Responsibilities increase this season for Ollison, Hall

Qadree Ollison and Darrin Hall made their college football debuts in the same game against Youngstown State in 2015, but both of Pitt’s junior running backs have done a lot more watching than rushing since their freshmanseason.

Perhaps it’s a bit of poetic justice, then, that their next big breaks will come Saturday against the same team, on the same field, but this time without James Conner leadingthe way.

Ollison scampered for 207 yards in that first game two years ago after Conner got injured and went on to run for more than 1,000 as a redshirt freshman. He’s the lead horse in Pitt’s backfield entering the 2017 season. While he’s been there before, it’s a major step up from just a year ago, when he was used sparingly behind a healthy Conner.

“We expect him to be betternow, and I expect it to be a 2,000-yard [season],” coach Pat Narduzzi said Thursday. “You know, 1,000, he did that already. That’s just staying the same. We expect him to make people miss, and it better take two or three to get thatbig dog down.”

Considering Ollison’s wonky career path so far, there’s no doubt he’ll be motivated, and Pitt’s 6-foot-2, 230-pound bull of a back might even be seeing red against the same team that gave him his start. Though if you ask him, he insists he won’t let his mind linger on his previous thrashing of the Penguinsdefense.

“I don’t think about things that happened two yearsago,” Ollison said.

As for Hall — whom Ollison called the team’s most improved running back — he’s a Youngstown, Ohio, native, so he should be just as amped up for his opportunity. The Austintown Fitch High School graduate has plenty of friends and family driving over for the game, so don’t be surprised to hear a spike in cheers when No. 22 touches the ball — even if he’s just one of several backs todo so.

“You wanna ride whoever’s hot,” Hall said. “We’re trying to win a ballgame over everything else, and everyonehas to be ready.”

Twice for Zeise

This isn’t the first time Elijah Zeise will start a Pitt season opener. He did it just a year ago, but you’ll have to forgive him if Saturday feels like another first.

The redshirt junior linebacker won a starting job entering2016 but hurt his ankle in the first five minutes against Villanova and missed the entire regular season.

“I’m excited to get back out there — been waiting forever,” Zeise said this week. “There’s a little bit of nervousness, just because last time I was on that field it didn’tend so well for me.”

Zeise’s position group is likely the most stable on Pitt’s defense, as he, fellow North Allegheny High School alumnus Oluwaseun Idowu and redshirt sophomore Saleem Brightwell are firmly entrenched as the starters.

Brightwell will be in the middle, Idowu on the outside, and Narduzzi said Thursday he doesn’t anticipate playing any more than five linebackers.

“We’ll start the game with three guys, then see how they’re feeling and see how the flow of the game is going,” linebackers coach Rob Harley said. “You never like to break the flow just to breakthe flow.”

Tipton’s tips

One Panthers player who won’t get to make any plays in the opener, or at all in 2017, is redshirt sophomore receiver Tre Tipton. Narduzzi ruled him out for this season in July with a knee injury, but the former Apollo-Ridge High School star won’t let that negate his impact on the rest of the team.

“Tre has stayed involved heavily. He’s still working on his football, still learning the game, still in meetings, talking to the young players about what he sees on tape and how he can get better,” receivers coach Kevin Sherman said. “And he’s helping me in practice on the sidelines, when I don’t see things on certain sides of the field. He’s helping me from that standpoint, too.”