Thursday update

Practice has gone well this week for the Huskies according to Edsall. Tuesday was tough physically, but Edsall felt that was more due to the warmer weather that hit Connecticut. Wednesday was a good practice.

As far as mental state? Edsall thinks the team is fine and there is no doubt Edsall is fine. I asked Edsall about his team giving up nearly 1,000 yards in the last two games and it was classic Edsall cranky sarcasm --

"We designed to do that ..."

Some were caught off guard, but Edsall does that to me about once a week to me. Right there I knew he was fine and ready to go. The team will be also.

Kashif Moore is going to play Tuesday, and Edsall was also concerned about Mike Smith's mental state. They both will play. Moore held Jasper Howard as he lay bleeding on the student union sidewalk. The other player was presumably Mike Smith, he tried to stop the bleeding. Edsall was concerned about both but it looks like they will play.

Some other notes:

*Guys out are Scott Lutrus and the rest of the gang. Blidi Wreh-Wilson is probable.

*Jerome Junior is going to start at strong safety. Edsall is unsure if Junior will play passing downs as Aaron Bagsby did last week. Edsall would like to only play 1.

*The team will have a sendoff at the Burton Complex with other sports teams there tomorrow as they leave for West Virginia. They are leaving to the buses around 12:30 p.m.

*Funeral plans for Howard will be released sometime today.


Final note: I will be not heading to West Virginia this week. The great Phil Chardis will be taking over football duties until Oct. 31. It's a week off that is 9 months in the making. My lovely wife Shannon is due with our second child on Monday, which means the Silver travel army won't be heading out of town anytime soon.

Part of me wants to be there to cover this story. But most of me understands that you have to live and enjoy life to its fullest. I will do that this next week and a half. I will be back and won't go dark on the blog until over the weekend.

Update: Funeral services for Howard are set for 11am at New Birth Baptist Church in Miami on Monday morning.