A scary moment or two....

Pitt quarterback Bill Stull laid on the ground holding his ribs for only a few minutes today (Monday) before he got up and walked off to be checked out by the Panthers legions of doctors and trainers.

It must have seemed like hours to Dave Wannstedt and company, however, as they've been down this "let's lose our quarterback for the season" road more than one or two times -- including last year when Stull went down in the opener and took the Panthers hopes of making it to a bowl game down with him......

Stull, to the delight of his coaches and teammates, returned and finished the last few plays of the practice so a major catastrophe was avoided, but after what happened last season it might behoove Wannstedt to put a green (no touch) jersey on him for the duration of camp.

The play Stull got hurt on, however, was exhibit A of what continues to be the Panthers top area of concern - right tackle as junior Joe Thomas was pushed back into Stull by defensive end Jabaal Sheard. Thomas needs to play more consistently than he has and he needs to improve in a hurry or else he could find himself sitting behind either redshirt freshman Jordan Gibbs or freshman Lucas Nix.

Wannstedt said after practice that the right tackle spot is "wide open" which is not where you want to be with such a critical spot less than three weeks from your opener.