Pitt spring football drills got under way Thursday, and that means the Panthers' quarterback derby has officially begun.

Redshirt sophomore Tino Sunseri took all of the first-team reps Thursday while redshirt junior Pat Bostick played with the second team, but the two likely will alternate roles each day. Coaches have said the competition will last at least until the end of spring.

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said it is clear both players have done their homework and know the offense, but evaluating either of them is difficult because this was their first day throwing with receivers since the end of the season.

"The timing is the biggest thing," Wannstedt said. "You can tell they had a good offseason from the standpoint of studying film, but it is going to take them a few practices to get the timing down."

Neither player was especially interested in talking about the competition between them after Thursday's practice. Both acknowledged that there is a long way to go until anything is decided.

"I pride myself on knowing the offense and having a handle on what we are trying to do," Bostick said. "I can't control what happens other than I'll just continue to practice and train and work hard every day and be coachable and see what happens."

Sunseri said, "When you finally get out here and throw the ball around, it is fun and it is a good experience. Competition is healthy, anywhere you go in life you will have competition, and we have a lot of good guys out here but this is more like a friendly competition more than anything."

The first-team offensive line Thursday had one minor surprise: Greg Gaskins was at right guard ahead of Ryan Turnley, but Wannstedt said the competition for that job will be ongoing and will involve a number of players.

"As far as guys like Gaskins and Turnley [and several other linemen], all those guys are interchangeable," Wannstedt said. "What we are trying to do now is evaluate them once we get the pads on and then determine who are the six or seven best guys. It is tough to evaluate linemen when we are out here without pads on, though."

Two of Pitt's top receivers -- Mike Shanahan (recovering from mono) and Devin Street (infection) -- did not practice Thursday. Wannstedt expects Street to return to practice Saturday while Shanahan will remain day to day. ... Former Beaver Falls star Todd Thomas will not enroll until May, but Wannstedt said Thursday that when he does, he will be a wide receiver. ... A number of members of the secondary are out with various injuries: Safeties Jason Hendricks (shoulder), Dom DeCicco (toe) and Andrew Taglianetti (knee) are out for the spring, and corner Ricky Gary (undisclosed) is week to week.

Check out Ray Fittipaldo's Pitt B-Ball blog and Paul Zeise's Pitt Stop videos about football exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.