Just when the Gophers appeared to be putting their injury problems behind them, freshman Drew Goodger had to go create a new one.
OK, it wasn't the freshman tight end's fault, just a good football play. But Goodger's block of cornerback Derrick Wells was such a crunching hit, it brought a few audible gasps from the fans who witnessed it. Wells was helped off and was diagnosed with bruised ribs.
The rest of the injury news was mostly positive, though.
Ryan Orton was sufficiently recovered from a concussion to return to his left guard spot Thursday, and cornerback Troy Stoudermire practiced, albeit with limited contact, as he recovers from a similar injury.
Tight end Eric Lair was also wearing a limited-contact jersey as he recovers from a groin injury, but coach Jerry Kill said Lair was healthy enough to play if there had been a game. Center Ryan Wynn likely won't participate in Saturday's scrimmage, but should return from a sprained left ankle early next week.
But receiver A.J. Barker and running back Donnell Kirkwood will need more time to come back from hamstring injuries, Kill said. Barker tried to convince Kill that he's healthy enough to practice, but the coach said he intends to be careful with those injuries.
"When you've got hamstring [injuries], those can linger," Kill said. "He can do some things, but to go full tilt and have him tear a hamstring -- we're not deep enough. [Kirkwood] knows enough right now. Do we wish he was getting reps? Yes, but we're still a long ways out."
It was a fairly uneventful practice, with the quarterbacks being hounded by plenty of pressure defense; Kill said they blitzed MarQueis Gray 13 or 14 straight times at one point, and Ben Perry got through for at least one sack. Linebacker Patrick Sveum had an opportunistic interception of a Tom Parish pass, and safety Kim Royston picked off a couple of passes.
Though he knew it was coming, it couldn't have been easy for quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski to watch his players learn the hard way. "Give him a chance! Give him a chance! Give him a chance!" he shouted at backup Max Shortell after a couple of passes were overthrown.
And when Gray became over-reliant on finding receivers across the middle, Zebrowski fumed at him, "Stop killing people in there! Go outside!"