I swear, it wouldn’t be Pitt training camp without concerns over the O-line. Last year, the primary concern was whether Robb Houser would be sufficiently recovered to play center. Whether there was sufficient depth, and if new starters would perform.

This year the concern is all about center and the interior O-line spots. It does have a decided, Groundhog Day feel to it. Only the names have changed.

“We have some issues on our team we need to address, football-wise, right off the bat,” Wannstedt said. “In the spring, Jack Lippert moved to center, we had Chris Jacobson working at left guard and Greg Gaskins working along with Ryan Turnley at right guard, so there is some good competition going there.

“But I don’t think any of us really walked away from the spring and said we are locked in at any one of the three positions, so that is a good thing because it means we will have competition and so we need to get that solidified.”

Of the three spots, only Chris Jacobson seems a lock to be the starter at left guard. Gaskins is penciled in as starter, but Turnley is right there.

Right guard is redshirt junior Gaskins’ to lose, but he will face stiff competition from redshirt sophomore Turnley. The two battled in the spring, but neither distinguished himself. Their competition will be closely monitored.

As for the center spot, well this is where it gets interesting/terrifying. As much as Coach Wannstedt has had a philosophy of having versatility on the O-line, the lack of good recruiting at the center position is noticeable. The battle is between a converted D-line player (Lippert) and a walk-on (Alex Karabin). At the moment, Karabin is the starter. How can there not be more than a little nervousness?

Naturally, Coach Wannstedt is more confident — publicly.

On the realistic expectations for the offensive line for the season opener:

“The offensive line probably takes longer than any other position to come together, but Tony Wise will get them ready. I am confident of that.

I’ve always believed that going into training camp, from a coaching standpoint, is that you focus in and make each player understand that he needs to get his game to the highest possible level that he can play, and I believe that can happen. If our starting center is Alex Karabin, our job and his job is getting Alex to play as well as he can. On the other side, Jason Pinkston who has been around here, better get his game playing at the level that he is most capable of, as is Jon Baldwin and Dion Lewis. That really has to be both the players’ and coaches’ focus coming out of training camp.

With opening out at Utah, there’s no margin for error. We’re going to have to go out there and play as well as we can in order to win that game, and everybody knows that. This is a very, very important training camp for us as a football team. We have a lot to get done in the next 27 days.”

Right now the O-line concerns outweigh even the worries over a new QB.