The way Qadree Ollison sees it, the job is highly underrated. He knows from experience.
Two years ago, Pitt’s biggest star, James Conner, went down with a knee injury in the Panthers’ opener. In stepped Ollison, a redshirt freshman with moderate understanding of the playbook, an unrefined skill set and virtually no experience. And still, Pitt’s offense looked solid. Ollison ran for 1,000 yards and, so the theory went, no one missed a beat.
But here’s the truth: Running for 1,000 yards was tough, and Ollison still wasn’t nearly prepared for the job when he inherited it.