Freshman M.J. Rivers II has stepped in for Bush, but head coach Lovie Smith said the bye week was big for Bush on his way back from injury.

“It’s helping an awful lot," Smith said. "When you have a hamstring injury, everybody thinks when there’s no pain you’re ready to go. You want players like AJ. He hurt it on a Saturday, he thought he was ready to go the next day.

"You’ve got to hold those guys back. These weeks allowed him to heal up. He stayed into it. It’s just a matter of time until he’ll be back out there."

Though Rivers has played well, (46 of 73, 422 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT), offensive coordinator Rod Smith reiterated Monday that when healthy Bush remains the starting quarterback.

“AJ’s our guy," Rod Smith said. "I’m not going to pull a guy because he got injured. He had a great camp and did some good things. He’s our guy. M.J. has showed me that if something does happen to our guy, that he could be our guy as well; he's played well enough. We have a good situation going forward."

Defensive lineman Jamal Woods suffered an injury during the Penn State game and isn't expected to play against Rutgers, though Lovie Smith said Jamal Milan could return soon to make his season debut after suffering a knee injury in training camp.