Wednesday Observations: Gragg out; Offense hits stride

Tight end Chris Gragg went down in the middle of the first live-tackling scrimmage of the pre-season and looks to have dislocated his ankle, says head coach Bobby Petrino. Petrino expects Gragg will need surgery and could miss the entire season.

“I feel bad for him. He’s worked extremely hard,” Petrino said. “I’m sure it’ll be a situation he’ll have to have surgery and be out for the year.”

— Tight end D.J. Williams, for the second straight practice, was not in attendance. He tweaked an ankle during a morning practice Tuesday and has been held out as he recovers. It’s nothing serious, so expect him to return soon. Until then, Ben Cleveland has been working with the first team and did a good job today. He was sandwiched on a pass across the middle of the field, but popped safety Anthony Leon right back in the chest and bounced away for a few more yards.

— The second-team offense got the best of the first-team defense today in the 11-on-11 scrimmage today. It’s worrisome to Petrino.

The first-team offense was also very good, scoring on every possession. Most of the first-team offense’s drives came against the second teamers.

By my count, quarterback Ryan Mallett was 13-of-19 for 258 yards and 1 touchdown. Tyler Wilson was 12-of-16 passing for 189 yards and 1 touchdown

— DT Malcolm Sheppard, a day after being named to the Outland Trophy Watch List, was held out of practice. The reasoning? Petrino didn’t like the way he practiced yesterday.

“He didn’t practice like he should yesterday and put a couple of guys in jeopardy of getting injured,” Petrino said. “You have to know how to practice. You have to know how to keep the guy across from you healthy.”

— After taking some heat from those around him for not hitting the hole and breaking big runs early in fall camp, RB Broderick Green had some good runs today. He busted a draw play for 38 yards down the sideline, picked up 2 yards on the next play then exploded through a gigantic hole created by the offensive line for a 25-yard touchdown run.

“It was good to see him hit it and not hesitate,” Petrino said. “He’s got to keep working on that. He hits it hard, he uses his size and strength, doesn’t hesitate and look for holes — he makes the holes if it’s not there. I thought he did that real well today. He ran through some tackles. When you have big hips like that, guys bounce off you. That’s when you can get big runs, so I was happy to see the way he ran the ball.”

— Freshman WR Cobi Hamilton has some wheels. Early on in the scrimmage he came down with a 61-yard pass completion from Mallett and seemed to roll on top of a defender into the end zone. The play was ruled down at the 2-yard line, however.

— There was a scary moment early in practice, when free safety Elton Ford went down on the ground and was slow to get up with the help of some players. Ford, as you may remember, broke three vertebrae against Ole Miss last season and was recently cleared by team doctors to return to action for fall drills. The good news is that it looked like he just got the wind knocked out of him Wednesday and returned to his feet, much to the delight of some fans in the stands.

PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Offense: Ryan Mallett, Tyler Wilson, Cobi Hamilton and the entire offensive line.
Defense: DB David Gordon (2 pass breakups)
Special teams: Alex Tejada with field goals of 28, 35 and 42 yards.

MAKING A RETURN
Safety Anthony Leon was back on the field today after missing yesterday’s afternoon practice. OL DeMarcus Love missed his second consecutive practice with a hurt knee, but Petrino doesn’t expect him to be out long. He could be back on the field tomorrow. OL Grant Cook suffered a bone bruise in his knee yesterday and was riding a stationary bike today.

I may update with some more observations later today. But make sure to check out WholeHogSports.com for complete coverage, including quotes from players and features from the practice fields.

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