The bye week has given plenty of time for injured players to recover. Todd Thomas will finally get a chance to see some action.

Coach Paul Chryst said linebacker Todd Thomas, who has missed the entire season after January knee surgery but has been practicing for several weeks, might play Friday at Syracuse. Thomas started six games last season. “I am certainly looking forward to watching him play,” Chryst said.

Tight end Hubie Graham, defensive tackle Aaron Donald, and fullback Mark Giubilato are also recovered from various injuries. The only player on the two-deep that is out is defensive end, Jack Lippert.

Rushel Shell still appears to be dealing with some back issues that have been on-and-off since training camp, but is also likely to be ready.

Ray Graham is no longer worried about his knee, physically. He thinks the biggest issue now is mental.

“I feel as though I’m doing good. I’m at a point where I’m doing better every week,” Graham said. “The knee is at 100 percent. There’s nothing wrong with it.”

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Graham said the physical challenges of his return have been conquered. Now, it’s just a matter of fully trusting his muscle memory.

“It’s just a mental thing, wanting to be out there when you’re not ready. The competitor that I am, once I go, I don’t want to half-step anything,” he said. It’s just getting my feel back with me. With time, it can only get better.

Even with a bye week, Coach Paul Chryst had the players practicing in pads much more than the players ever had.

“Coach had us going hard every day,” wide receiver Cam Saddler said. “That was something different.”

Saddler, a fifth-year senior, said that was the first time he could remember the team wearing pads during practice when there wasn’t a game to play that week.

“With our last coach (Todd Graham), we weren’t in pads a lot, really,” he said. “Coach (Dave) Wannstedt used to put us in some pads, though, but I don’t think during bye weeks.”

Chryst set up scrimmage situations, with the first-team offense tangling with the first-team defense. At the end, he matched the younger players against one another, with the veterans on the sideline, shouting encouragement.

“It was competitive,” Saddler said.

Said Chryst: “(We were) doing some ‘good against good’ and trying to maintain playing and adjusting (to game situations), so that we don’t have a big adjustment to the speed of the game.”

A recent history of poor performances coming off the bye week may have had something to do with it. More likely, the reasoning involved the early nature of the bye week. Only 4 games in — and the last one against a patsy — the team is still learning a lot.

The ever garrulous Saddler was trotted out to the media frequently this week. Saddler has a goal against Syracuse. To get into the endzone whether on the punt return or receiving.

Saddler, a fifth-year senior, has been returning punts on and off for Pitt since his redshirt freshman season in 2009 and has handled all seven this season. In 39 career attempts, though, he has yet to take one all the way.

Syracuse ranks last in Division I-A in net punting with 28.1 yards per kick. The Orange allowed an 82-yard return for a touchdown in their season-opener against Northwestern and a 31-yard return the next week against Southern California.

Saddler said the fact that the Friday night game is being played inside the Carrier Dome should help him get a read on balls before he sets up his return.

“I’m a fan of the indoor thing,” he said. “The punts are easier to catch in there. That’s the only reason why. The ball travels different indoors.”

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Saddler said that in the past off week, he focused on healing his banged up shoulder, as well as staying upright when he catches the ball. As exciting as the diving catches are, they don’t help you get in the end zone.

“I want to stand up and score a touchdown,” Saddler said. “So I’ve been trying to practice catching low balls, high balls, staying on my feet.”

Saddler took a bit of abuse from his fellow wide receivers after the Gardner-Webb game when he got stopped a yard short of the endzone on a reception. Especially since Shanahan had two and Street had one TD reception in the game. I’m sure that fuels a bit of his desire.