Packers Training Camp Practice Notebook, July 27: Franklin Works on Punt Returns

Saturday's training camp practice for the Green Bay Packers saw a chilly day - the temperature was about 51 degrees when they kicked off. The team went through their usual slate of positional and team drills, with several players getting repetitions divided up differently from yesterday's practice. Here are the big stories from Saturday.

• The same players were sitting out practice today as yesterday - Casey Hayward, Davon House, and Jamari Lattimore, in addition to the players on the PUP list. There was one addition: wide receiver Sederrik Cunningham, who was not present at all at practice (TS).
• On defense, Jerron McMillian took the top set of reps at safety ahead of M.D. Jennings (PD). Likewise, Graham Harrell took over snaps with the second-team offense instead of B.J. Coleman, who had those reps on Friday (RD). UDFA linebacker Andy Mulumba worked with the second-team defense on the left side, opposite Dezman Moses (WH). Finally, James Starks got the first carry with the starting offense (WH).
• Myles White has had a rough start to camp. He dropped an easy pass in position drills with no coverage around him (RD). He did make a nice jumping catch down the sideline at one point.
• Rookie WR Charles Johnson went down with a leg injury early in practice (TD), but walked off the sideline under his own power and came back to the sidelines later on. Kevin Dorsey then followed him with an apparent leg injury of his own in a later period.
• Datone Jones was taking the top reps in the nickel package, but C.J. Wilson was playing ahead of him in the base defense (TS).
• Don Barclay took a number of snaps at center today, but he and Aaron Rodgers fumbled two straight snaps at one point and were taken out.
  
• The running backs had a pretty good day. Alex Green made a nice run up the middle and bounced it to the outside for good yardage, and both Eddie Lacy and Franklin made big runs up the middle with nice cuts (TD).
• Mulumba made a nice play in coverage on Ryan Taylor to break up a pass.
• Tyrone Walker was the rookie wideout who made the most waves today, at one point catching passes on three out of four plays in the team period.
• Terrell Manning was noticed on a blitz from the inside today. TS commented that it "looked like he was shot out of a cannon." The Packers will need some help in the pass rush from Manning, since that is an area of A.J. Hawk's and Brad Jones' games that is not a strength.
• In punt drills, Franklin took a large number of the returns, including every one in the final special teams period with no drops (MV).
• The no-huddle drill to end practice was dominated early by the defense, with Johnny Jolly and McMillian putting pressure on Aaron Rodgers. He eventually found Jarrett Boykin for a touchdown though to finish practice.
• The musical timeouts included Pearl Jam's "Evenflow", Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire", and Bob Marley's "Jammin'". I'm curious to know who's picking out the music for each day of practice, as it was a big departure from yesterday.

In case you've missed it, make sure you check out our media page for links to all the twitter accounts of the various beat writers. We sincerely thank each and every one who has been providing play-by-play coverage of practice while we can't be in attendance.

The Packers take the field tomorrow for a three-hour, full-pads practice, when we'll finally see the rookies wearing their gear for the first time.