Notebook | All arms on deck

Once the Penn football team headed into the locker room Tuesday, Kyle Olson remained on Franklin Field.

He stood around the 40-yard line and, after taking most of the snaps during the team’s practice, casually lofted bombs into the endzone.

That’s good news for the Quakers, who expect Olson to be fully available for Saturday’s matchup with Yale. For the first time since the season opener, Penn’s top two quarterbacks appear to be healthy.

“He’s pretty much 100 percent today,” coach Al Bagnoli said of Olson after Tuesday’s session. “We threw a lot of deep balls today. His arm is fine.”

Olson underwent major knee surgery last year, but he has recently been plagued by a bum throwing shoulder, which Bagnoli said he bruised against Dartmouth. And while the 6-foot senior dressed for each of the past two games, he could not have thrown a pass against Bucknell.

He was doing better by last Saturday, when the Quakers played at Columbia, but starter Keiffer Garton was making his return, and the coaching staff wanted to get Garton in a comfortable rhythm.

Bagnoli said that Garton — who went 11-for-19 with two touchdowns and two interceptions against the Lions — is unquestionably the team’s starting quarterback. Still, Olson should figure into the mix.

“He’s gonna play some,” Bagnoli said. “He’s got a lot of experience under his belt and throws a nice ball. He’s a good leader.”

Penn, meanwhile, is still monitoring Garton as he comes back from a right elbow injury.

He was limited to about 50 throws in practice last week and remains on what Bagnoli calls a “pitch count.”

“We’re still careful with him, not taking any chances,” Bagnoli said. “We’re trying to get his arm stretched out, back to normal.”

RBs OK. The Quakers received more good injury news when Bradford Blackmon, who twisted his ankle on the first play against the Lions, was able to run around without pain at practice this week.

Blackmon said that as he was running down the left sideline Saturday, two Columbia players, trying to tackle him, fell on top of his ankle and twisted it.

The injured area was tightly wrapped with tape on Tuesday, but the explosive running back expects to play against Yale.

“I could run around today — they just want me to keep it limited, get it back fully 100 percent,” Blackmon said. “But it’s feeling pretty good, so I’m good to go.”

All of the Quakers’ running backs practiced Tuesday, which was an encouraging sign; Lyle Marsh and Matt Hamscher have also battled ankle ailments, while Mike DiMaggio has been affected by a bad back.

If all goes well, Penn will have a healthy assortment of tailbacks, which would open up the playbook and allow the team to return to the run-heavy attack it envisioned for this season.

“It actually makes everything easier,” Blackmon said. “We’re constantly rotating in somebody that’s fresh, been on the sidelines, getting rest, getting water and the defense ­— they don’t have as deep a rotation. … The defense is a step slower while we’re a step quicker.”

Keep on kickin’. Although the Quakers have won three straight, junior Andrew Samson has struggled with his long-distance kicking.

Samson kicked at 84.2 percent in 2008, when he was named first team All-Ivy and third team All-America. He has still yet to miss an extra-point attempt in his NCAA career and has been perfect inside of 30 yards this year.

But beyond that distance, he is just 3-for-10. He missed a 43-yarder late in the first half against Columbia wide left and a 38-yarder against Bucknell the week before.

Bagnoli, however, fully believes in Samson and will continue to send him out there for longer attempts.

“We’re not disappointed,” Bagnoli said. “We think he’s capable of hitting them, and it’s just a matter of time, of getting him straightened out. It’s something that we’re working on. We still have great faith that he’ll get it figured out.”

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