Memphis football's Ryan Silverfield calls out opposing coaches over 'toilet paper' depth charts

Memphis football coach Ryan Silverfield is annoyed.

Silverfield has expressed his frustration with depth charts and injury information from Memphis' opponents on multiple occasions this season. But he doubled down on that during an appearance Thursday morning on "Sports 56 Mornings with Greg and Eli," the morning radio show hosted by Greg Gaston and Eli Savoie.

"We have these guys listed as starters and then they don't even make the trip," Silverfield said. "The depth charts we're seeing from our opponents are as good as the toilet paper in the bathroom because they don't mean anything."

The Tigers (7-2, 4-1 AAC) have their own injury questions this week, because quarterback Seth Henigan was injured during Saturday's win over South Florida and it's unclear if he'll play on Saturday (1 p.m., ESPN+) at Charlotte. He came back in the game for a drive before pulling himself back out of the game with an apparent left arm injury.

Henigan was replaced by Tevin Carter, who threw an 85-yard touchdown pass on his first play and later finished the game. Carter would start on Saturday if Henigan isn't able to play.

Running back Blake Watson was also "day to day" on Monday, Silverfield said.

More: Memphis football coach Ryan Silverfield updates injured quarterback Seth Henigan's status

After the win over UAB earlier this season, Silverfield expressed his frustration with the way the Blazers and coach Trent Dilfer handled their own quarterback injury situation. Usual starter Jacob Zeno took the field and warmed up, but was later ruled out just minutes before kickoff. A UAB spokesman said Zeno had not cleared concussion protocol, but Dilfer said after the game that Zeno had cleared the protocol. Dilfer said he wasn't comfortable playing Zeno, even though he was cleared to play.

With Zeno out, UAB played three different quarterbacks and had the Memphis defense confused for the first half, when the game was close. The Tigers pulled away after halftime en route to a 45-21 win.

After the game, Silverfield called it "unusual."

"They warmed up a quarterback that didn't even play, which is unusual," he said. "I've never seen that. I hope he's OK, obviously. But they warmed up a quarterback, so obviously you're expecting something and then they brought in a multitude of different quarterbacks. I don't even know how many quarterbacks they played. And they all brought a different element to the game.

"Part of it was, is this guy a runner, is this guy a passer? You obviously study who the No. 2 is on the depth chart. They also had a running back listed on the depth chart as a No. 2 guy that was out for the season with an ACL. So that's on us. We've just got to continue to — obviously you're only given a certain window of game film."

At his Monday press conference two days after the game, he again addressed depth charts.

"I always think it's good to be real with you, and straightforward," he said. "For you guys that come out here on a day-to-day, that this is y'all's careers as well, if I can be open on something, and it's not going to be a major difference on Saturday, I'm going to be open. And if a guy is lost for the season, and I know he is, and it's not a violation to talk about what the injury is, sure."

Charlotte coach Biff Poggi said before the 49ers' game against Tulsa that he was suspending an unknown number of players for their conduct, but did not say who the players were.

This week, with Henigan's injury, Silverfield said Monday that Henigan was "day to day." During the Thursday radio segment, he jokingly suggested Charlotte (3-6, 2-3 AAC) should prepare for fifth-string quarterback Matt Dean.

"I could play that game, but I do respect our local media and so I try to be pretty transparent with things," he said. "Unfortunately, we're getting more and more where we're not — I mean, where a guy is suspended for a game and is listed as a starter on the previous week's depth chart. We want to be transparent, we want to be open. I hope they're also preparing for Matt Dean, our fifth-string quarterback. So I want to throw that one out there, that they should go back and watch high school film on him. Because I feel like that's what we've done all throughout college football and especially with our conference, where these coaches are taking it very lightly on what the depth chart actually means."

Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @thejonahdylan.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis football coach calls out opponents 'toilet paper' depth charts