Stull, Smith get work

On the first series of Pitt’s annual Blue-Gold scrimmage Saturday, quarterback Bill Stull… On the first series of Pitt’s annual Blue-Gold scrimmage Saturday, quarterback Bill Stull had a decision to make.

He broke out of the collapsing pocket and rolled into the open field to his left and saw an open Derek Kinder in the back corner of the end zone about 20 yards away. Stull planted his feet and cocked his arm to throw, but didn’t.

Instead, he brought the ball back down, ran a little more to the boundary and hit T.J. Porter, who tiptoed out of bounds at the four-yard line. The drive ended in a field goal.

It was symbolic of how both Stull and backup quarterback Kevan Smith played – not awful, but not nearly as good as they could have.

“I thought they were both OK,” head coach Dave Wannstedt said. “You know Kevan Smith has had up and down days, just inconsistency. Billy Stull I thought was operating pretty good tonight, but that one interception he threw that [cornerback] Aaron Berry came down with, that tells me that we have work to do. He was trying to throw the ball away.”

And Stull mirrored his coach’s comments after the game. The junior from nearby Seton-La Salle High School was eight-for-18 passing, throwing for 89 yards including one interception.

“Me personally, I have to play better,” Stull said. “[I have to] put the ball where it’s supposed to be, and I have to make corrections.”

And Smith, a redshirt freshman, knows he has to make corrections as well.

“In the beginning I didn’t make some throws that I should have made, that I usually make,” said Smith, who finished 11-of-22 for 113 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. “I think I came out a little excited, this is the first time I got a chance to play at Heinz Field.”

It was also the first time Smith had the chance to experience the field conditions of Heinz Field, which were terrible at best. The day’s weather, largely contributing to the sloppy turf conditions, wasn’t any better.

The field definitely contributed to the sometimes-sloppy play as well. Midway through the scrimmage, Smith took a snap and stumbled backward, thrusting the ball into running back Kevin Collier’s hands before falling facemask first onto the grass.

“Obviously, we’re a little rusty,” Stull said. “But I thought we did some good things. Overall, it was a good way to end spring ball, but we still got a lot of work to do.”

Stull and Smith will continue working through the spring and into summer, but mostly on their own until summer camp starts in August. And as Smith said after the game, the pair of quarterbacks can help each other.

“I think there’s definitely a behind-the-scenes thing Bill and I have for each other, but it’s nothing, really,” Smith said. “I think we’re pushing each other to make each other better, and it’s going to make each of us an overall better quarterback.”

Stull and Smith showed signs of that friendly competition during the scrimmage.

“I think Bill and I definitely pushed each other,” Smith said.

The two will have to continue to push each other in order to adequately fill the vacancy left by former quarterback Tyler Palko, who is expected to be drafted in the upcoming NFL Draft. But Stull and Smith already showed signs of maturity and accountability after their performances in the scrimmage.

“We have to take the blame for the things that we did wrong,” Stull said. “We can improve on everything, actually. We still have a lot of things we have to clear up. We still have a lot of time before the season.”

Time and experience can correct most of the problems Stull and Smith had in the scrimmage, but not without the work ethic that both displayed Saturday and through the entire spring.

“I think this game didn’t show what we could do at our peak, but that’s what the spring is for – to clean up reads, clean up protections,” Smith said. “We’ll be good for the fall.”