OXNARD, Calif. -- For the first time in his Cowboys career, Jaylon Smith practiced with the first-team defense Wednesday.

It's another step towards playing in a game for the middle linebacker who is working his way back from a significant left knee injury.

Last year's second round pick has been on the field for six of the team's nine training camp practices in pads. Smith has been working with the second team during the previous five practices.

Pro Bowl weakside linebacker Sean Lee was given a veterans day off Wednesday. Anthony Hitchens moved to the weakside spot, making room for Smith with the first group.

Smith moved well in team and individual drills. On a few occasions he dropped into coverage and then squared up to put a hit on the receiver. The Cowboys don't tackle to the ground in practice, but on one particular occasion Smith put a solid hit on Ezekiel Elliott that immediately stopped the star running back who was trying to catch a short pass.

Jaylon Smith with the hit on Zeke pic.twitter.com/txTOotbsrg — Jon Machota (@jonmachota) August 10, 2017

"I know he's big and fast and if he was allowed to hit you, it might hurt," Cowboys offensive coordinator Scott Linehan said when asked for his observations of Smith during Wednesday's practice. "It's great to see him out there. This is a great game. It's great to see guys win that battle coming back from adversity. We're just really excited for him."

It still has not been determined if Smith will make his preseason debut Saturday in Los Angeles.

On Monday, Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said he expects Smith to be a Cowboy for the next 10 years.

Smith's reaction to that comment?

"[It's] just the foundation that we've built, an understanding that I'm going to be here for a long time," Smith said. "But at the same time, there's some great excitement that I'll be able to play the game of football again and I'm looking forward to being able to contribute at a high level this year."