Faulk Returns to Practice

SAN DIEGO — Marshall Faulk put on his pads and returned to practice Tuesday, but the Aztecs have not cleared him for contact work and are listing him as questionable for Saturday’s game against Wyoming.

“My ribs don’t bother me as much but there is still a lot of soreness, and I’m stiff,” said Faulk, who leads the nation in rushing at 163.8 yards a game. “I guess I’ll work out of it.”

Faulk, who fractured two ribs and punctured a lung Oct. 12 against New Mexico, will wear a flak jacket on the football field. He said he had some incidental contact in practice Tuesday but that it didn’t hurt.

Faulk, who also leads the nation in scoring (18.3 points a game) and touchdowns (18), started cardio-vascular work last week on a stationary bicycle and a Stairmaster machine. He is happy to be back on the practice field, he said, although he is still cautious.

“The past two weeks, it’s been real hard watching the team play,” he said. “I’m excited about being back at practice, period.

“What I don’t want to do is come back too early and let the injury re-occur. . . . I can’t tell you definitely when I will return.”