SLIPPERY ROCK — Steve Gaviglia has been a defensive lineman his entire football career.

Colten Raabe is coming off ACL surgery and has yet to play a down of college football.

Dean Ketterer has battled nagging injuries much of his collegiate career and has yet to be a full-time starter.

All three are Butler County products. All three are being counted on to provide key parts to the retooling of the Slippery Rock University offensive line this season.

“We’re hoping all three can be starters,” SRU coach Shawn Lutz said. “We need people to step into those roles.”

Senior center Joe LoSchiavo is the lone starter returning to a line that paved the way for The Rock to have the highest scoring offense in all of Division II last season.

The 6-foot-2, 285-pound Gaviglia, a Seneca Valley graduate, rarely saw time on the offensive side of the ball in high school. He saw action in about 15 snaps per game on the defensive line for The Rock as a red-shirt freshman last year.

“The coaches approached me about moving to offense at the start of spring ball,” Gaviglia said. “I wasn’t sure about the move at first, but they told me I could go back to defense in August if it didn’t work out.

“I’m starting to get the technique down now. It’s a big adjustment. On defense, you’re in attack mode all the time. On offense, you have to sit back and wait for the right moment to strike.”

Gaviglia is the leading candidate to start at right tackle this season.

“Mentally, Steve is an intelligent kid. He picked up on all of the offensive line schemes really fast,” Lutz said.

Rock offensive line coach Chris Conrad said he’s wanted Gaviglia ever since the player joined the team.

“He has tremendous hands for the position,” Conrad said. “All he needs is time to work on his craft. He’ll definitely help us out and I’m thrilled we’ve got him for three more years.”

The 6-foot-3, 285-pound Raabe, a Slippery Rock High graduate, would have seen playing time as a true freshman last year — possibly as a starter — before tearing his ACL on just the second day of camp.

Raabe is a prospective starter at the left guard position this season.

“What hurts is that he missed spring ball,” Lutz said. “Colten will have to shake some rust off.”

Conrad agreed.

“He hasn’t played in a year and he hasn’t played at this level,” Conrad said of Raabe. “But we want to see what can do. It’s his position to lose.”

Raabe had the knee surgery done Sept. 3 and went through a lengthy rehab process.

“I’m thankful the injury wasn’t career-ending, just season-ending,” Raabe said. “I can already tell in practice ... Everybody is so much bigger and faster at this level.

“There are a lot of good players here and plenty of competition for the starting spots. But, yeah, I want to be a starter this year. That’s the goal.”

That has been a goal of Ketterer’s for quite some time. Now a senior, the 6-4, 290-pound Seneca Valley graduate was a candidate for the starting center position a couple of years ago when he broke his hand.

He’s been seeing time here and there at various offensive line spots ever since.

“Dean can play tackle or center,” Lutz said. “We need him to be a starter this year because we want his experience and leadership on the field.

“With Dean, it’s all about physicality. We need him to be more physical and that comes with confidence.”

Ketterer is anxious to make his senior year count.

“I know I can provide some senior leadership up front,” he said. “This is my last year to play and I expect a lot of myself.

“Blocking for the running backs and receivers we have is fun. We’ve got so many weapons and it doesn’t take much to spring those guys down the field. I’m in shape and I’m ready.”

With four senior starters from last year’s line graduated, Conrad recognizes the value of experience up front.

“You need that vocal guy in there and that could be Dean,” Conrad said. “He can play multiple positions and that’s going to help him. We’ll put him in wherever he’s the best fit.

“You could say that about that entire unit. We need to build our line back up. That’s one of the challenges of camp.”