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Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009

Fresno State's Feathers' focus is class, not football

FRESNO -- Fresno State reserve quarterback Ebahn Feathers might not play the rest of the season.

Feathers was not on the sideline for Saturday's win against Louisiana Tech and coach Pat Hill said the former Washington High star did not practice last week.

"He hasn't broken any rules, but he's got to take care of his academic life and some of the things that are going on in his personal life," Hill said during a bye-week news conference Monday.

"I thought it was a time of the season where we're getting close to finals and he needs to make sure he takes care of that area of his life first."

Hill said he had a meeting with the redshirt freshman Sunday morning when Feathers agreed he needed to focus on his academics.

Feathers wasn't reached for comment.

Hill said Feathers is in jeopardy of being academically ineligible if he doesn't finish up this semester well.

"I don't think you can go half speed at academics and football," Hill said. "You have to go full speed at something. Right now, I feel it's more important for him to get his academic life together, and so does he, and I think it's good."

The option-style quarterback has played in six games, completing 2 of 3 passes for

7 yards and a touchdown. He's run 11 times for 57 yards and a score.

Cal-Hi Sports named Feathers the state Medium School Player of the Year after his senior season in 2007 and The Bee named him Player of the Year after he threw for 2,157 yards, ran for 1,827 and scored 48 touchdowns (passing and running).

Mathews' status possibly determined today

Fresno State running back Ryan Mathews is scheduled to undergo a final test today to determine whether he can return to practice, team spokesman Steve Weakland said.

Mathews, who leads the nation with 149.1 yards per game in 10 contests, has been sidelined since suffering a concussion in the Bulldogs' Nov. 14 loss at Nevada. He did not play Saturday.

Weakland said a final ImPACT test -- a computer test that measures attention, memory, processing speed and reaction time -- will be the "true test of where he is." Mathews was a semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award, given to the nation's top running back. He did not make the list of three finalists announced Monday: Alabama's Mark Ingram, Stanford's Toby Gerhart and Clemson's C.J. Spiller.

Injury report

Senior cornerback A.J. Jefferson missed Saturday's game with an injury.

Hill said Jefferson, who started every game this season before Saturday, hurt his knee during practice last week and tried to give it a go before the game, but didn't have enough lateral movement.

Senior running back Anthony Harding, who injured his lateral collateral ligament Saturday, showed up to Sunday's awards banquet on crutches.

He said he would not play against Illinois on Dec. 5 but was optimistic he'd be able to play in a bowl. His MRI results were not available Monday.