Pitt Football: Biggest Hole To Fill?

I've been thinking about this more and more - pretty much whenever I see Pitt's draft prospects. Pitt is losing a lot this year. Jon Baldwin, Dion Lewis, Jabaal Sheard, Dom DeCicco, Jason Pinkston, etc. West Virginia's right there, too, losing guys like Noel Devine, Chris Nield, Brandon Hogan, Robert Sands, and Jock Sanders.

So just what is Pitt's biggest loss heading into 2011?

My vote/pick goes to Pinkston and Alex Karabin. Those guys may not be as flashy as Lewis, Sheard, or Baldwin, but trying to replace two of the five guys on an already fairly week offensive line? Well, I'm not all that enthusiastic.

We've got the move of Jacobson to center. Frankly, I don't expect much of a dropoff there. He's a better lineman than Karabin was and even though Jacobson is playing the position for the first time, I don't expect disastrous results. The thing that scares me the most is all of the shotgun snaps he's going to have to make. But that type of thing is built of repetition and I'm sure Graham will have him working even harder on it come the Fall.

The problem, of course, is that by moving Jacobson from guard to center, that leaves a hole at his old spot. Lucas Nix and Jordan Gibbs started last season and should get the nod this year. Graham said a while back that Greg Gaskins and Brandon Sacco were competing for right guard. Then you've still got one spot open.

The one good thing that could come out of this (assuming the snaps go off without a hitch) will be that Sunseri will have more time in a shotgun formation most of the time. He'll be farther back off the line and won't have to worry about facing a rush while dropping back. He'll need to make quick decisions, but from all indications, he seemed to be able to do that in the Spring.