The Johns Hopkins football team has run up an 8-0 overall record and a 7-0 mark in the Centennial Conference thanks in part to the league's most prolific passing attack, averaging 257.4 yards and scoring 16 touchdowns. That unit may get stronger with the return of a starting wide receiver.
Senior Bob D'Orazio has missed the past two games because of a hamstring injury, but coach Jim Margraff said D'Orazio is expected to play in Saturday's home finale against Franklin & Marshall (5-3, 5-2).
"It's very, very likely that he'll be ready for the game," Margraff said Wednesday. "He'd have to have a setback [to not play]. He's ready to go right now."
D'Orazio, who leads the offense in touchdown catches (four) and ranks second in receiving yards (320), was close to returning for last Saturday's 24-18 victory over Ursinus, but the team elected to keep him on the sideline one more week.
Margraff said D'Orazio has looked healthier this week.
"He was running around [Tuesday]," Margraff said. "He didn't do a full practice, but he was running pass routes and doing a lot of things. He looked pretty good, so I expect that he'll be at full-go [Wednesday]."
D'Orazio, who was the offense's leader in receiving yards, was leapfrogged by senior Dan Wodicka, who caught five balls for 65 yards and two touchdowns in the win against Ursinus. Wodicka, whose father, George, graduated in 1982 from Johns Hopkins alongside Margraff, has 366 yards and three touchdowns receiving; he missed one game because of an undisclosed injury.
"Dan's a great football player," Margraff said. "He was hurt in the first half of the year. He started looking healthy around the Gettysburg game [on Oct. 26] and right now, I'm waiting for him to have an absolute breakout game, and it'll happen real soon."
Wodicka has 3,008 career receiving yards and is the Centennial Conference's all-time leader in catches with 247, but Margraff said he has been more impressed with Wodicka's work ethic.
"He's a great talent, but he works incredibly hard," he said. "He never takes a play off. He's a terrific leader. I think there's a great deal of comfort. He's a guy you want to get involved in the game plan early, especially now that he's healthy. So I'm really excited as we get this push to postseason play to have him at full strength right now. That's probably one of the biggest plusses we have right now."