We actually weren't expecting to get anything from UW coach Tyrone Willingham today as he wasn't scheduled to meet with the media.

But he walked briskly into the media room about an hour and 15 minutes before practice, sat down and said those in attendance would get "a little bonus.'' So we got some time with him today after all.

Willingham said the team continues to do pretty well in the injury department.

Of players not already out for the spring, four may miss practice today --- safety Darin Harris (knee), CB Jordan Murchison (ankle), WR Devin Aguilar (muscle strain) and WR Tony Chidiac (combination turf toe). Willingham said all but Chidiac could be back soon, if not today, especially Harris and Aguilar. Murchison, he said, may still be out another day or so. He said Chidiac is likely out an extended time, which sounds like probably the rest of the spring.

Willingham, however, said he wasn't happy with practice Tuesday calling it "very average at best'' and saying he hoped the team would "really step it up this afternoon.'' He said the team "just didn't execute and perform up to the standard.''

Willingham said he thinks the installation of the playbook might have had something to do with it, causing some players to think too much but that "the mature team doesn't have to deal with that. They come out ready to go. When you have installation, it makes the wheels churn a little but so there's probably more thinking going on than needed to be and we've just got to get ourselves in a position where we are lining up and playing.''

A few other notes:

--- Willingham said safety Jason Wells, out for the spring rehabbing a knee injury, "looks really good running'' and is on pace to return in time for fall camp.

--- Willingham said the team hasn't done a lot of kicking yet, so it's too early to judge any of the kicking battles. He said most of the work early on has been with the punt team since "that's the one that has the most liability with it'' and that the other kicking units will begin getting more week the following two weeks.

--- Asked how the transition of Johnie Kirton to the defensive line is going, Willingham said "I thought it was good. But obviously you can see where the absence of being away adds another period of time that took away from potential learning (of a new position). That's what you see.'' That's a reference to the trip to South Africa Kirton took over the winter quarter.

--- Also taking that trip was fullback Luke Kravitz. Willingham said he "looks pretty good'' but that the fullback position also hasn't gotten a lot of use yet so it's hard to completely judge. Kravitz said he weighs about 230, which he said is about 5-7 pounds less than last year. But he said he likes that weight and wants to play at it feeling he was too heavy when he got up to 250 a few years ago.

--- And there apparently remains no change in the status of J.R. Hasty and E.J. Savannah though we'll check to make sure at practice a little later.