ALBANY - Freshman running back Tramaine Wilson has been suspended for one week according to coach Bob Ford for violating team regulations.

Ford wouldn't elaborate, but said he will "hopefully" be back next week.

Wilson, who the coaches were very high on during the preseason, has rushed for 50 yards on 24 carries so far this season.

That leaves the Great Danes (1-1) with Andrew Smith, freshman Dillon Romain and redshirt freshman Amsterdam High graduate Ben Miseikis in the back field for Saturday's Northeast Conference opener at Duquesne (2-1).

Smith will play, after missing the Stephen F. Austin game because of a leg injury.

Other Injury notes:

• Left guard Kyle O'Keefe back, but won't play the whole game
• Wide receiver Jason Poore has a hamstring issue, but he'll play
  

"There's two times that you're going to be healthy," Ford said. "Fourth of July and Christmas. In between, you'll always have aches and pains."

My colleague Will Montgomery got over to UAlbany practice for the first day yesterday.

Here's his story.

By William Montgomery
The Record

ALBANY — Chris Blais didn’t play a single snap for the University at Albany football team in 2009 — he just heard that sound twice in his right hand.

Blais, a senior outside linebacker who played high school football at La Salle Institute, tore a ligament in his right hand during the 2009 preseason. He had that surgically repaired and was working to come back for the Great Danes' game against Monmouth in week eight when he broke two bones in the same hand and had to sit for the remainder of the season.

Not only was it frustrating for him to be off the football field as a player, it made life hard for the natural right-hander off the field as well.

“Everything I did, brush my teeth, make food, it was a little bit difficult to do,” Blais said after Monday's practice, the first of the season for UAlbany. “After about two or three weeks, I started to become ambidextrous. I started to use my left hand and I could throw a football with my left hand, but it was still really difficult to do everything.”

Blais didn't sit idly by during the 2009 season. He served as a sort of assistant coach to Akeem Cedeno, who was in charge of the linebackers and is currently the tight ends coach.

For that dedication to the team, UAlbany head coach Bob Ford mentioned Blais specifically as a leader to look for on this year's squad. The Great Danes are dealing with the absence of 17 seniors, many of whom Ford described as “franchise” players, including running back David McCarty, quarterback Vinny Esposito and wide receiver Tim Bush.

“The coaches say that it's never a rebuilding season, it's a reloading season,” Blais said. “We lost our whole linebacker corps, but we have guys that can step in and that are ready to go. We have guys that got some time last year and aren't afraid to get in there and know what they're doing.”

On the other side of the ball, Hoosick Falls native Jason Poore enters his senior season as the Danes' top returning wide receiver. He caught 26 passes for 243 yards and a pair of touchdowns in 2009.

“It's big. I have a big opportunity to make something happen this year,” said Poore. “With Bush leaving, we need someone to fill in all of his catches and all of the plays he made.”

Poore is one of UAlbany's few returning skill players, but he said that a solid group of 25 players were together for regular spring and summer workouts that made the first day of practice a little less nerve-wracking. Picked No. 3 in the Northeast Conference preseason coaches' poll, Poore and the Danes are also glad to have the target off their backs for once.

A season ago, the Great Danes went 7-4, finishing second in the NEC standings.

“Every year our goal is to win the conference and hopefully make the playoff game,” he said. “This year, if we win our conference, we get an automatic (NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoffs) bid. Now that we're No. 3, not everyone is gunning for us. Now we can go start hunting people out."

I'll be getting over to practice today to do another story on the Great Danes.

The Great Danes held on against a very game Bryant squad 20-17 today at University Field.

Big games for quarterback Vinny Esposito, Tim Bush and Hoosick Falls native Jason Poore.

The win gives UAlbany their 17th consecutive Northeast Conference victory, a conference record.

Note: This will be the first of a numerous part series where I get a chance to speak with a UAlbany football player about things they do on a day-to-day basis. Once the season begins, it will be more about how they are preparing for that week's opponent and what the focus is on. Usually, this feature will run earlier in the week. This will run in more of a diary fashion rather than a story.

On Friday, I had a chance to speak with Hoosick Falls native and junior wide receiver Jason Poore.

Poore caught 15 passes for 196 yards and one touchdown in 2008. At 6-foot-6, 210-pounds Poore can be a big target, especially around the end zone.

To start our conversation I asked Jason what a typical day of preseason consists of.

JP: We wake up around 7:15 (am). You get treatment if you need it and then we have a meeting around 8. We go over some plays, get taped and dressed and head out to the field around 8:50. We practice from 9-11. We head back in, shower and go eat around 11:30. We're back at 1:15 (pm) for a meeting with our positions. We tape and dress again and then practice from 3-5. At 5:30 or 6, we got and eat again and then have a team meeting at 6:30 before another meeting with our individual positions. That lasts until about 10 and then we have until 11 before we have to go to sleep.

I asked Jason what the players do in their spare time in between practices.

JP: Sometimes we'll get 45 minutes to an hour, where we'll hang out in the locker room and watch TV (Sports Center or movies on HBO said Poore, who said players will often catch up on sleep at that time).

I asked Jason how does preseason camp differ for a veteran like him compared to a freshman.

JP: The first week is more learning the plays over and over. Since I'm coming back for my fourth year, the plays are kind of the same. Now, we're in meetings where we watch film of that day's practice and are correcting mistakes so we don't make the same errors over and over.

I asked Jason how two-a-day practices compare to practice once the school year begins.

JP: It's easier because you don't have to worry about doing homework once you get done because after practice, you're always tired, but I think during the school year, it's a little easier because there's less practice and we have more free time.

I asked Jason about the upcoming season, the first game and thoughts about a three-peat.

JP: We've been thinking about this (the first game) since last year. It's a great opportunity to showcase what we have and put our name out there on a bigger scale. Everybody's thinking about taking it one game at a time and just trying to get the three-peat. That's what we're aiming for, nothing less than that.

Finally, I asked Jason what he did this summer. He worked with the grounds crew helping prepare the field for the New York Giants training camp.

JP: It was good experience. I got to learn how much work actually goes in to keeping the field ready and stuff I didn't even know that they did and how many times they have to paint the field. I was taken back by how much they actually do.

Poore said he would work from 7 a.m.-3 p.m. then go lift until 4:30 and then run on the track until 6.

(UAlbany Athletics)

Thanks to Jason for giving me a few minutes of his time and hopefully this was something worthwhile and informative.

Again, I'll be trying to catch up with a local UAlbany player each week. Next time I'll be discussing the first game of the season.