Thursday Willingham and practice notes
Published 5:08 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008
Most of today’s press briefing with Tyrone Willingham focused on the many injury questions heading into Saturday’s game.
The status of receiver D’Andre Goodwin (ribs) and tailback David Freeman (ankles) is up in the air, but both have been very limited this week, so it’s not looking good for the Huskies to have them ready Saturday. Goodwin again practiced in a red no-contact jersey Thursday, while Freeman was in pads, but wasn’t participating in early drills.
If Goodwin can’t play, that means freshman Cody Bruns is likely to see his first game action, Willingham said.
Safety Victor Aiyewa was back on the field for the third straight day, and it’s looking like he’ll be able to play this weekend, which is good news, because Johri Fogerson continues to struggle with an ankle injury that could keep him out Saturday.
Asked about the injuries at safety and who the Huskies might use at that position, Willingham said, “We’ll play any living, moving, healthy, body back there that can play and really handle all of the defense and the things that we’re going to do.”
Also noteworthy from practice, Donald Butler (concussion) was practicing without a red jersey for the first time all week, which bodes well for his chances of playing.
The team was working on two-minute drill situations in practice right before our 25-minute time was up. The second-string offense, led by walk-on QB Taylor Bean, couldn’t move the ball on the No. 1 offense. Daniel Te’o-Nesheim registered a sack (the play is blown dead if the quarterback is touchded) on the first play, then Bean threw an incomplete pass followed by a deep ball that was intercepted by Tripper Johnson.
The first-string offense got down field thanks to a deep pass from Ronnie Fouch to Jermaine Kearse, then got three points on a short Ryan Perkins field goal before time ran out.
