Want to keep yourself awake tonight? Forget the O-line this year, start thinking about next year.

There will be two spots likely set on the O-line in 2011. Lucas Nix at right tackle and Chris Jacobson at left guard. Both will be seniors. Jason Pinkston will be gone. Even Alex Karabin at center will not be there. Jack Lippert will be the starting center next year, as there doesn’t really appear to be another option on the depth charts.

It’s hard to believe Gaskins, Turnley and Gibbs will really be starters next year. If so, that will keep more than just the coaches up at night.

The freshmen O-lineman who are redshirting this year will very likely get chances to take starting — or at least be second on the depth chart. Matt Rotheram, Brandon Sacco and Arthur Doakes (medical redshirt) all stand to be be on the 2-deep. You can even expect true freshmen to have a chance at this rate. At least they look promising.

Q: It’s always been clear that there would be some rebuilding on the offensive line this year, but I’m concerned about how much they are struggling at this point. Why haven’t we been able to recruit enough depth on the O-line to be consistent there?

ZEISE: It is a great question — and there really isn’t an answer other than they haven’t evaluated some of the guys they’ve taken in recent years very well. They missed on a few, took a shot at a few based on potential and have tried hard to get players they think may grow into legitimate players. But it has been one of those things where they’ve just not done a good job of evaluating guys and if you do that in a couple of back to back years, all of the sudden you have depth issues. I think this current group of true freshman looks a little more promising than perhaps the past two. Wannstedt has signed some very good offensive line, so they clearly know what they are looking for, they just haven’t gotten enough of them. Coaches always say this is the hardest position to evaluate and project and it is clear this is an area they have struggled with the past few years.

I think there is no doubt that everyone is hoping that Pitt goes this way, rather than simply relying on the new kids to develop as hoped:

Memory of Terrelle: I’m not sure how many scholarships are left but maybe they should be looking to bring in a JC offensive limeman or two?

Paul Zeise: I think they have about three, four max — but there is no question that is the route they should go. They’ve done it at least twice recently – Otah and Houser – and both worked out (obviously Otah worked out very well) and both were able to step in and help right away.

Well one more is probably going to be open after Jason Douglas’ matter is resolved. The Lumpkin kid from New Jersey has to be their top remaining target.