Blue White Illustrated

Miles Dieffenbach woke up Sunday morning ready to do it again. The redshirt senior from Pittsburgh, finally made his return to the playing field last week at Indiana, seven months removed from surgery to repair a torn knee ligament that he suffered in spring practice. And although his playing time within the 13-7 victory was limited, Di- effenbach finished the game healthy, unscathed and is preparing himself to handle a heavier load over the last three games of the season. "My knee felt great after the game, felt great during the game," Dieffenbach said. "We have terrific trainers and a medical staff who got me to this point and my confidence is building every day." Dieffenbach saw his first game action late in the first quarter vs. the Hoosiers, but he was taken out the very next drive. In all, he only saw 10 complete snaps. "We were able to get his feet wet," said head coach James Franklin. "Probably could have played him a little bit more, but we'd rather have been cautious on the front end than overly aggressive. I know he wants to have a bigger role this week, so we'll see how he practices and go from there." Dieffenbach said there was no "hur- dle" that he had to overcome in order to be cleared to play last Saturday. Rather, it was "a decision that myself, my fam- ily, the team doctors and the athletic trainers made. They were just oversee- ing practice and they just realized, hey, you're ready to go. Let's get you in there." A similar approach will be taken this week, as they gauge how many reps he'll handle vs. Temple. The goal last week was to play him in a series or two during each half. Then in the postgame, Franklin said they hoped to double that total by the following game. There is also an improving chance that left tackle Donovan Smith will make a return this week after missing the pre- vious two games, although he was held out of practice Sunday. Smith's status will be determined later in the week, and as Franklin said, "He's going to have to get reps in practice [in order] to have a chance to play well on Saturday." "You'd love to be in a position where you get Donovan back and Miles back," Franklin added. "Being able to have him and Miles is exciting just from an expe- rience and leadership standpoint, if nothing else." The return was exciting for Dieffen- bach, too. Perhaps most exciting was simply suiting up in his uniform and taking the field with his teammates. "It means a lot running out of the tun- nel with those guys and my teammates," he said. "That is something I've tremendously missed and I don't take for granted being out there with your guys and battling through a game and having fun. That's as fun as it gets." His teammates were thrilled to have him back, too. If Smith does indeed return this week- end, Andrew Nelson will slide back to right tackle after filling in at left tackle the last couple weeks. Nelson will wel- come the switch, but he called it "an awesome experience" to play next to Di- effenbach, even if it was for just 10 plays. "That was something that was very special to me because Miles is a guy that I really look up to," Nelson, a redshirt freshman, said. "He's taught me a lot about football, and what it means to be a student-athlete." T I M O W E N | O W E N . T I M . B W I @ G M A I L . C O M N O V E M B E R 1 2 , 2 0 1 4 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 11 Looking for more After season debut, OG Miles Dieenbach is ready for a greater impact Steve Manuel STANDING TALL Playing for the first time since off-season surgery last week vs. Indiana, Dieffenbach said his knee "felt great after the game" and "felt great during the game."

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