IN BRIEF Carimi ready? Tice uncertain

Starting right tackle Gabe Carimi referred to the injured right knee that cost him most of last season as a non-factor.

Bears offensive coordinator Mike Tice had a much different opinion.

“He’s going to take a while to be up to full speed,’’ Tice admitted of Carimi on Wednesday. “I don’t think he’s all the way back yet. The endurance in his leg is going to come with game time.’’

Tice even went as far as to make it known that reserve Chris Williams is ready and willing to give Carimi breathers throughout the game, insisting “If he gets tired, we have other guys — Chris — that can go and spell him if we have to. But I’m anxious to see him play.

“I’m excited to see how he matures as a player, how he grows. He’s a big part of what we’re trying to do and what we’re trying to be.”

Carimi, who was a firstround pick in the 2011 draft, never made it out of Game 2 against the Saints last season, when the knee was injured.

“I feel good about it,’’ Carimi again insisted when asked about the injury. “I have to warm up a little bit more, but besides that, I don’t think much about it.’’ Northwestern showdown Saturday in Evanston, especially with four Vanderbilt alumni on the Bears roster, including quarterback Jay Cutler, who was sporting his school’s hat in his Wednesday press conference. But it was Vanderbilt grad D.J. Moore that had the last word.

“I didn’t go to school to learn too much, to be honest with you,’’ Moore replied when asked which school was better for an education. “Once I got to school and got good, I was like, ‘Man, this is for the birds. It’s time to leave.’ ’’

Asked if he was being overly honest about college athletics, Moore then said, “Well, I mean, I’m smarter than some of the kids that went to Florida State or those types of schools, now. Some kids get in school with a point-nothing (GPA). They didn’t even go to high school.’’

Chuck Pagano,