The Dallas Cowboys got their first real look at first round pick Morris Claiborne on Wednesday, when the former LSU star took the field--complete with a large brace on his left wrist--for the first of a three-day mini-camp leading up to training camp in Oxnard, Ca. And it wasn’t long before the rookie faced his first test.
According to Todd Archer of ESPN Dallas, backup quarterback Kyle Orton targeted Claiborne’s side on the very first pass in seven-on-seven drills, a pass that fell incomplete but sent a message to Claiborne.
“I know they’re coming,” Claiborne said afterward. “During game times I know they’re coming. I knew they were coming then.”
Claiborne was limited to so-called mental reps throughout the offseason, as he recovered from offseason wrist surgery--he hurt the wrist in LSU’s first matchup with Alabama last year--and though he did his best to stay in shape this summer, not being able to participate in full-speed football activities has left Claiborne with some work to do in terms of conditioning.
“I just know it’s the conditioning,” Claiborne said. “You can go out and run 1,000 laps but when you come back and play football you’re still not going to be in football shape. So it’s going to take some time to get used to that. We got these three days here so hopefully when everyone reports I’ll be good.”
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