Pat Narduzzi talked about the loss of Rashad Weaver before Friday’s practice, and here’s the full rundown of what he said.

Narduzzi: I got some sad, unfortunate news from yesterday’s practice, something that you hate. You guys know I don’t talk about injuries to begin with, but this is one of those ones that just makes you sick to your stomach as a coach. We suffered a casualty yesterday, unfortunately, with Rashad Weaver with a knee injury, something that will have to be surgically repaired and he’ll be out for the season.

It makes me sick. It’s something you never want to see happen. We all know it’s part of the game, but it’s just not what you want to see. Unfortunately that’s how we’ve got to start this day off.

Is Deslin Alexandre the guy who gets the opportunity out of this?
Narduzzi: We’ve got a lot of guys who have to step up. We’ll put more pressure on those guys to fill Rashad’s shoes. Rashad’s going to coach; you’ll see him on the sideline with headphones on. He should be a coach someday. He’ll coach and he walked out here with a practice script already. He’s already got a schedule in his hand. So he’s ready to go.

Deslin’s got to step up, and a lot of those young guys - Kaymar’s got to step up and Haba Baldonado’s got to step up. A lot of guys got to step up. Again, those guys are always one snap away from being the next man in. We’re going to miss Rashad dearly and I feel bad for him. It’s not easy, it’s not easy to sit with the doctor and hear that news come out with just him and me and then go break it to him, it’s one of the ugliest days you can really have.

Obviously you have to move forward but kids are human; what do you tell them about moving past an injury like this?
Narduzzi: I think it’s all part of the game, unfortunately. I using that term ‘next man up’ - it’s next man up. Our guys, you can hear them hooting and hollering coming out, guys are texting me saying, ‘Coach, we’ll play our tail off for Rashad.’ You kind of use it a little bit as motivation to get the guys going and you know that each day is there for you but it’s not a given. You step out there, you might have one play and it might be your last.

What kind of drill was it?
Narduzzi: It was an inside drill, the last, very last play of inside drill. It was a pass which, inside drills, you know, 99% of the time run; I bet you we’ve thrown six passes - just a play-action pass in inside drill and he was coming off a block and the tight end’s trying to go run a route. It’s kind of a block-and-then-go, the tight end’s trying to run a route and he just kind of threw him, and as he came off of it, he just planted his foot. So technically you’d say it’s a noncontact; it’s not like someone rolled up into him. It was a ‘thud’ period, so it makes you - sometimes guys fall on your knees and that happens, but this was kind of a non-contact deal.

What was the exact injury? Was it an ACL?
Narduzzi: Yeah, it was an ACL.

Right or left?
Narduzzi: Right. Does it really matter? Really?

First week, how do you feel about how you guys are progressing?
Narduzzi: I feel good. I think guys have gotten better every day. It’s amazing, the day that Rashad gets hurt, I’m watching Haba, who’s coming back from a similar injury. The day before, he falls on his knee and kind of gets - it’s hard to go back out there because you don’t trust it. But he fell on his knee and got up and was like, ‘Oh, I’m okay.’ Then all of a sudden you saw him take a step forward like, you’re watching tape and ‘Haba’s starting to come around again.’

But after six days, going on seven today, we’re out in shells with the scrimmage tomorrow, I feel really good about where we are. Obviously you wish you were one person stronger, but I think we have a strong football team and we’ll just continue to fight and move forward. Rashad will be better for what it is. We’ll fight to get him another year back. And we’ll move on from there.

Are there any position battles of particular interest to you in tomorrow’s scrimmage?
Narduzzi: Every one of them. There’s battles, whether it’s one and two or two and three, they’re all interesting and there’s battles, really, at every position. That doesn’t matter.