Tom O'Brien Audio
Injury Report
Javon Walker – out for the season, knee
Donald Bowens – out for the season, back
Jamelle Eugene – out, ankle
Curtis Crouch – out, coach's decision
Kyle Linney – out, will transfer
Thomas Barnes – out, will transfer
Sam Jones – out, will enroll in January
On who will handle kickoffs on Thursday
“Bradley Pierson – unless we change our mind before that. Right now that's where we are going. He's done it and done it well consistently through camp.”
On freshman besides T.J. Graham who will play:
“[Taylor] Gentry is on the two deep – he's a true freshman. Dominique Ellis is on the two-deep. I forget one, somebody else... [Dwayne] Maddox and [Sterling] Lucas are both true freshman so they'll be five of them.”
On the impact of a nationally televised game:
“I think its important for the program. It's important that we go and we play hard and we play smart. You only get so many chances to do this – that's one good thing about being able to play on Thursday night. Especially this Thursday night because its the first one, everybody that doesn't want to watch politics can watch football.”
On who takes over for Crouch:
“Henry Lawson will move up and we'll figure it out from there.”
On how long Eugene will be out:
“No idea – thought he'd be here this week.”
On how Eugene's injury changes special teams:
“Kick-off return, Andre was going to return kicks. Punts, Trevor [Graham] has been returning punts. It's a question of either Geron James or may even have Russell Wilson return a punt.”
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