Blanchard, Starks both probable

For those wondering, The Citadel's fourth-team quarterback is Brian Hill, a 5-10, 175-pound freshman from Irmo High School.

But after back-to-back games in which the Bulldogs' No. 2 and No. 3 quarterbacks have carried The Citadel to victory, football coach Kevin Higgins is hoping he won't have to dig deeper into the depth chart against Wofford this week.

Higgins said Monday that his top two QBs, Bart Blanchard and Miguel Starks, are "probable" for Saturday's game against the Terriers at Johnson Hagood Stadium.

Blanchard, who started the first six games, has not played since spraining his big toe against Western Carolina on Oct. 17, missing victories over Furman and Samford. Starks started against Furman and accounted for five touchdowns in that 38-28 victory before injuring his ankle late in the first half of last week's game against Samford.

That's when Tommy Edwards, a walk-on freshman from Los Angeles, came to the rescue with two TD passes in the second half of a 28-16 victory, earning Southern Conference freshman of the week honors.

Neither Blanchard nor Starks participated in Sunday's brief workout -- both received treatment on their injuries -- leaving the snaps to Edwards.

But after a day off Monday, Higgins said he expects Blanchard and Starks to both practice today.

"I don't know if they had to practice (Monday) how they would be," Higgins said at his weekly news conference. "But I anticipate both of them being ready for practice (this) afternoon. We'll see how they look -- 70 percent, 80 percent, 90 percent, I have no idea right now. I know they both are doing rehab and both are anxious to get back on the field.

"We'll see (today) where they are at, who gets the reps and how effective they can be."

Higgins indicated that the healthier of Blanchard and Starks will get the start against Wofford, and that if both are healthy, both should play.

"We'll have to determine who is physically better," Higgins said. "And then in terms of the game plan, we'll have to look hard at that and see what packages will work best against what Wofford does. The good thing is, we've had them both playing in different packages all season. If they both are healthy, I would anticipate both them having a chance to play, based on our packages and what our opponent does."

Higgins said that the experience of Blanchard, a redshirt junior, and Starks, a redshirt freshman, will be important against Wofford's defense, a "multiple 50" alignment with three down linemen and four linebackers.

"If those two are healthy, they're going to have the opportunity to what they can do, especially in game like this," Higgins said. "Wofford does some different things from a defensive standpoint, with three down linemen and a lot of zone blitzes. There are a lot of things you have to be able to do to execute against them."

But Edwards' performance against Samford -- he hit 10 of 20 passes for 141 yards and TDs of 55 yards to Van Dyke Jones and 11 yards to Alex Sellars -- means there's depth beyond Blanchard and Starks.

"Now we know we have a viable guy who can get it done," Higgins said. "Tommy's been learning and understands the game plan, but we had no idea how he would react when we put him in the game. It was a great job executing by him."

Starks, 6-2 and 219 pounds, was the SoCon player of the week after rushing for 144 yards and four TDs and passing for 183 yards and another score against Furman. But he, along with the entire offense, was ineffective early against Samford, with Starks hitting 6 of 12 passes for 38 yards and throwing his first interception of the season while rushing for 24 yards on eight carries.

Blanchard, who's been hampered all season by an ankle injury suffered in preseason practice, has hit 61.1 percent of his passes for 887 yards, with 11 TDs and seven interceptions in six games.

Notes

Higgins said that a name plate for the back of Edwards' jersey arrived Monday. Edwards did not have his name on the back of his No. 9 jersey against Samford ... In addition to Edwards, cornerback Cortez Allen was named SoCon defensive player of the week. He intercepted two passes and ran one back for an 82-yard TD against Samford ... RB Van Dyke Jones, CB Cortez Allen and DE Milford Scott were named The Citadel's offensive, defensive and special-teams players of the game against Samford.

Reach Jeff Hartsell at jhartsell@postandcourier.com.