Updates on injuries, special teams, UW legends and more

Published 2:37 pm Wednesday, August 13, 2008

A few UW football updates to help pass time on this sunny Wednesday afternoon…

Running backs coach Steve Gervais talked with reporters today about his young group, a few of whom are banged up. It turns out that Brandon Johnson has not been sidelined by lingering knee problems, but rather by a lower-leg injury suffered last week. Gervais called it a calf injury, but Johnson said it was actually more on the side of his leg (think the muscle just outside of your shin bone). Neither think this injury is a serious problem, so that’s probably better news than if Johnson is still struggling with an old knee injury.

And speaking of injuries, center Matt Sedillo missed this morning’s practice with what Tyrone Willingham called a minor concussion.

Brian White, the special teams/tight ends coach, gave a few updates on the special teams battles going on. It sounds like Jared Ballman has the punting job pretty well locked up, but that the kicking jobs are still wide open. White called the kicking battles a “Very spirited competition” and said it will be another week or so until things start to sort themselves out.

As for the return jobs, White indicated that D’Andre Goodwin is leading in the punt return competition, while a pair of freshmen Polks, Chris and Jordan, are both doing well in kick returns.

With all of the injuries going around in fall camp, Willingham was asked if this seems worse than normal, and said that it wasn’t.

“Any injury is a concern, but no, I’m not overly concerned right now,” he said. “These things happen. In football, the next guy’s got to be prepared to step up. I think we’ll be ok come game time.”

Willingham was also asked about Don James’ presence at practice this morning.

“I’m not sure if the full team knew that he was there,” Willingham said. “Obviously the coaching staff was fully aware of it, and it’s always great to have the legend come back and watch and look at things and you’re always seeking feedback from somebody that’s been that successful. It was great for me to have him out there.”

Willingham indicated that another player may be added to the roster later today. One likey candidate would be freshman defensive lineman Senio Kelemete, who has not been eligible to report while clearing a few final academic hurdles.