It looks like the Syracuse football team will have the other half of its running back duo back when the Orange takes on Connecticut on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

After missing Thursday’s 27-6 loss to West Virginia with a bad case of the flu, Walter Reyes has recovered and will practice this week, SU head coach Paul Pasqualoni said.

Reyes spent most of Thursday’s loss standing on the SU sideline with a hoodie draped over his head.

‘We had a concern,’ Pasqualoni said, ‘because Damien (Rhodes) had the same symptoms. But we had three or four days pass, and I think it’s out of their systems.’

Pasqualoni said Rhodes was treated for a similar but less serious illness than Reyes. Rhodes started for the Orange and played nearly the whole game against WVU. He finished with 65 yards on 21 carries.

Other than Rhodes, Pasqualoni said, the illness didn’t spread to anyone else.

The Orange certainly could’ve used Reyes against the Mountaineers. An anemic running game has been a problem for the Orange much of the season. Reyes has rushed for 100 yards just twice and Rhodes only once.

In other injury news, Pasqualoni said he expects cornerback DeAndre LaCaille to be limited early in the practice week. But Pasqualoni is hopeful that LaCaille – who separated his shoulder against WVU – will play against Connecticut. If not, the Orange will likely go with a combination of players led by Thomas Whitfield.

Steve Gregory, who played for the first time since Sept. 11 against Buffalo, said he’s fully recovered. Gregory had five catches for 58 yards in his return against the Mountaineers.

‘I think I am 100 percent now,’ Gregory said. ‘I think I figured that out this week playing against West Virginia. I felt great and was not having any problems.’

Pasqualoni also addressed the Orange’s special teams disaster after evaluating the game tape. The Orange had a punt and field goal blocked, a muffed punt and kicker Collin Barber missed two field goals and an extra point.

On the blocked punt, one WVU rusher came around the original line and headed for the three Orange blockers behind the line, which SU calls ‘the shield.’

The shield blockers felt the punt rusher wasn’t a threat to block the kick and let him through, Pasqualoni said.

Apparently, the rusher was a threat.

‘If it happened 100 times,’ Pasqualoni said, ‘you’d probably be OK on 99 of them.’

As for Barber, Pasqualoni said the senior would have to work through his problems this week in practice. Pasqualoni said Ricky Krautman won’t be taken off of redshirt, even if Barber’s struggles continue. That means the only replacement field goal kicker would be punter Brendan Carney.

‘Collin Barber has to make those kicks,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘Kickers have the ability to shake it off and come back. He has to practice and prepare well.’

UConn head coach Randy Edsall will return to his alma mater for the first time Saturday. Edsall graduated from SU in 1980 and coached at Syracuse from 1980-90 under Frank Maloney and Dick MacPherson.

Edsall later followed another former SU assistant, Tom Coughlin, to Boston College in 1991. Pasqualoni took over the Orange that year.

Pasqualoni said he’s sure Edsall has more incentive to win in his first visit to the Carrier Dome as a head coach.

‘I know the first time we played Penn State (Pasqualoni’s alma mater) in 1987 when they came here, I was kind of excited to line up against Penn State,’ Pasqualoni said. ‘And then when we beat them the way we did, it was really great.’

Published on October 25, 2004 at 12:00 pm