Your usual Thursday afternoon update from the hardest working sportswriter in Connecticut:
(OK, I’m like 17th or 18th but let me live in my fantasy world.)
– UConn coach Randy Edsall says his team is healthy heading into Sunday’s game with South Florida.
“There’s really nothing to tell you. It’s been an uneventful week,” Edsall said. “No injuries that have come up during the week so far.”
– Tight end Steve Brouse has returned to practice but his broken leg still needs some time to heal and he won’t play this week.
“He won’t play. He’s practiced a little bit,” Edsall said. “He’s going to do some 7-on-7 today (Thursday). We had him on special teams before.”
– Defensive end Mike Cox, who has been out all season with a knee injury, will make the trip to Tampa with his teammates this weekend. He isn’t expected to play, however.
“He would be there from an emergency standpoint,” Edsall said. “He’s not in the depth (chart).”
– The original plan in having the Huskies practice indoor this week was to crank up the heat and simulate the hot and sticky weather they’re likely to face in Tampa.
As it turns out, the players didn’t mind it as much because of the bitter cold outside the Shenkman Training Center this week.
“(Wednesday) they were glad to be inside with the temperatures we had outside and the wind chill,” Edsall said.
It’s actually supposed to be rather cool (50′s maybe low 60s) Sunday night at Raymond James Stadium.
– With a rare bye week during the Thanksgiving holiday, the UConn coaches are allowing the players to go home next week.
They’ll leave after practice Tuesday morning and don’t have to return until Saturday.
“When the schedule came out, that’s the one thing I looked at,” said Edsall, whose team has usually played over the holiday.
“Let them enjoy it, let them get with their families. That’s what Thanksgiving is all about,” the coach said. “The guys that can’t go anywhere or don’t go with another player, we as coaches will get them and bring them over to our homes. We’ll make sure they have a nice Thanksgiving meal.”
– South Florida quarterback Matt Grothe is nursing a sprained ankle. He hasn’t practiced much this week.
Edsall was asked if the Huskies are preparing to face Grothe’s backup, senior Grant Gregory.
“We’re in a copycat league,” Edsall said. “So Jim (Leavitt) saw what I was doing and he’s trying to pull the same thing on me.”
Last week Edsall, of course, hid the fact that Tyler Lorenzen would return from an injury to face Syracuse.
UConn is obviously gearing up for Grothe.
“I’ll be dumfounded if Matt Grothe isn’t out there playing against us,” Edsall said.
- Neill
