If the injury bug continues to strike Syracuse and AJ Long is the next victim, Scott Shafer feels pretty good about his new second-string quarterback.

“I’ve always been a big fan of Mitch Kimble,” SU’s head coach said at his weekly Thursday morning press conference. “He’s a bright young man, he’s got good feet. He can run. He’s fast. Great long jumper in high school. His arm’s good. So I’m interested to see how he continues to develop.”

Austin Wilson’s is listed as out for Saturday, according to the injury report which SU released on Thursday evening.

Long will start at quarterback when Syracuse (2-4, 0-2 Atlantic Coast) takes on Wake Forest (2-4, 0-2) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on Saturday at noon. Wilson started in SU’s 38-20 loss to Florida State on Saturday but couldn’t finish it, leaving with an upper-body injury and what Shafer called a “pretty good headache” after the game.

Terrel Hunt, the Orange’s starter to begin the season, is healing from a fractured fibula he suffered Oct. 3.

Kimble is the only one of Syracuse’s four quarterbacks who has yet to appear in a game, but Shafer praised the progress he’s made in his first week as the second-string quarterback.

“He’s done a nice job in his first week of really getting a lot of reps,” Shafer said. “I’ve seen marked improvement from Day 1 to Day 3 over the course of our practice schedule.”

When asked if the Orange plans to use Kimble against Wake Forest, Shafer didn’t rule it out.

“The real answer,” Shafer responded, “is there’s a plan to play anybody on the travel list and he’s on the travel list, so he’s got to be ready to play.”

Published on October 16, 2014 at 6:36 pm

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb