Posted by Mike Spofford on July 31, 2010 – 4:52 pm

Observations from the first training camp practice of 2010 …

The three players placed on PUP Friday were the only ones not suited up — CB Al Harris, S Atari Bigby and RB James Starks. After practice, Head Coach Mike McCarthy said Bigby (ankle) could be out a couple of days yet before he’s medically cleared.

No surprises in the lineups with the No. 1 units. On offense, Daryn Colledge was at LG and Korey Hall took the first snap at FB, though John Kuhn also was worked in with the first unit.

On defense, Morgan Burnett was at S opposite Nick Collins. In the nickel package, Brandon Chillar and Nick Barnett were the ILBs, B.J. Raji and Cullen Jenkins the inside rushers, and Brandon Underwood the third CB.

As far as the second units, the O-line left to right was Bryan Bulaga at LT, Allen Barbre at LG, Jason Spitz at C, T.J. Lang at RG and Breno Giacomini at RT. The third group had Chris Campbell at LT, Marshall Newhouse at LG, Evan Dietrich-Smith at C, Nick McDonald at RG and Lang at RT. Other groupings had Newhouse at LT and Spitz at RG.

On defense, the second unit was Justin Harrell and Jarius Wynn at DEs with Anthony Toribio at NT. Desmond Bishop and Chillar were the ILBs with Brady Poppinga and Robert Francois the OLBs. Pat Lee and Underwood were the CBs, with Charlie Peprah and Derrick Martin at S.

Poppinga ended up getting a ton of reps with the No. 1 defense when starter Brad Jones dropped out of practice with what was called a helmet to the back. No word on whether Jones will miss any more workouts. Toward the end of practice, Chillar also was taking some snaps at OLB and made a nice pass deflection on a throw over the middle.

The big hit of the day went to Bishop, who bowled over rookie TE Andrew Quarless after a short reception over the middle. That drew a big reaction from the opening-day crowd.

Aaron Rodgers hit a couple of deep passes in the team periods when his receivers got behind the defense. One was to WR Jordy Nelson and the other to WR James Jones. On the one to Nelson, Rodgers got ample pass protection and with all the extra time really wound up and fired the ball long. Reminiscent of the Thanksgiving Day bomb to WR Donald Driver in Detroit last season, the ball traveled around 65 yards in the air and Nelson hauled it in.

Rodgers also was picked off once by CB Charles Woodson when he miscommunicated with the receiver and Woodson got a clear path to the ball for what would have been a pick-six.

Rookie CB Sam Shields also snagged an INT, cutting in front of WR Chastin West to pick off a pass from Matt Flynn. Flynn redeemed himself later in practice with an impressive throw down the right sideline, a low bullet that went just over the outstretched arms of two converging defenders and hit WR Brett Swain in stride.

That’s about it from the first workout.

Now on Packers.com:

McCarthy press conference transcript

Today’s feature story and Training Camp Report

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