Colts Training Camp — Hooker and Mewhort fully cleared, Langford to start on PUP

Yesterday, we discussed two of the biggest pieces of news from General Manager Chris Ballard’s pre-training camp press conference: 1) that Andrew Luck has started his throwing program and will start training camp on the physically unable to perform list and 2) that Clayton Geathers will start the regular season on PUP and will miss at least 6 games during the regular season.

The press conference also brought good news regarding Colts rookie safety Malik Hooker, who had been recovering from off-season surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip and recovering from a sports hernia. Hooker will be a full go to start training camp, which is important because it will allow him to get as many reps with the defense as possible before the start of the season and will likely play an important role in how well he can be expected to play as he progresses in his rookie season. Don’t be surprised if the team is cautious with him throughout the process though, as they may not want to stress the labrum by pushing him to take every rep at full speed.

Another player who has been cleared to go for training camp is starting left guard Jack Mewhort. During his press conference, Ballard indicated that the team was holding him back during the summer primarily out of caution as opposed to setbacks or issues with his health at the time. He also indicated that Mewhort might take lighter reps during training camp if doing so will keep him healthy and fresh for the start of the season.

The only other news that could impact the starting lineup is with regard to defensive end Kendall Langford, who will join Luck on PUP to start training camp. While this news isn’t entirely surprising, and while a veteran like Langford doesn’t need a ton of training camp reps to be ready for the regular season, it would be best to see him return quickly so the team can take a look at him next to Hankins — when they line Hankins up at nose tackle. Until the group of Anderson, Hankins, and Langford takes the field together at full speed, it will be difficult to know where each player is as they prepare for the regularly season.

Finally, Ballard mentioned that free agent center/guard Brian Schwenke will also be starting training camp on PUP. The two primary results of this revelation is that Schwenke’s opportunities to try to carve out a starting role on right guard from Joe Haeg will be limited. It also means that he will get fewer reps with the offensive line and that could hurt his effectiveness if called upon to fill in at any point during the year. Expect to see some shuffling around on the offensive line as Schwenke was the lone listed backup center.

In all, only one player currently has regular season implications from a missing games standpoint. Two other potential starters are still going to continue rehab and strength training off to the side during the start of training camp before they rejoin their teammates. Two other big names that were question-marks heading into the training camp, Hooker and Mewhort, will both be cleared to start training camp without meaningful limitations.

The goal now is to finish training camp with all of the players mentioned above active and healthy.