August 2, 2007

'100'-star general?

2007 8-17: Wolfe in Bears 8-17: Tightends 8-16: 'Peanut' 8-16: Linebackers 8-15: D-Day 8-15: Madden '08 gets 8-15: Mannelly known 8-15: Cornerbacks 8-14: A step ahead 8-14: Offensive guards, 8-13: Benson has clear More

By Rob Laird

rlaird@daily-journal.com
815-937-3390

Devin Hester has enough nicknames to go around: "Windy City Flyer," "Anytime" and "Mr. 100" (for being the first player to record a 100 in the speed category for the Madden video game franchise). However, perhaps another nickname should be in the works: The General.

When the Chicago Bears drafted Hester in 2006, it was mostly unknown what the team intended to do with him. Because of this, some scouting publications dubbed Hester's position not as CB, WR or KR, but as GA -- general athlete.

On Wednesday, the general athlete sat out of practice with what coach Lovie Smith called "general soreness."

"Leg injury," Smith said. "You can put it like that."

Hester revealed the injury to be a tight hamstring but added that he shouldn't be out long.

"Tomorrow, I'm just going to stretch a little bit," he said. "Tonight, I'll do a lot of ice stuff, do a lot of stretching and hopefully I'll be ready by tomorrow."

* * *

Hester, whose rookie season was anything but general, was one of eight players to sit out Wednesday's workout. That's by far the most players to sit out a practice to date in this year's camp, which has been free of serious injury.

Of the eight to sit out, the most notable were Tommie Harris, who missed practice with a minor injury, and Muhsin Muhammad, who is believed to have received a Vet's Day.

Meanwhile, running back Garrett Wolfe (hamstring), defensive tackle Antonio Garay (hamstring), fullback Jon Goldsberry (quad), tight end Fontel Mines (quad) and defensive end Dan Bazuin (knee) all continued to sit out with various injuries of a mostly minor sort.

* * *

Kyle Orton received the reps with the second unit for several of the drills on Wednesday, including the two-minute drill at the end of the workout.

Orton, who entered camp leaner, stronger and without the grizzled beard of years' past, has impressed coaches and fans with his camp thus far and appears to have gained the inside track on Brian Griese for the backup spot to Rex Grossman.

"Just to get back into a competitive situation is nice," he said. "Last year coming in, I knew I was going to be the (third-string QB). This year, I took it upon myself to make it a competition."

* * *

Orton couldn't get the second unit to score during the two-minute drill, but Grossman wasted little time getting the first unit into the end zone.

On the first play, Bernard Berrian raced past strong safety Adam Archuleta to get behind the defense, and Grossman found him in stride with a bomb for the touchdown.

Earlier in practice, Grossman completed long passes to Rashied Davis and Berrian on back-to-back plays.

* * *

With Hester and Muhammad sitting out, Davis received lots of reps with the first unit while camp hopefuls Mike Hass and David Ball also got more reps than usual. Ball made a nice catch on the left sideline to loud cheers toward the end of the workout.

Meanwhile, in third-and-short situations, free agent acquisition Anthony Adams played with the first unit defense alongside Dusty Dvoracek in the absence of Harris. In other drills, newly-acquired Darwin Walker was the starting defensive tackle next to Dvoracek.