Coffee is an essential part of my morning. I usually hit Dunkin' Donuts, but if I'm feeling sluggish I'll head to Starbucks because their coffee is a lot stronger. This morning I felt I needed a bit more to get me going before making the hour and a half trek to Storrs for the Tuesday media lunch, so I had the Starbucks barista pump a shot of espresso into my coffee. Talk about an eye-opener. I felt like Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School when he drinks straight coffee grinds before hitting the books and his eyes bulge out. Wow. It helped me make it to UConn in record time, that's for sure. So if you were on I-84 around 10:45 a.m., I was the guy in the Subaru flying up up your behind at 80 mph cranking Iron Maiden. Sorry about that. But for those mornings you need a little extra to wake up, get the espresso shot in a small coffee.

Some highlights from the press conference...

• Looks like offensive lineman Mike Hicks is done for at least the regular season. Edsall didn't sound like he thought Hicks would recover from his high ankle sprain and knee sprain by the time the finale at Louisville rolled around. Andrew Presnell is now the starter at right tackle.

• Terry Caulley had pins surgically inserted into his fractured hand Monday, and is wearing a cast. All went well, according to Edsall. Whether Caulley plays again this season is unknown. Edsall thought it might be a 2-3 week recovery period. He did say Caulley has a better shot of returning than Hicks. Andre Dixon will be the third string tailback while Lou Allen should get more work as Donnie Brown's backup.

• Darius Butler (hamstring) and Larry Taylor (head) should be back in action for Syracuse on Saturday.

• True freshman Zach Hurd is listed as backup at both right and left tackle, but don't expect him to play this season. Edsall said the Huskies will rotate their eight healthy offensive linemen and save the redshirt seasons for any freshman who hasn't played. If someone else gets hurt, a defensive lineman like Lawrence Green will be switched over to offense.

• Don't expect another 43-carry from Brown, who's new nickname in the locker room is "Hollywood". Edsall didn't realize Brown had 25 carries at halftime on Saturday, and will most likely get Allen more involved to give Brown a rest. Brown has 71 carries for 404 yards in his two starts, but hasn't felt fatigued yet. Probably not a good idea to keep up that pace, however.