Wake Forest should have some fresh, if recently healed, legs to begin its stretch run.
Defensive end Kyle Wilber, linebacker Hunter Haynes and running back Kevin Harris are all practicing this week to play against Miami Saturday. Trainer Don Steelman said before yesterday's practice that both Wilber and Haynes are still questionable, but mentioned that both would probably at least try to play. Harris, barring any setback, will be available.
Their return should provide a boost to a team in serious need of one. The Deacons have lost two games in a row to fall to 4-4 and 2-2 with only Miami, Georgia Tech, Florida State and Duke remaining in the regular season.
They've clearly missed the contributions of Wilber, Haynes and Harris, all of whom began the season in the starting lineup. Wilber has missed six games with a broken fibula, Haynes two with a strained medial collateral ligament and Harris five with an injured groin.
Tight end Andrew Parker is expected to miss at least one more game with a sprained ankle.
"Three out of the four may get back this week," Coach Jim Grobe said. "We'll see."
Grobe said he and Steelman were especially encouraged by what they saw Monday night from Wilber, who was cleared to play last week but needed more time to get back in game shape. Grobe compared his limp last week to that of Chester on the classic television series Gunsmoke.
"He's really healed nicely," Grobe said yesterday. "It's one of those situations where at the point of the break, that's all fine now. But he hasn't been able to do anything. The bad news is when you can't do anything with the one leg, you can't do anything with the other.
"Don had him running a little last week. A couple of times (Monday) night, now, he turned and took off and looked like the old Kyle Wilber. I think Don's going to let him play it the way he sees it. I think it would be nice if we could get him out there for 10 or 15 plays on Saturday."
Harris has been missed, but given the depth at running back, not as much so as Wilber and Haynes. Wilber was one of the first concerns of any offensive coordinator devising a game plan against Wake Forest, given his ability to get into the backfield.
"He's our pass-rush guy," Grobe said. "He's the guy we hoped would develop into our pass-rush specialist so to speak. Without him we haven't had the ability to get four-man pressure very well."
And Haynes, coming into the season, was, along with Matt Woodlief, one of the two most experienced linebackers. Haynes played 13 games each of the past two seasons and started twice in 2007.
"He was one of the guys that we were looking at that actually had some experience," Grobe said. "Having him out the past couple of weeks has not been a good thing. Again we've got to be really careful because even though Hunter has only been out a couple of weeks we've got to make sure he feels good and healthy and can take care of himself."
dcollins@wsjournal.com.
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