Athlon Slots Tino Sunseri Near Bottom Of Big East

We're sure to hear about Tino Sunseri's deficiencies the rest of the offseason. Personally, I'm in the camp that thinks he'll be better and resemble the player from 2010, but I understand the detractors' point of view.

Count Athlon among those not expecting much out of Tino as they ranked him seventh out of eight quarterbacks in the conference:

Sunseri has been the source of frustration for Pittsburgh fans over the last two years. In his first season as a starter in 2010, Sunseri threw for 2,572 yards and 16 scores. He didn’t improve those numbers by much in 2011, throwing for 2,616 yards and 10 touchdowns. In fairness to Sunseri, Pittsburgh’s offensive struggles last year were largely due to the scheme not fitting the personnel. New coach Paul Chryst should do a better job of adapting his scheme to Sunseri and the offensive line can’t be any worse than it was in 2011. Expect Sunseri to play better in 2012, but for now, he checks in as the No. 7 quarterback in the Big East.

While they mention Sunseri having to work in a system that didn't work, I'm surprised more people aren't willing to give him a pass for the last year's disaster of a season. Sunseri not only struggled, but the receivers did as well.

The thing many of us (including myself) can't get past is that he took so many sacks. Yeah, that was pretty bad to say the least. But as the season went on and the pressure mounted, I think Sunseri was so concerned about not throwing interceptions and turning a mistake into a bigger one.

Is he to blame for that? Sure he is. But I expect things to be less confusing for him this fall.

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