Eastern Michigan junior running back Dominique Sherrer certainly didn't see an injury to his right knee as a blessing when it happened.

Eastern was wrapping up a 14-7 win over Alabama State to improve to 2-0, and Sherrer -- for the second straight week -- had more than 100 yards rushing.

The injury, which coach Ron English and Sherrer both declined to detail, would keep Sherrer on the sidelines for five games.

As Sherrer prepares to return for a 1 p.m. game Saturday home game against Western Michigan, he's seeing a silver lining.

In Sherrer's absence, former third-string running back Dominique White has emerged from the depth chart and actually led the Eagles in rushing yards each of the past three weeks with 377 yards and five touchdowns. He's combined with the team's leading rusher, Javonti Greene (476 yards, 4 TDs) to form the aptly named "Greene and White" backfield combination.

Without Sherrer's injury, White may not have gotten the opportunity to shine as he has.

"I always liked (White)," English said of White, who walked on prior to the 2010 season. "I thought he had ability, he just needed to get in shape."

Now that Sherrer is back -- he was a full participant in practice this week and said he felt "almost 100 percent" after practice on Wednesday -- all three backs say they don't feel threatened to lose carries in a three-back backfield. All three said they're excited to have that much more "ammo" in their arsenal.

"I feel like me coming back it’s definitely more ammo just because you can have fresh backs in the game all the time, so that’s definitely a plus for our team," Sherrer said.

"It's just another bonus. Just another plus to our offense," said Greene.

White is no stranger to finding the silver lining in trying circumstances. After receiving recruiting interest from programs like Clemson, Connecticut, Grand Valley State and Indiana State among others coming out of Orchard Lake St. Mary's High School in 2008, extenuating family and academic circumstances kept him out of football for two years and taking classes at Eastern in the meantime.

White decided to try out for the team last summer and spent his first season mostly on special teams. He's now shining for a team he said he never even considered attending out of high school.

"All I can say is God works in mysterious ways. It happens, so it’s what it is," White said.

Contact Pete Cunningham at petercunningham@annarbor.com or by phone at 734-623-2561. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.