Greg Romeus, despite feeling much better by Dave Wannstedt’s account, is still injured and did not participate in practice again.
Wannstedt again provided us with the company line:
“He’s fine. He’s just stiff. Hopefully tomorrow he’ll start doing something.”
This is getting, if nothing else, a big curious. I was a little skeptical about how injured Romeus might be over at Cardiac Hill yesterday, but now seeing yet another absence, it sounds like more than stiffness to me. I can’t imagine one of the most fearsome players in college football would be out for several days with only stiffness. While I still am not sure this is a serious injury, it looks more and more like it could be more than is being reported by the team.
Meanwhile, Andrew Taglianetti, recovering from knee surgery, did return and got in some work today.
The other major story making its rounds in various formats is the dramatic difference putting the pads on this week has made. Paul Zeise of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette notes the effect it’s having on the quarterback play:
Monday was the first day in pads — well, at least shoulder pads — at Pitt camp which meant it was the first day that the quarterbacks got a chance to play against a live rush.
And not surprisingly, it was the first day the quarterbacks, and in particular starter Tino Sunseri, struggled a bit as he threw two interceptions and was not nearly as accurate as he had been the first two days of camp when the players were in T-shirts and shorts.
That’s to be expected. It’s still incredibly early and Sunseri is essentially a first-year quarterback. Still, that begs the question: If he struggles throughout camp, will Wannstedt give Bostick a look?
Hard to tell.
On one hand, he wants to give Sunseri a chance without having to look over his shoulder to ensure he’s still the starter. But on the other hand, Wannstedt knows it’s now or never with this team to a degree. The team’s top two offensive weapons in Jonathan Baldwin and Dion Lewis and its best defensive player in Greg Romeus could all be gone after this season. Wannstedt will want to capitalize this year and knows that Pitt should be able to win even by just limiting its mistakes. So even if he has unspectacular QB play, he may be willing to make a switch if Sunseri is unable to avoid mistakes.