Aliquippa's Hollins to start for Panthers
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With Pitt now turning its focus to the season opener Sept. 3 against Buffalo, one of the biggest surprises to come out of training camp was the makeup of the offensive line.
After a camp-ending scrimmage Saturday, head coach Todd Graham penciled in redshirt sophomore Juantez Hollins as the starter at left tackle.
Hollins, from Aliquippa, is big (6 feet 5, 305 pounds) and athletic and clearly looks the part, but he has yet to play in a game and was somewhat of an afterthought when camp began.
But Graham said that Hollins worked extremely hard and took advantage of every opportunity he got to play with the first team in practices and scrimmages.
With Hollins the starter at left tackle, senior Jordan Gibbs moves to right tackle and senior Lucas Nix slides over from right tackle to guard. The other two starters -- center Ryan Turnley and left guard Chris Jacobson -- have consistently manned those spots for most of camp.
"We are excited about the development of the offensive line," Graham said. "Juantez Hollins had a really good scrimmage. We have good competition there. I like how we are developing our depth. [Hollins] is our starter right now. We went into the scrimmage with [Greg] Gaskins as the starter but came out with Hollins.
"Right now I feel like Hollins is a little ahead from a run blocking standpoint, while Gaskins is a little bit ahead from a pass blocking standpoint. The good thing about that, we feel good about where those guys' development is. [Hollins as the starter] is how we will rep it all week.
"The two-deep is pretty much set and now we are working toward [the opener]."
Now that the Panthers have begun to work on their game plan for the Bulls, there isn't likely to be much, if any, more movement on the depth chart.
Gaskins will be the third tackle, which means he is the first tackle off the bench, and the first guard off the bench will be redshirt sophomore Cory King, who until about a week ago was the starting right guard. Jacobson will be the backup center.
First Published August 23, 2011 12:00 am
