Ford wearing boot, Pupello on crutches

The injury update from Monday night's practice isn't a particularly good one: Tight end Trent Pupello, injured on the second-half kickoff Saturday, was watching practice on crutches, with a boot on his injured right foot. Running back Mike Ford, who did not return Saturday after injuring his left ankle, also had a boot on his foot but was walking through drills with a slight limp.

Offensive tackle Ryan Schmidt, who injured his right knee on the touchdown called back by penalty, appears to be fine, going through drills with his linemates without any apparent limitations.

-- Freshman linebacker Quavon Taylor, suspended for a week by Jim Leavitt for missing a practice and meetings last night, remembered the Bulls practice on Monday nights and is back with the team. This should be the last of that saga, though he's still headed for a redshirt this fall.

-- Looks like freshman defensive tackle Cory Grissom is back at full-go after being limited by a high ankle sprain and missing Saturday's opener. If he stays healthy, it's reasonable to think Grissom should make his USF debut at Central Florida this week as the fifth true freshman to play this fall.

-- As we first reported two weeks ago, there's another addition to the roster in walk-on safety Jessie Bundrage, who was the starting quarterback at Ellsworth Community College in Iowa. Jim Leavitt always identifies new players as "New Guy" -- and not entirely affectionately -- as in "Hey, New Guy, don't let me see you put a helmet on the ground on the sidelines," and so on. Again, he's the third Ellsworth player to join the Bulls this fall, and is the third Palmetto High grad (with Mistral Raymond and Justin Teachey). For you video-game junkies, Bundrage is wearing a No. 28 white jersey in practice, and if I haven't mentioned it, long-snapper Mike Walsh is back at No. 68, likely to avoid the double-numbering issue with special-teamer LaDre Watkins.

-- Wow. Rutgers loses to Fresno State 24-7, making the Big East 0-4 against I-A opponents in the opening week. Expect to read a lot about the Big East struggling, though the ACC has started out as badly, so they'll share that storyline ...

Comments

[Dave W]

I really wanted BJ to redshirt (because year 3 as a starter for many QBs is when they take the leap; hopefully Grothe is one of them). The loss of Voss really forced Leavitt's hand though. If either Grothe or Gregory gets hurt, then BJ would have to be the number 2, so getting him increments of experience is important. Plus, as the backup next season, he could play a big role. It just would have been nice for Voss to stick around one more season.

I don't think Landi (or Victor Marc) will be QBs for long. Eugene Smith is a must get at QB. If not him, then we should focus on St. Thomas Aquinas and grab QB Becker, which may help us with WRs Difton (I've read that we still have a shot) and Holmes. Becker looked really similar to Grothe on ESPN yesterday (I only watched the second quarter, but he made some nice plays).

[BiggTipp]

I was very suprised Rutgers and Pitt looked as bad as they did. Also UL looked pitiful...all 3 looked worse than expected. I know its only the 1st game but it doesnt look good right now for the conference. The others better shine OOC to get respect this year

[Bull Daly]

I am not that concerned by the BIG EAST's performance this past weekend. Afterall, teams improve much more after the first game. Lets face it, Fresno St is a tough first game to schedule. I think Rutger's WRs are pretty good, so I am not ready to give up on Rutgers yet. I dont see them competing for the BIG EAST title though as they will miss Ray Rice, and you can tell that Rutgers missed Brian Leonard last season as they only won 8 games compared to their season before. Pitt was the big embarrassment for the BIG EAST as Syracuse and UL are not expected to do anything this season.

[Mike Lakeland]

I agree, Taurean. BJ was great to watch (minus the fumble of course) and I am glad that we did not RS him.

Rutgers is in for a UCF-like 4-8 season this year. I only hope that we give them the beat down that they've deserved for the past two seasons.

I would love to hang half a hundred of those guys.

[Taurean]

For the longest I was in the `redshirt BJ Daniels` camp, but after seeing him play this past week I think it is best NOT to redshirt him. Though he`ll be a junior once Grothe graduates, that`s still two full years as a starter.

More importantly, if you`re CJL, your thinking is that you can certainly stack your team deep at the QB position before Daniels graduates. Why save a talented QB when you`re confident you can land another one to replace him?

Let BJ play!

[G.A.]

I expect all but five true freshmen to redshirt this season. Quarterback B.J. Daniels, receiver Daniel Bryant, tackle Danous Estenor and walk-on linebacker LaDre Watkins played Saturday; if Cory Grissom plays, he'll be the fifth.

For anyone else to play would require an injury or especially poor play from the current players ahead of them.

[DELdaBULL]

Rutgers did not look good. Two teams (pitt and ru) that will supposedly challenge for the BEAST crown (we all know it is us, Cincy, and WVU) lost to mediocre teams.

[Reality]

Rutgers is a joke of a program in both men's basketball and football. I hope that without Ray Rice they can sink back into the abyss that they belong.

[Adam]

... While you are at it, can you also tell us the outcome of our next 11 games?

I hope Cincy has something for Oklahoma, could be as big as our win over AU last year if they can pull that off.

[SWA]

Greg,

Can you list the players that will most likely redshirt this year....Thanks

[LunchTimeBully]

Can you elaborate on the injuries? Are Ford and Pupello going to be playing on saturday?

[Windbane]

So glad the ACC also lost 4 games this week, and Maryland only won 14-7 against a 1-AA. That should lessen the load of criticism on the big east. Cincy beating Oklahoma, USF beating Kansas, and the other teams beating mediocre teams again would solve the problem...