The biggest storyline heading into the game this Saturday has to be the injuries piling up for the Georgia Southern University football team.

Every football team deals with its share of injuries throughout the season, but the Eagles have been bitten by the injury bug early and often.  The backfield in particular has been decimated by injuries.

“Huggins got hurt in camp, Govan got hurt in camp. He’s at least practicing. Not completely healthy, but at least practicing,” head coach Jeff Monken said.  “Youyoute, same boat. Got hurt in camp and the rest of them got chipped away on since we started.”

So what are the Eagles going to do at running back with so many players hurting?  Looks like we could see another week of senior quarterback Jerick McKinnon at running back.

Two weeks ago at Wofford College, Monken took some heat for starting McKinnon at running back.  With junior fullback Dominique Swope and senior fullback William Banks both banged up, Monken had to shift some pieces around to fill the void.

Banks turned in a tough performance but the splint on his finger led to a crucial fumble in GSU territory.  Swope carried the ball 15 times but only had three touches in the fourth quarter.

“When you don’t have guys that are healthy and you know that you really have to be wise about who you use so that you can get through the whole season with the guys you got, you have to do some different things,” Monken said.

When GSU plays the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Swope and Banks will be at less than 100 percent.  If that was not enough to worry about, redshirt senior running back Torrance Hunt has been suspended indefinitely for a violation of team and university rules.

Hunt scored a touchdown in every game this season, and that production will surely be missed on the field.  That could mean more carries for inexperienced players on Saturday.

That is a scary thought considering UTC has the stingiest defense in the Southern Conference this season.  The Mocs are giving up 18 points a game and only allowing 145 yards on the ground.

“That’s football. Everybody has got guys hurt,” Monken said.  “We’ll get as many as we can healthy and go into the game Saturday and play with the ones that are healthy.”