With less than 12 months to go until the Mens 15s Rugby World Cup and the prop situation for the USA is not at its best.

USA Head Coach Mike Tolkin told Goff Rugby Report that the news that Shawn Pittman was retiring from the game 11 months after suffering a concussion against the New Zealand Maori was a surprise to him. Pittman, said Tolkin, was heavy in his plans for the next 13 months.

Now tat won’t happen. Meanwhile, young prop Titi Lamositele is injured and out until January at the earliest. Tolkin, who not that long ago was looking at a stable of five props with significant test match experience, now has three props he can rely on.

Two of those are with the USA Selects team training for the Americas Rugby Championship (ARC) - Nick Wallace and Olive Kilifi. Wallace is a product out of the Chuckanut Bay U19 program in northern Washington state, and a former St. Mary’s All American. Kilifi played in high school programs in Seattle, and now plays for the Seattle Saracens. But options after that are slim, and Tolkin finds himself rebuilding at prop.

“I never feel like I have enough players there,” Tolkin told Goff Rugby Report. “But we are looking for some props.It’s good that Wally’s been playing well and [Eric] Fry’s been getting time at Newcastle. And Ollies there, too. We have some young guys here and we’ll do the best we can.”

Tolkin has called in players from a variety of sources. Angus MacLellan is still in college at Davenport, but he is a smart, tough player who could move up quickly. MacLellan is from the same high school program as current USA hooker, Phil Thiel, Traverse City in Michigan.

Tolkin has also been looking at Ben Tarr. Tarr was an Australian Schoolboys prospect and was in the Queensland setup. He was brought into the USA U20 setup this year and did very well in the scrum. Only 20, Tarr is part of a young group of props which includes Val Lee-Lo and Lamositele who are working their way up. There's also Mate Moeakiola still playing in the lower divisions in France. You never know.

But the program needs more, and now.

Ironically, hooker is starting to become a deeper position. It seemed a year ago Tolkin was unsure where he was going to go with that position. Thiel had a solid ARC but over the summer it seemed as if he was a little overmatched when it came to size and strength. Singing with Saracens was perfect for him, because he was able to devote himself full-time to his rugby development, and expect him to have a good ARC this year, too.

Tom Coolican got his first cap this year and could very well be heavily involved in 2015. This ARC could be an important tournament for Zach Fenoglio, who has played superbly for the Glendale Raptors, but is yet to really nail down significant minutes on the international level.

But it’s fair to say hooker is a position where there won’t be a lot of change over the next year. Prop, with the loss of Pittman and the injury to Lamositele, is a position in flux.