Yale got one of its starting defensive ends back when junior Matt Battaglia took part in practice on Tuesday morning. Yale captain and fellow starting defensive end Tom McCarthy was forced to miss practice again with a calf strain. McCarthy's status for Saturday's game against Albany will be determined by when McCarthy is able to return to practice but Battaglia should be good to go on Saturday.

"We didn't give him (Battaglia) a million reps but they were quality reps and he didn’t report any soreness," Yale coach Tom Williams said.

Sean Williams, who has been named among Yale's players of the game both against Georgetown and Cornell, and Allen Davis, who had 2 1/2 sacks in 20 snaps against Cornell, are making things interesting in the fight for playing time at defensive end.

"What we said to the injured players is you will never lose your starting position because of injury but if you can’t beat the guy out who took your place, that is just the way it goes," Williams said. "All the guys understand that but they also know we are going to play them all."

One other item of note, the junior varsity opener against Milford Academy is back to a 1 p.m. start on Sunday at Clint Frank Field.


They are experienced, they are big on both lines and they’ve got enough skill players. Their running back is a good player, they have a receiver (Hutchins), they have a couple of guys on the outside who can catch the ball. Thye are - to date - the most talented team that we play. Their record doesn’t indicate their talent level