aj mccarron jason campbell.jpg

Cincinnati Bengals quarterbacks A.J. McCarron (left) and Jason Campbell talk during practice at training camp on July 31, 2014, in Cincinnati.

(AP Photo)

AJ McCarron's long wait ended on Wednesday when he practiced with the Cincinnati Bengals, and he reported he "felt like a kid playing the game again." A fifth-round draft choice out of Alabama in May, McCarron practiced with the full NFL team for the first time this season on Wednesday at the University of Cincinnati's indoor practice bubble.

"This is the first time I'm throwing in shoulder pads since the bowl game," McCarron was quoted as saying by Elise Jesse of WLWT-TV in Cincinnati.

The quarterback missed all of the Bengals' training-camp practices and was placed on the reserve/non-football injury list before the season started. Although McCarron remains on the non-football injury list and is ineligible to play in games, Cincinnati gave him clearance to practice on Tuesday, which is an off-day for players.

"I've been playing football since the age of 3," McCarron told the Cincinnati Enquirer. "I've never had to sit out for a long period of time, so that definitely was hard. But I was worrying about the things I could control each day working with Nick (Cosgray, the Bengals' director of rehabilitation), trying to get better and sharpening my skills. When I get my shot, make it happen."

When Cincinnati put an NFI designation on McCarron, he was prohibited from practicing with the team through the first six weeks of the season. After that, Cincinnati had five weeks to evaluate McCarron to decide whether to move him to the reserve/injured list, waive him or allow him to begin practicing with the team. Tuesday was the deadline for the Bengals to make that decision. Now that McCarron has started practice, Cincinnati gets three more weeks to make a decision on whether to put McCarron on the active roster, the injured list or the waiver wire.

McCarron has been working in a rehab regimen for shoulder issues he attributes to wear and tear accumulated while playing for Alabama. The non-football injury designation is used on a player who came to his NFL team with the injury.

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While McCarron has been rehabilitating his shoulder and was prevented from practicing with the team until now, that hasn't kept the former St. Paul's prep star from attending Cincinnati's practices and meetings. He said he's been learning from the Bengals' other quarterbacks - starter Andy Dalton, a fourth-year player from TCU, and Jason Campbell, a nine-year veteran from Auburn.

"Anytime being a young QB coming into the NFL, it's almost better to sit back and learn because you don't have to go through as many rough patches as you would being thrown into the fire," McCarron said. "You get to learn in a different way. It's been different playing for so long in college, but I feel like I've learned a ton. Those two older guys have helped me out tremendously."