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August 4, 2009

Camp Scene: Plenty of depth at running back; first-day attendance sets record

By Tom James

TERRE HAUTE — While veteran Joseph Addai and rookie Donald Brown have been getting most of the attention when it comes to running backs on the Indianapolis Colts roster, the team doesn’t appear to be short on quality depth at the position.

The Colts have five running backs in training camp this year. All of them — Addai, Brown, Mike Hart, Chad Simpson and Lance Ball — offer head coach Jim Caldwell, senior offensive coordinator Tom Moore and running backs coach Gene Huey something a little

bit different.

Hart has become something of a fan favorite since he was drafted in the sixth round a year ago. The former Michigan runner missed 11 games in 2008 after suffering a season-ending knee injury against the Baltimore Ravens.

Despite the injury, he showed enough in the preseason and during a brief appearance on offense against the Ravens to warrant a lot of consideration this year. What he lacks in size (5-9, 206 pounds), the hard-nose Syracuse, N.Y., native more than makes up in savvy and his willingness to make the most out of every play.

The 5-8, 216-pound Simpson, who began his collegiate career at South Florida before transferring to Morgan State, was originally signed by Indianapolis as an undrafted free agent a year ago. He spent most of his rookie year on the team’s practice squad.

Ball (5-9, 220), a former starter at Maryland in 2007, was added to the Colts’ practice squad in mid-October. He had previously been on the St. Louis Rams’ practice squad before being waived.

Injuries late in the 2008 season gave both of them the opportunity to show what they can do in games against AFC South rivals Jacksonville and Tennessee. Both made strong enough impressions (Ball had 83 yards rushing in 13 carries against the Titans in his only NFL regular season appearance) that they were brought back to compete for jobs this season.

“Lance has done a fine job with us. Lance is a quick study, he’s learned our system extremely fast and he executes extremely well also. He’s versatile, he’s a great special teams player and he’s shown flashes that he has speed and power. Mike Hart is coming back from injury but looks good and he had a good day [Tuesday],” said Colts coach Jim Caldwell.

“Mike is certainly going to be one of those individuals who can step in and give us some help. Overall, Chad Simpson is a similar guy to Lance, power, speed and good special teams player. I think we have a real good nucleus of backs and we’re excited. If we can keep healthy, we have a chance to have a real competitive atmosphere.”

• A Michigan man — While he’s still limited a bit during practice (usually held to one practice per day during two-a-days), Hart wants to prove to any doubters that remain that he can be a productive running back in the NFL.

If the first two days of practice are any indication, the knee injury hasn’t slowed him any. In fact, there are few signs that he was even hurt.

“It feels great. To finally get back out there [in a regular practice]. It’s been almost a year. You put in all the rehab in the offseason and then to finally get back out there, put it to work and see how your hard work has paid off. It feels real good,” the former Wolverines running back said Tuesday.

“My rehab went great. When I’m out there [in practice], I just do what I can do and I try not to hesitate. When I’m running, I don’t really think about the knee. They always say that if you try to be careful, you can hurt something else. So I just go out there, I’ll go full go and just do what I try to do.”

• Monday practices set camp record — The combined attendance for both of Monday’s practices was 3,403. According to school officials, that’s the best first-day total since training camp moved to Rose-Hulman in 1999.

Stormy weather on Tuesday, however, helped to hold the numbers down a little bit. While the Colts were able to get the morning practice in without any problems, the public special teams workout was in question until the rains slowed to a slight drizzle in the afternoon.

Despite the threat of thunderstorms, which hit hard later in the morning, and a slightly wet practice field in the afternoon, a total of 886 fans braved the elements for both sessions.

• No electricity — Tuesday’s storms caused a nearly three-hour power loss on the Rose-Hulman campus. The nasty weather hit in between the two practice sessions, knocking out the lights and electricity at the school’s Sports and Recreation Center.

Sirius NFL Radio was still able to broadcast live from noon to 3 p.m., with co-hosts Solomon Wilcots and Jim Miller interviewing Colts team president Bill Polian and Caldwell.

The weather also didn’t prevent ESPN senior NFL writer John Clayton from stopping by for the morning practice.

• Joseph Jefferson returns — Former Colts cornerback Joseph Jefferson has returned to the team as a training camp coaching intern. He is working with Indianapolis’ defensive backs.

Jefferson played at Western Kentucky, where he earned All-Gateway Conference honors and was a third-round draft pick by Indianapolis in 2002. He played five seasons with the team before injuries forced him to give up his playing career in 2005.

Also working this year’s camp as coaching interns are Sean Evans (special teams/linebackers), Gunner Twynert (quarterbacks), and Marcus Mosely.

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