The Massachusetts football team got a bit of good news on the injury front on Monday.

Senior tight end Rob Blanchflower, who has been sidelined for over a month with a pair of undisclosed injuries, was back at practice and in full pads on Monday. His contributions during practice were limited, though, and an announcement on his status for Saturday’s game against Vanderbilt will be made later on this week.

One teammate that is especially happy to have Blanchflower back in practice is quarterback A.J. Doyle. If Blanchflower plays on Saturday, he will provide Doyle with another weapon to target against the Commodore’s Southeastern Conference-style defense.

“I mean, it’s gonna be a great help,” Doyle said. “We got our leader back, our captain back. He’s a presence that you have to pay attention to. There’s no way that Vanderbilt’s gonna be able to leave him open without us making them pay for it.”

Two Minutemen who were still out of practice on Monday were junior running back Jordan Broadnax, who is dealing with a knee injury, and wide receiver Shakur Nesmith, who is out with a shoulder injury. However, senior defensive lineman Galen Clemons did return to practice after missing the Kansas State game, according to MassLive.com’s Daniel Malone.

Cameron McDonough can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @Cam_McDonough.