Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt gave a brief overview of the offseason and some personnel moves to lead off his annual pre-training camp news conference, then drew a few laughs when he tried this pre-emptive strike against one of the team's most pressing questions:

"OK, give me the quarterback questions, come on ... "

Wannstedt then talked at length about the value of the quarterback position and then endorsed senior Bill Stull as the starter and said he has confidence in him.

Quarterback, however, is not the only spot with questions surrounding it as camp opens today.

Wannstedt said that while the major issues -- kicker, punter, long snapper, middle linebacker and tailback -- aren't going to be solved for a few weeks, the team's mindset is good and the leadership is strong.

"If you look at our football team this is the largest group of seniors that we have had," Wannstedt said. "I really like where the foundation of this senior group is, which will be a direct reflection on our football team. These kids have worked an awful long time very hard to get to this point, and I believe that we've got a long way to go. The foundation of this football team, led by this senior group of 19, I think makes for a very exciting year and were obviously ready to go.

"We had a very good offseason. You're talking about players who have either made a commitment to lose weight or get stronger."

Wannstedt then used the example of senior guard Joe Thomas' offseason commitment. Thomas, who will battle sophomore Chris Jacobson for the starting left guard spot, weighed in a svelte 280 pounds (down about 20 pounds) and with a 460-pound bench press.

On the field, the three areas which seem to have Wannstedt concerned the most are tailback, middle linebacker and the kicking game. The middle linebacker spot is senior Adam Gunn's to lose, but he will face competition from senior Steve Dell and freshman Dan Mason.

And although the tailback spot is up for grabs, there does seem to be enough talented options that whomever emerges -- even if it is a by-committee approach -- will give the Panthers a legitimate running game.

Freshman Dion Lewis, who wowed coaches in the spring, will begin as the starter, but he will face plenty of competition from three other freshmen -- Chris Burns, Ray Graham and Jason Douglas as well as sophomore Shariff Harris.

"We know we've got some good, young, talented kids," Wannstedt said "We're going to do everything we can to give them an opportunity to have some success. They can all run and they all have ability, and two or three of them are going to be freshmen. We're going to be young there but that doesn't bother me. I was on the team when Tony Dorsett was a freshman, too, and ran for 1,580 yards, the second-best year he had in his career.

"You can play that position as a freshman. If we were talking about a defensive tackle or defensive end coming in and starting as a freshman, you'd be kidding yourself to some degree in most cases."

The kicking game is a concern because not only did the Panthers lose a couple of reliable veteran kickers in punter Dave Brytus and kicker Conor Lee, but they also lost one of the best long-snappers in Division I-A in Mark Estermyer.

Wannstedt, who coaches the special teams, said that finding replacements for all three won't be easy but is an absolute necessity.Winning the kicking and field-position game is a high priority for the Panthers.

"We had an outstanding group. Now the first time we go out to kick a field goal between [kicker] Kevin Harper and [punter] Hutch [Dan Hutchins] it's going to be the first time they're lining up and performing when it counts," Wannstedt said. "We're going to have a new long snapper. Some of these things in the kicking game that people take for granted are things that make a difference in winning and losing football games."

Wannstedt said Hutchins will handle the punting duties and either he or Harper will be the place-kicker, and John Fieger and Mike Cruz are the top candidates at long snapper.