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| 09-17-2003 | Previous edition: 09-16-2003 |
        
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Printer-friendly version Tiller addresses team's injury status
Assistant Sports Editor At the Purdue football team's teleconference on Tuesday, head coach Joe Tiller took time out to address his team's injury status. He specifically addressed the status of Purdue's surest-handed receiver in time for Saturday's game against Arizona. Junior receiver Taylor Stubblefield went down in the second quarter of Saturday's win at Wake Forest. Team doctors originally diagnosed him with a high ankle sprain, but coach Tiller later said that Stubblefield merely stretched a tendon. "I expect him to play Saturday," Tiller said of Stubblefield. "But we won't know for sure until Thursday." For the moment, Stubblefield is seeing limited practice time with the squad. Although he didn't even get to play half the game against Wake Forest on Saturday, he finished with seven receptions for 60 yards and a touchdown — the only touchdown and the most receptions for Purdue on Saturday. Stubblefield returned to limited action in practice Tuesday after getting the protective boot removed from his ankle. "I'm really not limping too much anymore," Stubblefield said. "I'm jogging with a limp, but it got a lot better today. (Playing Saturday) is the goal." Stubblefield isn't the only player keeping the team doctors busy. Sophomore defensive tackle Brent Grover and freshman tight end Garret Bushong are also on the currently-unable-to-perform list. "I think Grover is making great progress," Tiller said. "Between him and Stubblefield, there's no doubt in my mind that they'll both be able to go pretty close to 100 percent by the weekend." Bushong is still suffering from a banged-up hamstring. He's not ready to play yet — and Tiller would appreciate it if Bushong would recognize that. "I don't think he understands that you can't go until you can really go," Tiller said of Bushong, who insists he's ready to see playing time in spite of his chronic soreness. "He said he could go Saturday. He's just got to understand that, if you're not at least 90 percent, you're hurting the team." Tiller can hardly wait to put Bushong on the field, touting him as having some of the softest hands on the squad. If not for his hamstring, he would have seen considerable playing time against the Demon Deacons, Tiller said. "We had four specific routes that we wanted to feature with him in that ballgame," Tiller said, "and he comes up lame on the first series." In a season where freshman success stories have been prominent, Tiller says that Bushong is the hungriest of the new Boilers. "Of all our young players, he wants the most to have early success," Tiller said. "He's not a wait-around guy; he's got it in his mind that he has to have success right now." Printer-friendly version |
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