Storrs — Vontae Diggs shouted words of encouragement from the sideline during UConn football practice on Monday.

He'd rather be on the field.

A knee injury has temporarily sidelined the senior linebacker.

It's an unfamiliar position for Diggs, who's been healthy for the majority of his playing career dating back to his high school days at Downers Grove North in Illinois. He wore a brace on his left leg on Monday.

His spirits may be dampened a bit but not his enthusiasm for helping his teammates.

"It's very frustrating," Diggs said. "I want to be on the field and I want to be out there banging with the guys. It stinks being on the sidelines. In football, I've never been on the sidelines. I missed one game in high school. So this is tough for me.

"But I'm out there coaching up the young guys and being as enthusiastic as I can and being supportive as I can."

Diggs suffered the injury — a grade two MCL tear — in what he called a freak accident during a recent scrimmage. He's scheduled to have a procedure on Thursday.

"Everything happens for a reason and you've got to take it from there...," Diggs said. "Any given play, you could be out. So it just happened to be my turn, sadly."

He's projected to be sidelined for four to six weeks.

Don't count him out for the season opener, though.

His goal is to be back by the end of the month and ready to play on Aug. 31 when UConn hosts Holy Cross at Rentschler Field in East Hartford.

"That's my hope," Diggs said. "I don't want to sit out a practice. Sitting on the sidelines is boring to me. I've just got to keep my head up and keep on pushing every day."

Coach Randy Edsall won't be surprised if Diggs returns ahead of schedule.

"He'll have this procedure done on Thursday," Edsall said. "Once that's done, because of his athletic ability and everything else, he'll hopefully be back a little bit quicker than maybe expected."

Even for a short period, Diggs will be hard to replace. He started all 12 games last season and ranked second on the team with 84 tackles and also had eight tackles for loss, a sack and forced fumble.

Diggs is expected to be a key figure on defense once again this season.

He can still make an impact without participating in practice, according to Edsall.

"It's tough," Edsall said, "because he's a guy that has experience. He's been around and (provides) good leadership. The thing about Vontae, he's not sulking and he's not pouting. He's out here helping to coach up the younger guys."

News and notes

• Sophomore Donovan Williams, who started three games at quarterback last season, has moved to wide receiver. He asked Edsall Monday morning about making the switch. "He likes playing quarterback but he can see where some things were going," said Edsall, who also plans to use Williams on special teams. "He' a great young man, but he wants to play." ... Rain chased the Huskies inside for practice. They had a productive workout at the Shenkman Training Center. "Today was one of our better ones," Edsall said. "But we're not where we need to be. Have we made improvements? Yes. But we've still got a lot of work to do before we play a game." ... Redshirt freshman running back Nate Hopkins is making an impression. "He's better than what he was in the spring," Edsall said. "He still has got quite a bit of work to do. But I'm liking what I see." ... Freshman quarterback Jordan McAfee (concussion) is likely out for the rest of the week. He's going through the concussion protocol. ... T.J. Gardner, a freshman linebacker from Windsor, is still recovering from a knee injury suffered in high school. ... Veteran offensive lineman Ryan Crozier sat out Monday's workout due to an illness.

g.keefe@theday.com