The status of Syracuse starting tight end Joe Kowalewski is uncertain for Friday’s game at Connecticut.

Kowalewski injured his shoulder in the second half of SU’s Sept. 17 loss to Virginia, though he did return late in the game. He did not travel with the team to Florida State on Saturday.

‘He is going to practice today,’ SU head coach Greg Robinson said. ‘Is he going to play on Friday night? I don’t know that yet. We’re going to have to see to what extent he can get things done.’

Robinson said Kowalewski worked out Monday without pads and caught some balls.

In SU’s loss to Virginia, Kowalewski had a career day with seven catches for 96 yards. He is currently SU’s third leading receiver with 12 catches for 132 yards.

Kowalewski was not available to the media Tuesday. He was receiving treatment.

‘I think that we can still function when Joe isn’t there,’ Robinson said. ‘Would we love to have him in there? Absolutely.’

Falke out

Robinson did say starting left tackle Kurt Falke will not play Friday. Falke is recovering from a torn medial collateral ligament and strained mid-left foot.

The senior was injured in Sept. 10’s 31-0 defeat of Buffalo on a screen pass. Falke caught the ball, intended for running back Damien Rhodes, for an 8-yard loss but needed to be helped off the field.

Sophomore Carroll Madison took Falke’s place in the lineup against Virginia and also started Saturday against Florida State.

Falke said he is getting extensive treatment and working to strengthen the knee.

‘I’m doing better everyday,’ he said. ‘The knee’s feeling much better; the foot’s still giving me problems.

‘It’s healed up really fast. They said I’m healing twice as fast as they’d assumed. If I’m not in class, I’m in there getting treatment.’

Robinson said he is not considering any other personnel changes on the offensive line; he is content with Madison at tackle.

‘Right now, I don’t know that we have the type of depth to say that we’re just making changes,’ Robinson said. ‘The line did not play well (against Florida State) and they know that they didn’t play well.

‘They know that they have to do better.’

On the bright side

When asked what positives he could take from Saturday’s 38-14 loss at Florida State, Robinson said he was glad Syracuse did not suffer any injuries.

‘We battled with them and walked out of there very healthy,’ Robinson said. ‘In a game where you have heat and then a gifted team that’s flying around and there is a lot of hitting going on, I like that we came through that.’

Published on October 4, 2005 at 12:00 pm