Okay, by now I’m sure most of you have read through Paul Zeise’s belated post-signing day Pitt football Q&A. Since there’s just a wee bit of space-filling going on in the blog this week, I’ll now get to some thoughts.

Looking ahead — spring should be very interesting because the Panthers are going to be extremely young in a number of key areas and a lot of guys on the team that are veterans are going to have to really push hard in order to win jobs at open positions. Even so, this is one year that the real competition for jobs won’t begin until the fall when this class arrives.

There are 26 recruits and I expect about 19 of them to have a legitimate chance to make the two-deep and maybe about half of that number to have a legitimate shot at a starting job. So this team is going to be an extremely fun offseason because the team that lines up to play Virginia may be completely different than it is right now.

It’s exciting and scary at the same time when you start thinking about each part of the team. Just how many new starters, and how wide open many of the positions will be. Running game, receivers, O-line, secondary, D-line. The lines especially. Zeise states that Juco Jeff Otah and incoming freshman Joe Thomas are expected to start this season on the offensive line.

You have to figure the spring practice will be crucial at wide receiver and tailback.

Derek Kinder and Joe DelSardo are the default nos. 1 and 2 receivers, but both know they will get pushed very hard come the fall. As for the rest, players like Pestano and Chandler need to show some consistency and real improvement if they don’t want to end up limited to special teams.

Tailback is more interesting. While there will be a lot of expectations that Collier will grab the job come the fall, Stephens-Howling will want to try and show he can carry at least half the load. Then there is Conredge Collins at fullback.

Lots and lots of questions. Zeise almost seems ready to dismiss the sophomore and junior classes as lost. I don’t know. While there is a lot of potential and higher-ceiling talent coming in — and that makes things very exciting as for the future and potential — they are still unknown and they have to learn the system.

Expectations for Pitt are going to be wild and varied. People will point to Penn State and wonder why not Pitt?

For starters, Penn State already had a defense that was top-notch and just needed to get the offense better. Pitt has issues on both sides of the ball on the lines I don’t think it is as easy at a skill position to plug in a freshman. I think the lines are going to be a real concern for at least a couple more years.

I’m not sure what to expect from Pitt this season, but the Blue-Gold Scrimmage at Heinz Field should be a curious event.