MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Minnesota Gophers assistant football coaches expressed hope Tuesday head Coach Jerry Kill, hospitalized for seizures, will return to the sidelines Saturday.
"I'll be shocked if he's not there," defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys said. "But we have to prepare like he's not going to be there."
The St. Paul Pioneer Press said Claeys and offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover spoke about the coach's condition at the team's weekly press conference in advance of Saturday's Big Ten opener at Michigan.
Claeys said he visited Tuesday with Kill's wife Rebecca and learned the head coach was feeling fine.
Kill, 50, has been hospitalized at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., since admitting himself after suffering his latest seizure Sunday.
"The medication is a little bit different," Claeys said. "Like coach said last week, that's really what it comes down to, just trying to regulate medication. That's the only difference."
Claeys said he would stay in the press box if he had to take over head-coaching duties while assistant head coach and linebacker coach Bill Miller would deal with officials on the field.
Kill, who has a seizure disorder, suffered the first of a series of recent attacks at the Sept. 10 home game against New Mexico State.
The first-year Gophers coach had returned to practice Sept. 15 after being released from the hospital and coached against Miami of Ohio and in Saturday's home loss to North Dakota State that left Minnesota with a 1-3 record.
