Coach didn't sound like he was considering shifting Watt at all during one presscon. He said specifically that we have three guys that we'll look at during the spring for center: Nick Martin, Matt Hegarty, and Mark Harrell.
I've said elsewhere that the big domino in this is Hegarty. If he's healthy he has been groomed all last year to replace Cave. Kelly seemed happy with the progress. In this scenario, the right side would probably be NMart at guard and Lombard at tackle. Hiestand probably likes this since it creates the minimum change from last year [three starters in place, and two back-ups for the exact positions moving up.] Notice that this scenario leaves Ronnie Stanley on the bench --- perhaps an unlikely thought if he is in fact fully healed and strong.
If Matt can't go then all He!l might break loose. Of course if Harrell's capable, he could just slide in. If Harrell is judged only back-up quality, then it seems NMart is destined for a center tryout. Hopefully he's up to the task. This then might put Stanley into the lineup, but at RT, with Lombard moving to guard. Hiestand would probably like the quality athletes he had out there, but would the five-man-function smooth out quickly?
If NMart had to start, and Matt never quite got it back, several flubs in early games might open the door for Hunter Biven to step in far earlier than planned. A wildcard in the full story would be the EE'd Steven Elmer, who would be waiting to see if Stanley could handle RT in this situation... and if not, here would come the Big Boy.
