Pitt Football: Who Will Backup Tino Sunseri at QB?
By Matt Shetler
As we get closer and closer to the beginning of camp, many people want to know what the Pitt quarterback situation is going to look like under new head coach Paul Chryst.
More importantly they want to know if Tino Sunseri will still be under center for the Panthers when they open up against Youngstown State on September 1.
Sorry to disappoint you, but that answer is an easy yes. Sunseri is the only veteran quarterback on the team and outside of Todd Graham’s “low-octane,” offense; Sunseri should be fine in the short-term. Quite frankly, he’s really the only option that Chryst has coming in.
Which brings me to the unsettled topic of who will be Sunseri’s backup?
Mark Myers and Trey Anderson failed to impress last season and neither did anything during spring practice to lay claim to the job, eventually leading Myers to leave the Pitt program yesterday.
That brings me to true freshman Chad Voytik.
Chryst has said in the past that Voytik will be given every opportunity to win the backup job during camp. It’s tough to ask for a freshman to be that impressive during his first camp, but I feel when the Panthers open the season, Voytik will indeed be the backup.
Don’t count Anderson though. He is still young and logically you would think he would get better from year to year.
The problem with Voytik is that he’s already behind the other two. As an incoming freshman he has already missed spring practice and has a lot of catching up to do. The only way he is the backup coming out of camp is if he proves to be head and shoulders above both Anderson and Myers, which is possible. It may be more realistic though that Voytik claims the backup job mid-season. But he’s a high recruit and has the backing of many Pitt followers, so I wouldn’t rule it out. He’s definitely a wild card in this battle.
Anderson was a true freshman a season ago and spent it as the Panthers No. 2 quarterback. But he was pretty lousy when called upon, completing only 36 percent of his passes and throwing three picks to no touchdowns. Again, he was a true freshman so you have to think he would get better from year to year but he didn’t show much of that in the spring.
If I had to guess how the depth chart would look at the beginning of camp, I think it would read Sunseri, Anderson and Voytik.
But Anderson needs to grab the job with performance and I don’t know if that is going to happen.
So if I had to guess what the depth chart will look like by the end of camp, I’m guessing it looks like this: Sunseri, Voytik and Anderson.
Voytik is a long shot, but he’s going into a good situation and if he impresses, he’s going to claim the backup job right off the bat.
If that happens, it won’t be long before Pitt fans are calling for the freshman to start.