Abbrederis should be OK for UW vs. Illini

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An injury to Wisconsin’s top threat in its passing game isn’t expected to bleed into this coming  weekend.

Jared Abbrederis suffered a head injury early in the second quarter of the Badgers’ pasting of Northwestern and did not return.  Fortunately for UW, head coach Gary Andersen said in his postgame talk with the media that the injury — the word “concussion was not used — should not have any impact on  availability for Saturday’s game against Illinois.

The loss of the senior, though, did have a bright spot as a season-high eight Badgers were on the receiving end of catches in the 35-6 win.  The fact that others stepped up in Abbrederis’ absence was encouraging to Andersen.

“That’s been the challenge,” Andersen said. “We’ve talked about it all year long; having a couple wide receivers step up and help Jared out. Well today there was no Jared, so they had to help our offense out. We’re getting better in that area.”

Still, having Abbrederis available as the Badgers continue to look to rebound from a pair of September losses is critical.

Obviously the team’s leader in all major receiving categories, Abbrederis, despite missing most of this last game, is 15th nationally in yards per game (107.7) and 21st in receiving touchdowns with five.  His 5.8 receptions per game is No. 40 in the country.