2011 Colts Training Camp: Notes From Monday's Practice

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Dallas Clark and Anthony Gonzalez stretch out prior to practice"]Clark and Gonzo [/caption]

Monday's practice at Anderson University consisted of two practices: one at 8:30 AM and one at 3:30 PM. The afternoon practice is just special teams, and is currently underway.

From the Morning practice came some interesting notes, including injury updates for several players:

• Ernie Sims had an appendectomy on Sunday, after standing out on Saturday during the Blue and White scrimmage. According to Jim Caldwell, Sims has a two-week timetable.
• Jamaal Anderson injured his hamstring during practice and needed to have it wrapped. The extent of the injury is not known as of now.
• Jamey Richards and Joe Horn also left practice with undisclosed injuries today.
• Jeff Saturday got some limited work in during Monday's practice. Tom James reports that the Colts are working him back slowly.
• The players who sat out Monday's practice included: Peyton Manning (PUP), Blair White (PUP), Brody Eldridge, James Williams, Jamie Thomas, Chris Rucker, Kole Heckendorf, Rob Myers (UPDATE: Myers was waived this afternoon), and Dwight Freeney
• Kavell Conner returned to practice after dislocating his pinkie on Friday. Conner said he can still tackle, which is a good thing.
• TCU undrafted rookie C Jake Kirkpatrick has been moving up the ranks on the depth chart, taking snaps with the second team during Monday's practice.
• Joe Reitz and Jeff Linkenbach have been working with the first team offensive line, with Link at LT and Reitz at LG.
• According to Nick Pease, Jeff Saturday lined up at WR and ran a quick slant, drawing a roar from the crowd in Anderson. Jeff Saturday is hilarious. If you haven't seen this yet, watch it now.
• Before tweaking his hammy, Jamaal Anderson was working with the first team defensive line in Freeney's place. Jerry Hughes was also playing well, according to Pease.
• Phil B reported that Anthony Castonzo needs to step it up in order to start at the beginning of the season. Benjamin Ijalana was out playing him in at least one drill. I hope Castonzo can progress quickly, because the Colts need him to start at LT. While I like Link, I would love for him to supplant Ryan Diem.
• Who Phil B sees starting at OL on September 11: Saturday, Diem, Pollak. He's not sure on the LT and LG.
• See Pease's and Phil B's Twitter accounts for more details.

Quotes: From Caldwell on the cornerback battle:

“Right now I think it’s good and healthy and spirited competition. We have a good sense of what Jerraud (Powers) can do. He’s been a very fine player for us, and (Jacob) Lacey as well. Then there’s some guys like Kevin Thomas that we don’t know much about because he was with us of all about half of an individual period before he was hurt last year, but today he looked like he was moving around and feeling good. Justin Tryon obviously played for us last year so we know a little bit about him. He’s a good cover-man and he’s working on some of the things that he’s maybe not so good at. We have a good balance of guys, a good nucleus, and then Chris Rucker who’s down, but hopefully he’ll be able to come back tomorrow and get after it a little bit.”

On the second year linebackers:

“Any time you have good veteran depth, guys that have games under their belt, it makes a big difference because they understand speed of the competition. It makes you feel a lot better because you know when they’re going in they aren’t going to make a lot of young mistakes due to inexperience, so you feel good about that.” “They are also the right kind of people (Kavell Connor and Pat Angerer.) They run hard.  They tackle.  They’re good leaders and both the guys are guys that don’t say a word, they just practice and play.  So, they’re fun to be around.  They are real professionals.  That’s the word I could use and that I could use on a number of cases out there on our team, but those two guys are certainly two guys who understand and get it and have been functioning well thus far.”

On Jerry Hughes:

"When you look at him purely from what he’s done on the practice field, we think he’s made quite a bit of improvement. But the proof is in the pudding as well. We have to be able to see what happens in the course of a ball game."

Dan Orlovsky on QB competition:

          “My biggest thing is to go out learn and compete.  I don’t know the exact situation. Obviously, Curtis is the back-up right now, that’s my assumption, but I am just going to go out and compete. I have been in Curtis’ shoes before, so I know what it is like. I am just going to go out there and compete and go play and play well and make it hard on the coaches.”

Overall, I like to see the good things coming out of camp on the defensive line. There has been a good amount of praise on Hughes, Drake Nevis, and Tommie Harris, three guys who the Colts need to play well in 2011. The offensive line is still a concern, as Ijalana and Costanzo are still practicing with the second team. Still, I have confidence that they'll be in good shape by about three or four games into the season. But I'd like to see the line be solidified by the opener at Houston. I'm just ready for an actual game of football. Saturday can't come quick enough. [UPDATE] Nick Pease posted a compilation of his observations from being at Monday's practice here.