Pittsburgh News, Ray Mernagh, Uncategorized

DISCONCERTING SIGNALS: PITT’S STULL PROVES HE’S CONSUMMATE LEADER

by RAY MERNAGH

Playing quarterback in the city of Pittsburgh can be tough, even on the great one’s. Terry Bradshaw received less-than-ideal treatment before becoming a four-time Super Bowl champion. Big Ben felt the lack of support and heard the calls for Charlie Batch to replace him — this after he’d won a Super Bowl and, oh yeah, had his face completely smashed by concrete in a motorcycle accident.

Tough crowd those Yinzers.

Growing up in Pittsburgh Bill Stull saw first-hand what this city does to QB’s who struggle. Stull watched as a strong-armed “athlete” the University of Colorado hit the ‘Burgh like a meteor shower. “Slash” aka Kordell Stewart, captivated the Steel City — and like Nuke LaLoosh in the seminal sports flick Bull Durham — announced his presence with authority. Slash did a little of everything — catching, throwing, and running for touchdowns in key situations.

The rise of Stewart was fast, and when Neil O’Donnell took the money and ran to New York, Stewart eventually found himself starting at quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers (to the chagrin of Mike Tomczak). In a matter of months Stewart’s #10 was one of the top selling jerseys in the NFL. Slash was all over the television, appearing in almost as many commercials as Peyton Manning currently does (okay maybe not that many).

Then he started to struggle.

And things got UGLY.

After getting an extension with some good money guaranteed, Stewart was no longer a meteor lighting up the sky. In fact, he once took an Iron City shower — the Burgh’s beer of choice — courtesy of angry fans as he exited the field after another disappointing performance. He ended up crying on the sideline. And as fast as it all happened for Slash, it was over. He moved on, mostly as a backup, to places like Chicago and Baltimore.

A new QB, Tommy Maddox, was ready to save the day. Women throughout the city were all of a sudden sporting #8 jerseys and rooting for their own version of “Tommy Gun” — Maddox was accepted and embraced by the females much more than #10 for some reason (maybe because their male companions didn’t mind so much?). Maddox saved the day, until it was intercepted. His last several moments as the starter followed the same formula — a loss that included some big picks returned for touchdowns, followed by Maddox refusing to ever take responsibility in front of the media. Maddox was “Not My Fault Walt” the player version.

So you could say that Bill Stull knew what he was getting into by staying home to play for Pitt. He knew the expectations. He knew about the out of whack perceptions — created by long-gone Panthers during the long-gone era of the mid-to-late 70’s — that caused fans to grumble at the 8 and 9 win seasons of NMFW (Walt Harris). And he still came, as a 3 star recruit, because his heart wouldn’t let him do anything else.

Last season Stull anchored a team that won 9 games. Anchor being a decent description, as Stull’s lack of production was most often viewed as a weight holding down a promising team. Still, it was a great regular season for the Panthers and they were seen as a program on the rise. But then the Sun Bowl came and Stull, along with the rest of the Panthers, couldn’t do anything right. It was probably the worst bowl game ever in all the phases — offense, defense, special teams, heck even the TV announcers sucked. The 3-0 loss to Oregon State featured 20 punts.

Stull was a dead QB walking. No way was he going to win the starting job again, not with his bowl performance topping off a season in which he threw 9 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Pitt needed new blood. And the wolves started howling early.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette thought that red shirt freshman Tino Sunseri was establishing a gap as the leader in the QB battle during preseason camp. Tribune Review columnist Joe Starkey opined that perhaps it was time to start Sunseri (Starkey, always a standup guy, has admitted he was wrong).

Stull battled, won the job, and he’s been pretty much terrific the whole way. The senior’s thrown 13 touchdowns and only 3 interceptions. On Saturday he led his team back from a 21-6 deficit against UConn to pull out a 24-21 win. He put more than enough points on the board against NC State in a tight loss.

Stull’s quarterback rating is fourth in the entire country and he’s completing 66.7% of his passes (98-147). The offense he’s directing is averaging 34.8 points and 388.8 yards per game. His feature back, true freshman Dion Lewis, is helping him out with 738 yards rushing through six games (good for third in the country). The Panthers are 5-1 heading into the meat of their schedule, starting with Friday night’s game at Rutgers.

But Stull is still hearing boos from the hometown crowd. He was booed as he entered the field before a recent game — yup, before it even started. He was also booed yesterday as he dropped back to throw what turned out to be a key touchdown. Stull started out strong, had one touchdown dropped early in the game and struggled a bit before righting himself and leading the comeback.

There’s been skepticism of Pitt football under Dave Wannstedt. No matter what happens the rest of the season I’d venture to say there’s a lot more confidence in the future success of the program than there was at the end of last year.

Somebody, namely new Offensive Coordinator Frank Cignetti, seems to finally know what to do with all the talent Wannestedt’s been recruiting.

Somebody else, namely Bill Stull, is teaching an Honors Level course on how to lead a team and be a successful QB in the city of Pittsburgh every day — booing be damned!

The future seems bright for Pitt, especially if the QB’s behind Stull are paying attention…and soaking up the toughness and grit he displays.

After all, they need to know exactly what they’re getting into.