AMHERST — Ross Comis is expected to start at quarterback for UMass Saturday.
He was injured enough that he was unavailable to do interviews after the loss to Boston College Saturday and Tuesday night’s practice.
But UMass coach Mark Whipple said the undisclosed ailment wasn’t serious enough to threaten Comis’ ability to play in Saturday’s game against FIU (3:30 p.m. McGuirk).
“He had to get something checked on,” Whipple said. “He practiced just a little bit today.”
Whipple was confident in Comis’ ability to rebound.
“He got hit pretty good. We didn’t protect him very well. We had some guys up front that learned a lot,” Whipple said. “When you’re playing defenses, the caliber of the last two that we played, the margin of error is so slight. He’s worked his tail off for two years. He’s disappointed with the two losses. But he’s good. I love him.”
Senior receiver Bernard Davis said the players have tried to keep Comis’ confidence up.
“We let him know that everybody, the receivers, the offensive line, the running backs, we’re all behind him,” Davis said. “The defense too. Everybody has tried to stay positive.”
Whipple said getting the rushing attack on track would help Comis too.
“The biggest issue is the run game. We haven’t gotten a pop. We haven’t gotten Marquis (Young) free,” Whipple said. “It works together.”
Davis said the receivers were putting it on their on shoulders to pick up the offense.
“If we don’t block and get to the safeties, Marquis can’t break out,” he said. “If we can’t get open, Ross and Andrew (Ford, backup quarterback) have nobody to throw it to.”
MONTEIRO WILL PLAY — Whipple said that Jesse Monteiro will play Saturday. The junior safety was arrested for disorderly conduct early Sunday morning at an off-campus party. Whipple said the incident was a fight between Monteiro and former football player DuVaughn Beckford.
SOSINSKI DEPARTS — Whipple confirmed that redshirt freshman quarterback James Sosinski has left the UMass program.
The Arizona native suffered a foot injury in training camp preventing him from competing for a spot on the depth chart.
PARKING — UMass is asking fans planning to attend Saturday’s game to register online for a parking pass through links at UMassathletics.com.
Lot 11, which is closest to the stadium, costs $20 per game. Passes for the other lots are free.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage