Minnesota takes bye week to sort through injury concerns

The Gophers moved up the Big Ten standings in their bye week, as Northwestern dropped to 0-3 in the conference with a loss to Iowa.

Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill spoke with members of the media at his Tuesday press conference about the progress made while the team was idle.

“[The bye] gave MarQueis [Gray] certainly some time to get repetitions and get back in the flow of things,” he said.

“I think mentally, through the tough time it wears on you, and I think it gave [the players] a chance to get their feet back underneath them and mentally get where they needed to be.”

Kill said later that running backs David Cobb and Devon Wright are “real questionable” this week with hamstring injuries. Both were held out of practice Wednesday.

With only two healthy running backs on the roster, former tailback Lamonte Edwards, who was converted to linebacker earlier in the season, will take some reps at running back in practice.

“We’ll see how the week goes, and if we have to play him both ways, we will,” Kill said of Edwards.

Edwards started at linebacker Oct. 8 against Purdue and said the transition to defense has been smooth.

“All the players and linebackers have helped me with what I’ve needed help with. The start for the last game, that helped me out a lot, a lot of experience to get on the field,” he said.

Edwards said he feels like he could help the team if he needs to switch back to running back, but didn’t say which he prefers.

“It depends — if we need more help on the offensive side of the ball, definitely running back. Defense? I’ll play defense too.”

Cornerback Troy Stoudermire was scheduled to have his injured wrist X-rayed Wednesday afternoon. Stoudermire has missed the last two weeks dealing with his injured wrist.