The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

August 12, 2008

Monday Vikings camp report

MANKATO — The number of injuries seems to be growing as safeties Madieu Williams and Tyrell Johnson each sat out Monday’s morning practice.

Williams is sidelined with neck spasms and Johnson is out with an abdominal injury. The situation has created a dilemma for the Vikings as the team is trying different scenarios in order to replace the injured players.

That left second-year player Dee McCann, who has practiced mostly at cornerback in camp, to spend time at safety on Monday. Michael Boulware, who sat out Sunday’s practice, returned to the field and practiced with McCann on the second team.

Williams and Johnson are considered day-to-day and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier hopes at least one of them can play in Saturday’s preseason game against Baltimore.

Eric Frampton, a third-year player who primarily plays special teams, is also getting extra looks at safety.

“We went into this training camp trying to find out if (Frampton) could help us as a safety,” Frazier said. “He’s done some things to make you believe he could be a functional guy at safety. He’s improving.”

Rookies Martail Burnett and Leger Douzable split time at Monday’s practice filling in at left end on the second team for Jayme Mitchell, who has been placed on injured reserve and is out for the season. Otis Grigsby is playing with the second team at right defensive end while Brian Robison is out with a varicose vein.

Frazier said Robison may visit his coaches and fellow teammates at training camp Tuesday, but is still a few weeks away from playing.

Wide receiver Bernard Berrian sat out of the team portion of camp each of the past two days with a sore groin and linebacker Heath Farwell has been placed on injured reserve with a knee injury.

Vikings add three


With the injuries piling up, specifically on the line, the Vikings made some additions to the roster in time for Monday’s practice.

Joining the team were rookie offensive lineman Sean Dumford and Brock Pasteur and rookie defensive lineman Chris Norwell.

Dumford, from Eastern Kentucky, and Pasteur, from Stephen F. Austin State, are listed at tackle, while Norwell, from Illinois, is listed as a defensive end.

“Depth is so important in the preseason because you’re only playing your starters a limited number of reps,” Frazier said. “You want to make sure you have enough guys to have a rotation so you’re not having to put a Jared (Allen) or Ray (Edwards) back in the game because your short.”

Special teams analysis


Vikings’ special team coach Paul Ferraro gave his unit a grade of “inconsistent” for its play during Friday’s preseason game with Seattle.

He liked the runbacks by Darius Reynaud on a kick return and Jaymar Johnson on a punt return but said there is still a lot of work to be done.

“I expect to see improvement from Game 1 to Game 2 in the preseason,” Ferraro said. “That goes for both the return game and the cover game.”

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