Jaguars center John Wade has a stress fracture in his right foot and will miss about three weeks of training camp. Wade initially felt some discomfort on Monday, however he participated in both sessions of Tuesday's practice against the New Orleans Saints. Wade's injury adds to the Jaguars' woes on the offensive line, with injuries limiting the practice time of offensive tackles Tony Boselli (knee), Joe Chustz (back), Todd Fordham (knee), Leon Searcy (quadriceps) and Zach Weigert (elbow).
"He does have a stress fracture in his foot," said Jaguars head coach Tom Coughlin, "and we are hoping to say he'll be out only three weeks, but you never know. Hopefully, we will get him back as fast as possible, but predicting exact time is a very difficult thing to do."
On the team's many injuries during this year's training camp, Coughlin said. "I can't remember any team that has six different offensive tackles injured, which is pushing the envelope a little bit. There are teams worse off than that. There is one thing you have to remember: One's man's misfortune is another man's opportunity. If some of these guys can take advantage of that, we will be a better football team."
With Wade out, Quentin Neujahr will start at center. Neujahr started all 16 regular-season games in 1998. Neujahr will be backed up by David Kempfert, Brad Meester and Eric Thomas. "All these guys can snap the ball. Fortunately, even Todd Fordham can snap the ball," said Coughlin. "We have a number of people who can bring the ball up and have done so in competition. It will probably put more emphasis on developing the backup snapper on field goals and extra-points."
Coughlin said that quarterback Mark Brunell will play six to eight plays in the preseason opener Friday night at Carolina. "We will do a normal rotation. We will play the same way we have always played in the openers - we will play the first group in the first quarter, maybe X number of plays. Some players in that group won't play as many plays, but it will be the same basic rotation. We will have two offensive lines, and they will play the game. That is two offensive lines plus one, 11 guys who will play in the game."
The Jaguars will have a closed walk-through on Thursday and will travel to Charlotte, N.C. on Friday morning. Kickoff for the 2000 preseason opener between the Jaguars and Carolina Panthers is at 8:00 p.m. Friday at Ericsson Stadium.
