Christian Ponder connects with Percy Harvin
Credit: Mike Wobschall

Day two of padded practice (and day four of practice overall) is now complete in Mankato.  Below is all the news from the final day of July’s practice.

Injury notes:

• Did not practice: Josh Robinson, Adrian Peterson, Robert Blanton, and DeMarcus Love.
• Limited due to CBA rules: Stephen Burton and Chris Stroud
• TE John Carlson injures knee during practice.  Carlson will be out “a few weeks” with a sprained MCL.  There is no tear and surgery will not be needed

Practice notes:

• Quarterback update on 11-on-11 drills: Christian Ponder went 3 of 8; Joe Webb went 3 of 6; Sage Rosenfels went 10 of 14; and Bethel-Thompson went 0 of 3
• Leslie Frazier on Christian Ponder’s less than stellar day: “We are so early in the camp. You don’t panic about those moments.”
• Stand outs on defense: Harrison Smith with a pick and Mistral Raymond and Eric Lattimore with pass deflections
• Hit of the day: Everson Griffen lays out Lex Hillard
• Almost fight: Harrison Smith versus Mickey Shuler 

The Minnesota Vikings report to training camp on Thursday.  The best way to prepare for the upcoming season is to look at who may be on the team going forward.  Today, we’ll analyze the Vikings’ running back options.

Adrian Peterson

2011 stats (12 games):

• Totaled 970 yards — 1st season with 1,00+ yards
• 208 attempts — 4.7 yards/carry
• 12 rushing touchdowns — 1 fumble
• 18 receptions — 139 yards — 7.7 yards/catch

Adrian Peterson battled injuries during the 2011 season with missed games for ankle and knee injuries.  AP’s season was cut short on December 24th, 2011 when he tore his ACL.

As of now, Adrian Peterson aims to be ready for week one of the regular season but it is unknown until he attempts full football activities.

“Just in hearing (head athletic trainer) Eric Sugarman talk about him today and somethings he”s doing, he really is still on course and doing well but we need to see him cut, be able to explode out of a cut and change direction without having any residual effects from that,” said head coach Leslie Frazier on June 20th. “Then the net [step] would be maybe putting some shoulder pads on and seeing how he takes contact and seeing how he cuts with people coming at him but we’ve got to get to the point…There are some things we need to see before we say, ‘Okay, let’s put the pads on and go to work.”

» Continue reading “Training Camp Preview: A Glimpse At The Running Backs”