Familiar names on the Zips team. No, not just Tra’von Chapman. One of their wide receivers has a very familiar name and has made an impression.

Passing wasn’t going to come easy to the Zips offense against the Sooners.

However, what little bit of promise displayed in that area came from the performance of Jerome Lane Jr. The former Firestone High School standout, caught three passes for 57 yards, including a long reception of 42 yards. However, coach Terry Bowden pumped the brakes on praising Lane just yet.

“If Jerome Lane would stay focused and learn his assignments and do the little things, he could be good at any one position on either side of the ball,” Bowden said.

It might also help if the coaching staff settled on where they want to use him. Last year, Lane was playing linebacker for the Zips. It doesn’t seem likely he will go back to the defense given the issues for Akron in the passing game. Akron quarterbacks completed only 6 passes for 88 yards the entire game (Chapman was 0-8).

Tyler Boyd is back for Pitt. Now the question remains in finding another wide receiver to help.

With Tyler Boyd serving a one-game suspension, Pitt turned to its complementary wide receivers Saturday against Youngstown State and only three of them caught passes — redshirt freshmen Elijah Zeise (two catches, 11 yards), freshmen Quadree Henderson (two, one) and starter Dontez Ford (one, 42).

No Pitt pass catcher caught more than two throws.

Take away Ford’s catch and an underthrown 55-yard touchdown to tight end Scott Orndoff that quarterback Chad Voytik admitted was a lucky completion, and Pitt had only nine successful passes for 36 yards.

The WRs did not do much to help in the passing games in terms of getting separation from coverage. Yes, Voytik probably needs to trust them a little more to make catches in tight coverage, but you would think they could do better on getting free against YSU’s defensive backs.

Lots of ACC honors for Pitt players after the Youngstown State game.

Florida State quarterback Everett Golson and Pitt running back Qadree Ollison have been recognized as Atlantic Coast Conference Football Players of the Week following their performances in their teams’ season openers on Saturday.

Golson was selected the ACC Offensive Back of the Week, while Ollison earned ACC Rookie of the Week honors. Ollison was one of three Pitt players to earn weekly honors.

Avonte Maddox was selected as “Specialist of the Week” and Nicolas Grigsby was “Linebacker of the Week.”

Grigsby was all over the field for the defense and Maddox really stepped up for kick returns. To say nothing of his solid work at cornerback.

Much of the attention, though, is going to Qadree Ollison. The now, 19-year old is a little lighter than Conner, but has a similar build and running style.

Ollison also will have constant motivation from Conner, who underwent successful surgery Tuesday morning. The two have already spoken about the rest of the season, and Conner made it very clear what the expectations are.

“He doesn’t want the offense to miss a beat when it comes to running the ball,” Ollison said.

And Ollison intends to do so in a bruising manner, similar to Conner’s. In fact, Ollison recalled that when he came in as a freshman, Conner gave him advice on the finer points of a good stiff arm.

“You can talk about schemes or concepts, but, at the end of the day, it’s you lining up in front of the guy across from you,” Ollison said. “Who’s going to be the bigger man at the end of the day? That’s really football.”

One of my concerns with Conner (and Ibrahim) out is what it does to the short passing game. Conner was working hard at improving at catching the ball and blocking when needed. Ibrahim was very good at it. That is a big unknown now with Ollison, James and Hall.

One good sign is that Ollison also played wide receiver in high school, so he probably has a good idea about what to do. Pass blocking, though, is a question mark.

As for James Conner, the good news is that the surgery went very well, and that his knee is sound.

“The surgery went better than we could have hoped,” said Gallagher, who spoke with Conner’s mother, Kelly Patterson. The surgery was performed by Dr. Volker Musahl, medical director at the UPMC Center for Sports Medicine on the South Side.

Conner was hurt Saturday during a 9-yard run early in the second quarter of the season opener against Youngstown State. He left the game after that play and did not return.

“Doctors were surprised that there was no other damage to the knee,” Gallagher said. “The meniscus was 100 percent and there was no damage to the ACL.

“The MCL is now repaired and the rest of the knee is in perfect shape. Today, James is one step closer to running for Pitt again.”

The confusion steps in, because it gets widely reported that a MCL can heal within 6 weeks. Pitt Coach Pat Narduzzi has declared Conner, though, out for the season.

The issue is rehab. As much as we all know a kid like Conner is going to start doing as much as the doctors allow him as soon as he can, he will be limited. Once he is healed, then there will be more to do.

The Pitt coaches and medical staff are looking at Conner’s future. He is not a pro yet. There is no reason he should be rushed back until the knee is fully healed and strengthened. Especially with Conner’s running style.