Safety Tyrone Culver has done everything he should to get ready to play in 2008 after missing all of last season with a shoulder injury.
Everything but one thing.
He has done his rehab, sat in on defensive back meetings, improved his strength and conditioning in the offseason program, and participated in all the OTAs and mini-camp.
Now he just needs to tackle somebody.
It's not his fault that he hasn't. NFL players are not permitted to wear pads or go full-contact during offseason workouts and practices. They have to wait for training camp, and Culver is eagerly anticipating the opportunity to give his surgically repaired right shoulder a final, key test come July 28, the first day of camp. And he won't hesitate.
"I'm going to lower the shoulder and go for it," Culver said. "Because the minute you think that something bad is going to happen, or you're going to get hurt, you're bound to hurt yourself again. When I get a chance to hit, I'm going at it.
"When you get the pads, (get) that first hit, you never think of it again after that. I'm really looking forward to the chance to get the pads and get that first contact in."
It's the right attitude for Culver to have, and he knows the coaches and trainers will be watching that first hit closely. He injured the shoulder last year while trying to make a tackle on punt coverage during the final preseason game in Tennessee.
Culver said he suspected immediately his season was over and he was likely going on injured reserve. He didn't know the extent of the damage but wasn't surprised when surgery was needed.
"I was just going to hit and got my arm a little extended, and when I went to go wrap, it just came right out of me," he said. "I kind of knew then and there. I knew something was definitely not right. I couldn't move my arm at that point."
Unfortunately, the 2006 sixth-round draft pick's career couldn't move forward either. He had shown promise as a rookie, playing in 14 games and posting six tackles on 97 snaps from scrimmage, plus three more tackles on special teams. But the anticipated leap from Year 1 to Year 2 never got the chance to materialize due to the injury.
Known by the coaches as a very intelligent safety with good speed and athleticism, Culver did his best to minimize the impact a year away from the field would have on his development.
"Because he got the full first year in and he's such a bright guy, he doesn't quite lose as much as maybe some others would," secondary coach Kurt Schottenheimer said. "You lose a whole year of being in there and practicing and getting better and working on things, but in his case he's not going to fall behind a heck of a lot because he stayed on top of things."
Culver attended position meetings when he could last season, and perhaps most important, he maintained a positive attitude both during his recovery and as he returned to the field during OTAs this spring.
"You want to look at it as another learning experience," he said. "I had a year off the field, but I also had a year in the meeting room. I was still up here, I was still learning the defense and I still stayed around it. I may not have gotten the game experience, but nonetheless I was still around the game and around the players.
"It feels good, just getting a chance to get on the field again, getting that timing back and the movement back. When you start making plays, you get that confidence again."
{sportsad300}Culver will need that confidence to carry over to training camp, when he'll be in a difficult battle for a backup safety role.
Schottenheimer said the team's five safeties are in essence divided into two groups. The top three - Nick Collins, Atari Bigby and Aaron Rouse - are fighting for the two starting jobs, while the remaining two - Charlie Peprah and Culver - will compete for the fourth, and likely final, safety spot on the roster. Cornerback Jarrett Bush also has taken some reps at safety during offseason workouts, but his primary position remains corner.
"We've got five safeties and there's a reason we only have five," Schottenheimer said. "We have five safeties we think certainly belong in the league."
For Culver to belong on the Green Bay roster, Schottenheimer said he'll have to show "explosiveness in tackling and performance on special teams."
That makes Culver's confidence in his shoulder all the more important. He said at the conclusion of the June mini-camp that the shoulder is 100 percent and as strong as it was before, and he's well aware that the roster is deeper and more competitive than the one he made as the third safety in 2006.
"It's a lot more competition than it was when I first got here," Culver said. "It just shows the talent around here, and the young talent that's coming around here. Like any team, anything you're doing in life, you're going to have to compete, and that's all you can ask for is to bring the best out in you."
That's the plan for Culver, starting with that first hit.
"He'll give everything he's got," Schottenheimer said. "He belongs in the league, he's a good player, but he's got tough competition here."
