A few notes before this afternoon’s practice.
Nothing new on Jake Locker. Willingham continued say that his quarterback is day-to-day, and doesn’t seem to worried about the long-term prognosis.
In addition to Brandon Johnson and Byron Davenport being out of this morning’s practice with injuries, linebacker Josh Gage was also sidelined with an illness. Willingham said Gage could be back this afternoon.
Word is that Juan Garcia continues to recover well from his Lisfranc sprain.
“Right now our anticipation with Juan is pretty good that he’ll be where we need him to be, but I think you’ve always got to have that plan B in effect, and especially when it involves someone that hasn’t done that,” Willingham said (plan B being Ryan Tolar working at center as well as guard). “Tolar hasn’t been a center, so you want to make sure that you give him plenty of repetition at that, even as we work all the way through.”
Offensive coordinator Tim Lappano also talked to reporters today. He said Locker’s injury has given a lot more snaps to Ronnie Fouch, something that should help the redshirt freshman down the road.
“His rhythm has been good, he’s been making a lot of good decisions,” Lappano said. “This has been really good for him because he’s been getting probably 90 percent of the reps… This is good for him, really good for him.”
Lappano was asked about Fouch’s mobility, and said the quarterback, while not as fast as Locker, can hold his own.
“We have not taken anything out of our run game because Jake’s out,” he said. “He can do everything that we have in, and he’s ok with that and does a pretty good job. He’s not Jake mobility wise, but he can move pretty well. He’s pretty crafty with his feet.”
Lappano said that as of now, walk-on Taylor Bean is probably the No. 2 quarterback with Locker out.
Aske about the young and crowded tailback position, Lappano said he hopes to narrow down that position and the receiver group by the end of the week.
“We’re still trying to identify those young guys, all of them,” he said. “I think by around Friday we’re going to have to say, we’re looking for seven receivers, we’re looking for four running backs, and the rest of them, that’s just the way it is.”
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