ESPN Big East Blog

Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett

After a season full of shuffling through quarterbacks, Cincinnati could soon be flush with signal-callers.

Junior Tony Pike, who broke his left, non-throwing arm in the Sept. 27 game against Akron, could be back for the Bearcats next contest at Connecticut on Oct. 25. Dustin Grutza, the season-opening starter who broke his leg and tore ankle ligaments in the Oklahoma game, could return as soon as the week of the Nov. 8 game against West Virginia. And Cincinnati still has redshirt freshman Chazz Anderson, who's gone 2-0 since Pike went down.

How will head coach Brian Kelly deal with the situation when all three guys are healthy?

"I think they'll handle it the way they've handled it all year," Kelly said. "They are truly pulling for each other, and they know I'm going to play the best guy. They've been great about understanding that. Grutza was great last year when it was Ben Mauk. I'm not worried about that. They're all selfless."

Kelly has done a fabulous job so far at keeping the Bearcats (5-1, 1-0 Big East) afloat in the wake of the injuries. Cincinnati leads the Big East in passing yards per game (257.8) and pass efficiency despite all the instability.

In two games, Anderson is 37-of-55 for 397 yards, with two touchdowns and an interception. He was 21-of-29 for 239 yards in a 13-10 win over Rutgers on Saturday.

"He was 21 for 29, but a lot of plays were left out there," Kelly said. "He showed some inexperience. Maybe we gave him a little too much to do after he had such great success managing the game against Marshall (in his first start).

"But he's the only quarterback on our team right now that has a Big East win, so he's still doing some pretty good things."

Pike has done only limited individual throwing since his arm injury but should return to organized passing drills during this week's bye. Kelly said he won't know until the end of this week whether Pike -- who has completed 67.1 percent of his passes for 634 yards and six touchdowns with only one interception this year -- will be ready for the UConn game.

"If you told me Tony Pike was going to be 100 percent, then he would be our starter," Kelly said. "He didn't do anything to lose the job. If he's not 100 percent, then Chazz Anderson has a very good chance of starting."

Grutza is on pace to return within his original eight-week timeframe, which would have him returning to practice the week before the Bearcats travel to Morgantown. The senior won the job out of training camp and completed 70 percent of his passes in the first two games.

"We'll have to see how he responds," Kelly said. "It's difficult sometimes when your ankle is not 100 percent on your drops and your escapability."

If all three are healthy at the same time, Kelly will have some decisions to make. But that's a problem he'll gladly accept as opposed to the alternative.