The Lions' Pride

Specifically on the defensive side...

- I'm hearing that Eric Latimore's broken wrist will keep him out most of, if not the rest of the regular season. Latimore hurt it on the first play of the game against Illinois. He's listed as 'Out for a minimun of two weeks' on the official injury report.

- Right now the Lions are thin at defensive end, obviously. Pete Massaro and Kevion Latham are running with the first team so far, but the freshly-returned Sean Stanley and Daquan Jones are getting reps as well. Still no Jack Crawford, whom we hope to have an injury update on in the next day or so. He was supposed to have x-rays done this week. For those that have speculated it, I'm hearing that we're not going to see Kyle Baublitz this season. Inside, Jordan Hill (ankle) has returned to practice.

- A few of the injured linebackers have returned to practice. Michael Mauti is still dealing with the effects of his ankle injury, but he's back to participating. Bani Gbadyu has also returned to the practice field. Gerald Hodges is back, though his participation in contact drills has been limited. He did rotate in with the two's on Wednesday, however. He should be back by Minnesota. Freshman Mike Hull has worked in with the second team this week on the outside, but I don't see the redshirt coming off of him over the next six or seven games.

- In the defensive backfield, Drew Astorino and Malcolm Willis are manning the safety positions. Andrew Dailey is working his way back from a nasty stinger, but he has been light on the contact work this week. Chaz Powell is back to corner as of this week, but I'm still hearing that PSU is sticking with three safeties in the nickel package as of now.

- The coaches are back to experimenting along the offensive line. A few redshirt freshman have swapped spots, as Eric Shrive is back to right tackle and Adam Gress has moved in to left guard. A number of players have seen time with the ones and twos this week - Quinn Barham, Chima Okoli, Mike Farrell, Shrive and DeOn'Tae Pannell have worked in at tackle, while Stefen Wisniewski, Johnnie Troutman, Matt Stankiewitch and Jon Urschel at getting reps at guard. Doug Klopacz and Ty Howle have both gotten time at center. The biggest mover of the week, at least up front, has been Stankiewitch, who has taken a number of reps from Johnnie Troutman with the first team at left guard.

- With no game this week, the team is slated to have a short intrasquad scrimmage on Thursday.