IRVING, Texas -- Cowboys fullback Lawrence Vickers was stretching before the start of organized team activities on Wednesday like he always does.

Then as he approached a special teams drill he noticed something was wrong.

Ants.

Two big red ants got in his pants, and Vickers had to leave practice.

He walked off the practice field with his hands covering his groin area as head athletic trainer Jim Maurer walked off the field with him. Reporters thought Vickers had injured his groin or maybe had a hand or arm injury.

"I was just holding myself," Vickers said. "And there were people outside and you don't just be grabbing on yourself because ants are on you. People are gonna make fun of you. I don't care as long as they got off me. I don't care about people knowing about ants in my pants."

When Vickers was asked what he did when he returned to the locker room, he said, "went and took a benadryl quick, and then I rinsed off because I started breaking out in hives. I break out in hives when it comes to ants. Ants are nothing to play with. The smallest things on earth is the most dangerous thing to me."

Vickers, who is allergic to ants, returned to practice without further problems.

"I was stretching and then by the time I got to the special teams period, which is a couple of periods after, I guess they worked their way all the way in there," Vickers said. "And once they got to where they wanted to be, they just started stinging."