UPDATE: Kill took questions after practice and said yes, he was serious about the 20 seizures, he's even had them since Saturday's game. Sounds like they're not fall-to-the-ground episodes like the original one, but "yeah, I've had them," he said. "I'm not going to lie."
Jerry Kill appeared tired during his weekly press conference on Tuesday, but only at first. The more he talked, the more worked up he became, particularly when discussing his determination to keep working despite the seizure disorder that has afflicted him since the final seconds of the New Mexico State game on Sept. 10.
"What the hell am I supposed to do? Stop? I mean, sit in the chair and wait for the next God-dang seizure to come along?" Kill said, by that time sounding as much like a preacher as a coach. "I've had about 20 of them in the last six damn days, and I'm still walking, still coaching."
The coach made it clear that he came to a decision during his five days in the hospital last week -- that seizures be damned, he's getting back to work. And not at half-speed, either.
"I ain't changing," Kill said, explaining that his doctors are still working to find a combination of medications that will control (and hopefully prevent) his seizures -- a problem made more difficult, he said, because the medication, ironically, helps cause the dehydration that can trigger seizures. "You put different kinds of medication in your body, it don't work sometimes. And it [hasn't] worked too dang good this time. So they need to get it figured out."
They'll do it around his schedule, though. Kill -- who never explained whether his "20 seizures in six days" comment was hyperbole -- conducted meetings as usual on Sunday, place-kicker Chris Hawthorne said. "He was as involved as ever," Hawthorne said. "You saw how he got in my face [after a missed extra point during Saturday's game] -- he's the same coach. He cares about us."
One football note from Tuesday's session: Tailback Lamonte Edwards will practice at linebacker this week, though Kill said the "experiment" is not necessarily permanent. "We are going to see how it goes and how he picks it up," Kill said of Edwards, who has gained 11 yards on eight carries this year. "His high school coach has been calling [defensive coordinator Tracy] Claeys since we have been here and said that's the side of the ball he needed to be on in the first place."