It's a little odd sitting here in the bowels of Gampel Pavilion as I prepare to give you the recap of Saturday spring practice. There's some sort of American Indian festival happening on the court, with tribal drums, ceremonial dancing and chanting. Think of the Brady Bunch episode where they visit the Grand Canyon. You know, the one where Bobby and Cindy sneak hot dogs and beans hidden in a flashlight to the little Indian boy who ran away. Jeez, I'm really dating myself. Anyway, they just gave me an honorary Indian name. Armed with a couple bags of chips and a tall Arizona Iced Tea as I made my way through the procession to my work area, I'm now known as "Chief Snacks a Lot".

Here's a quick rundown of the day's practice.

• I speculated about the offensive line changes in my last posting. Edsall confirmed them today. Zach Hurd and Mo Petrus are now the starting guards. Mike Hicks was moved to tackle. Dan Ryan and Alex LaMagdelaine (still injured) are on the second team. Hurd had a rough day, taking some dumb penalties during the scrimmage and prompting Edsall to shout "Zach! Get your head out of your ass!" Hurd, a tackle until this week, is still getting adjusted to guard. He says he checks with center Keith Gray a lot to see if he's doing the right things. "Spring is an evaluation period," Hurd said. "I'm just trying to get better every day until the fall."

• Edsall on the changes to the o-line, "Zach and Mo deserve to be in there as the starting guards. We've been watching Mike Hicks, and just felt he was more suited to be a tackle rather than a guard. But we like the physicalness of Zach and Mo. In the end, you need to be more physical and aggressive up front. Through six practices, they're doing the things I need to see from the offensive line."

• Andre Dixon, Steve Brouse and Trey Tonsing were among those who didn't practice. Edsall expects Dixon and Brouse back Tuesday. Tonsing will miss the remainder of the spring with a knee sprain. LaMagdelaine, suffering from a shoulder malady, may be out another week.

• Darius Butler spent the scrimmage as a wide receiver. Edsall said he designed it so the emphasis would be on the passing game today, and that he still wants to see how Butler can help the most as a receiver. Butler couldn't be happier. "I've been trying to get in there at wide receiver since I got here," he said.

• Robbie Frey had a great practice, busting loose for at least two long runs. With Dixon out, and Donald Brown getting a lighter load for the day, Edsall wanted to see more of Frey and Screamin' Meme Wylie. He liked both. Yianni the Greek is also catching praise with his solid play, and could be in the process of stealing time from backup Martin Bedard (who had a bad day and caught much of Edsall's wrath in the scrimmage).

• Today was the first day for the 2-minute drill, which took up the latter half of practice. Not exactly pretty from an offensive standpoint. We'll leave it at that.

• Ellis Gaulden had surgery on his tendon yesterday, and is expected to make a full recovery. He'll start rehab right away with the hope of being back in the fall.

• A bunch of recruits at practice, including what seemed like half the starting squad from Don Bosco Prep in Joisey. Coach Ed McCarthy from West Haven High also had four large gentlemen in tow. Jake White, the quarterback from Foran-Milford whose been know to throw as many as 50 times in a game, was also there. He set a state record with 38 completions against North Haven last fall, throwing for over 500 yards and five TDs, and is catching interest from lots of Division I-A programs.