.

3. The wind didn't help.

Plus, I think defenses tend to do a little better in these types of games. It's early in the season and the offense is working with a new quarterback and many new players on the O-Line. It will take some time to grow, but I'm not concerned at this point.

Moving on from the final game, it looks like Greg Cross is finally going to get his chance. After scoring a TD on his first play with Pitt, I think it's safe to say that no one thought that was the last we'd really see of him. But that's exactly what happened. It's premature to think he's going to come in and have the same impact as Dorin Dickerson did in moving to tight end. Pitt has several quality receivers including Baldwin, Mike Shanahan, and Devin Street and it may be hard to crack that rotation. But I'm glad it appears he's at least going to get a shot.

Looking at tight end: Call me crazy, but while I don't expect the same production in terms of touchdowns from the position this year with the loss of Dickerson, I think Pitt fans will be pleasantly surprised by the the production the position produces this year. Much of the success at tight end had to do with Dickerson being an absolute freak. But I think Offensive Coordinator Frank Cignetti really knows what he's doing and I believe he'll find a way to again get good numbers at that spot.

Of course we'll know more once the Fall comes and we'll see if any incoming freshmen can make an impact. There's much work to be done and I can't help but think that Wannstedt would much rather have New Hampshire as the opener rather than a tough road game at Utah. Still, should be an exciting season.

Blue-Gold Review

I've got to admit that my attention wasn't completely on the game. Even with the miracle that is I DVR, I missed some chunks of the game and didn't have the patience to rewind to catch everything I missed. But here are a few observations I had:

- Tino Sunseri is clearly the starter. If fans had any remaining doubts, they should have vanished today. Sunseri was 9/17 for 82 yards, zero interceptions, and nice rushing TD from about ten yards out. Pat Bostick on the other hand was 6/13 for 59 yards, no TDs, and two interceptions.

- And it wasn't so much the play, either. You could tell that Tino was the starter simply by the way Dave Wannstedt gushed about him throughout the day. And he was completely baffled on Bostick's first interception, which was not in the vicinity of any receivers. At first Wannstedt sounded as if a receiver ran the wrong route. But when he saw the replay, it seemed like he may have changed his tune. You can say that Tino had the first team to work with, but he also had to go against the first team defense, where Pat went against the second team.

- Speaking of that second team, the offensive line for that unit wasn't good. At all. Pitt fans should really hope that the first-string doesn't have any injuries because they second team needs a lot of work. The second team defensive line had a field day against them and Bostick was under a lot of pressure.

- Dion Lewis was, well, Dion Lewis. He only had five carries, but still managed to break one for 52 yards. Ray Graham had five carries, but only managed 16 yards.

- Kind of a side note because we're talking about the backup kicker, but Kevin Harper has some kind of leg. The coaches say he needs to work on his accuracy, but he's definitely got the distance part down. He made a 45 yard field goal with probably about 10 yards to spare.

- Also related to the kicking game was the fact that Pitt used two other punters in addition to Dan Hutchins. I'm wondering if either of them will get a look to take the punting duties from Hutchins or if they were just trying to get backups some work.

Football News and Notes

Brian Bennett of ESPN.com stopped by Pitt and has a video interview with Dion Lewis. And speaking of Lewis, Dave Curtis of the Sporting News lists him as the #2 power running back in college football. Not bad for someone who stands only 5'8" and is about 200 pounds.

Getting back to Bennett - he discusses Pitt's secondary while at practice this week. That 'work in progress' will be tested immediately with the game against Utah's spread offense.

Locally, Paul Zeise discusses a poor day of practice on Thursday and also breaks down the scoring changes for this year's Blue/Gold game, which will take place tomorrow. Speaking of the Blue/Gold game, it will be televised on CW and NFL Network at 2:00 p.m. Dave Wannstedt will be providing color commentary and, well, that could be priceless.

One thing to keep an eye on will, of course, be the offensive line. Eyes of the casual fan will likely follow strictly the quarterback play, but no matter who starts, their success will depend on the line providing protection and Dion Lewis' ability to again shoulder much of the load.

Another thing will be the tight ends.

And one player who hasn't been discussed a lot is Cam Saddler. I still am confident he's going to break a return for a TD this year. Too many times last year, he just needed to make one more move and he would have been off to the end zone. And in case his football career doesn't work out, he's got a potential broadcasting future going for him. Which is nice.

Late Blue / Gold Game Highlights

With a slow week, thought I'd post something I meant to earlier. The Pitt website has a link to some highlights from the Blue Gold game - you can view the link here.

The Jonathan Baldwin play was the offensive highlight of the day.