The biggest news to come out of Paul Pasqualoni's initial press conference of the 2013 season is that safety Andrew Adans, pegged to be a starter, underwent shoulder surgery and is likely to be out for a minimum of eight weeks.

Another noteworthy item is that tight end Sean McQuillan, who suffered a concussion at the same practice when Adams went down, is back at practice and could play on Thursday.

"Sean McQuillan has done pretty good," Pasqualoni said. "He is moving around, running around out there so I am optimistic that by Thursday we have a chance to have Sean McQuillan dressed and ready to play, he is out there doing some things."

Pasqualoni also announced that defensive tackle Shamar Stephen, linebacker Yawin Smallwood and offensive guard Steve Greene have been named captains after a vote by their teammates.

"The thing that the three of them have in common is they are (outstanding) players and they lead by example by how hard they work in the offseason, by how hard they work in practice and I think the players on the team respect those guys," Pasqualoni said.

"They are really serious about school; they are really serious about football so they each have a chance to be excellent leaders on this team."

Other than Adams, the only other player ruled out for the Towson game is freshman linebacker Junior Joseph due to a left knee sprain. Pasqualoni thinks Joseph could be back in a couple of weeks although it remains to be seen if he will get into a game or if he will be redshirted this season.

Other than Brian Lemelle, who is the No. 1 punt returner and also in the rotation at receiver, and Matt Walsh, set to start at fullback, Pasqualoni wasn't sure how many true freshmen will suit up on Thursday.

Jesse Joseph, who has been slowed by a knee injury, is back practicing and expected to start.

Another defensive lineman whose name came up is Andreas Knappe, the 6-9 redshirt freshman from Denmark. It's uncertain how many snaps he will see on the defensive line but he figures to be used on the  field goal and extra point block teams.

Pasqualoni admitted that in a perfect world he won't burn a year of eligibility on freshman quarterback Tim Boyle.

"You’d like to, the hope is to keep him in development," Pasqualoni said. "If the situation comes when you have to go with the third guy than that is what you do but I just want to see his progress on a weekly basis. We have done this before with a number of quarterbacks and it is almost like every week you reevaluate who you are moving forward."