As it turns out, there was a reason why Tommie Harris has been held out of team drills for the entirety of training camp.
“I had surgery in March,” Harris said after Monday’s practice at Olivet Nazarene University.
Wait, what?
“(The surgeons) went in and it wasn’t anything major,” said the six-year veteran. “Just some scar tissue.”
Harris gave no explanation as to why he and the team withheld the information from the public until Monday, nor did he explain why he suddenly unveiled the news.
“The hardest thing is, knowing how political this business is, and having to wear pads and sit on the sideline acting like I’m going out there and different stuff like that,” he said. “It’s a bit frustrating, but I’m going to hang in there and just see how it plays out.”
On Saturday, coach Lovie Smith said Harris would return to practice in full Monday. However, that was not the case. Smith downplayed Harris’ suddenly unknown status, saying Harris did not get worse since Saturday.
“I wouldn’t say (he had a) setback,” Smith said. “You go through training camp and soreness sets in. That’s all that happens as far as I see it. It’s not like you’ve seen Tommie go down with an injury.”
Throughout the offseason team activities and mini-camps, both Smith and Harris kept the information of Harris’ March surgery from the public. When Harris broke the silence, there was still some confusion in the message.
Harris said a hamstring injury, a common complication during rehab of arthroscopic surgery among athletes, kept him from participating fully in Monday’s practice as expected.
However, Smith said the issue was with Harris’ knee, making no mention of any hamstring issue.
“He has a little bit of soreness in his knee, so we’re holding him out,” Smith said. “We thought he would be able to get a little bit more work in today, but he wasn’t.”
Camp surprises
Harris’ news was a camp surprise, but there have been other, more uplifting surprises as well.
Rookie safety Al Afalava and wide receiver Devin Aromashodu, who was a late season addition to the Bears practice squad in 2008, have made big impressions on coaches, fans and media alike in the first half of camp.
With the safety position still not completely settled, Afalava’s performance in camp has been refreshing and Smith said the rookie hasn’t even showcased his best attribute.
“His strong suit is hitting,” he said. “That’s one part we haven’t gotten a chance to see but hopefully in the game this week, we’ll be able to see some of our (defensive backs) tackle.”
Aromashodu, meanwhile, is a tall journeyman receiver who was on Washington’s practice squad last year. He earned a cup of coffee with Indianapolis in 2007 before being waived and landing on Houston’s practice squad. He spent 2006 on the Colts’ practice squad after being cut by Miami in the preseason.
With no more practice squad eligibility left, this is essentially do or die time for the Auburn alum. He said he’s simply excited for the chance to earn a spot on the active roster and seemed humbled by the sudden notoriety he’s received.
“This is a great opportunity.” said the 6-foot-2 receiver. “It’s a wide open field. I think it’s a great opportunity for all the receivers to learn and work with an All-Pro quarterback.”
Aside from their play, Afalava and Aromashodu are also getting noticed for their unique names, particularly their pronunciations. The phonetic spellings of Afalava and Aromashodu are off-ah-lava and uh-ROME-uh-shuh-do, respectively.
Other Monday notes
* Fontel Mines suffered an injury to his left knee while being wrapped up by safety Craig Steltz and had to be carted off the field.
* Linebacker Jamar Williams hurt his shoulder during individual drills and walked off the field while icing the injury.
* Long-snapper Patrick Mannelly sat out practice with a veteran’s off day.
