UNH Notebook: Toman dealing with latest injury
Roger Brown
nhfootballreport.com
The opponent changes every weekend, but the storyline does not: Will University of New Hampshire quarterback R.J. Toman play Saturday?
Toman (pictured) missed nearly six quarters of action earlier this season because of turf toe. Now he's bothered by a sprained ankle that forced him to miss practice Tuesday. He suffered the injury early in UNH's 28-24 victory over Villanova on Saturday.
"R.J. is hurtin'," UNH coach Sean McDonnell said. "His ankle is bothering him. He's been very ginger in practice. Kevin (Decker) has taken most of the reps.
"The foot's not a problem. It's the ankle. He just twisted the ankle on one of his scrambles, and it's sore."
Fourth-ranked UNH (5-0, 2-0 Colonial Athletic Association) will play at the University of Massachusetts (3-2, 1-1) on Saturday. The game, which is scheduled to begin at 3;30 p.m., can be seen on Comcast Sportsnet New England.
Toman said he expects to play Saturday.
"Little bit of a sprain, but not bad," he said. "It's recovering great and I'm looking forward to this week.
Kevin Morris is in his first season as the UMass head coach. He served as the offensive coordinator at UMass from 2004 to 2008.
"I see what everybody else sees -- they're 5-0," Morris said. "The Toman kid makes plays. He runs that offense very well and puts them in situations to win football games, which he did against Villanova. I like watching him. I don't like playing against him."
UMass leads the all-time series with UNH 42-26-3. The Minutemen are 22-11-1 in home games against the Wildcats.
"Big rivalry game," Toman said. "They're a very good team. They have a great defense, as they always have. They present a lot of different looks. Have the athletes back there to match up with anybody on our side of the ball."
UMass owns victories over Albany (44-7), Rhode Island (30-10) and Stony Brook (44-17). The Minutemen lost to Kansas State (21-17) and Delaware (43-27).
UMass tailback Tony Nelson is averaging 93.8 rushing yards per contest.
"This is a major challenge for this program again to see where we really are," McDonnell said. "Really tough place to play. They're doing what they usually do. They're running the football with Tony Nelson. He's a big, powerful runner.
"They're a good football team and they're at home."
Hit men
Despite missing one game, junior linebacker Devon Jackson leads UNH in tackles with 34. He recorded a team-high 10 tackles against Towson and was tied for the team lead in tackles against Villanova (10).
Senior linebacker Sean Ware has 33 tackles in five games.
"I credit a lot of that production to our defensive line," Jackson said. "They've done a great job keeping guys off of us. giving us time, allowing us to be able to get to the quarterback a little bit. Allowing us to run sideline to sideline to get to the ball."
Footnotes
UNH running back Chad Kackert has 1,810 yards rushing in his collegiate career and needs 138 yards to pass Curt Collins and move into ninth place on UNH's career rushing list. ... The UNH defense ranks first among FCS schools in turnover margin (2.60), fourth in total defense (238.4) and sixth in pass defense (139.20). ... Tight end Scott Sicko has made a team-high 15 catches for 238 yards and two touchdowns this season. ... The Wildcats lead the CAA in scoring offense (35.2 ppg) and scoring defense (15.0). ... UNH has outscored its opponents 87-27 in the first quarter.
