ANDERSON – It was another cool day of training camp practice based on what normal temperatures feel like this time of year in Indiana.
The Colts were once again donning helmets and shorts before the full pads are thrown on Saturday.
Here are three takeaways from the Colts second day on the practice fields:
Vick Ballard Leaves Practice
As the Colts went through their position drills at the start of practice, eyes shifted towards the far sideline where Vick Ballard went down after catching a pass.
Ballard held the lower part of his left leg before a trainer helped him off the field, with the third-year running back not putting any pressure on the injured leg.
Following practice, the Colts confirmed that it was a lower left leg injury for Ballard and he will be getting an MRI.
Without Ballard, and with Trent Richardson sitting out for precautionary reasons, Daniel "Boom" Herron saw his role elevated with Ahmad Bradshaw becoming the starter.
The electric Chris Rainey took the bulk of the second team reps at running back.
In other injury news, rookie guard Jack Mewhort joined Vontae Davis and LaRon Landry in sitting out Thursday's practice.
Davis and Landry were rehabbing throughout practice and did some light jogging with trainers.
With Mewhort out, Lance Louis split first team reps with Donald Thomas at left guard.
The safety duo of Sergio Brown and Delano Howell started together for the second straight day.
A great morning walk-through at training camp.
Defense Wins Friday's Practice
The Colts defense stole the stage on Friday afternoon with the second unit making several big plays.
Defensive backs Marcus Burley, Mike Adams and Loucheiz Purifoy each recorded an interception.
Andrew Luck, who did not throw any interceptions on Friday, and the first team offense began picking things up in the later stages in practice.
As practice reached it's second hour on Friday, several younger faces cracked the first team with veterans being monitored on a pitch count.
The pads will be put on tomorrow so we should get a better indication of what the Colts pass rush will look like for the early stages of 2014. In helmets and shorts, both Bjoern Werner and Erik Walden have brought some pressure off the edge.Dwayne Allen Leads The Pass Catchers On Friday
We saw a lot of check downs out of Andrew Luck on Friday and a popular target of those was No. 83.
Allen looks much closer to the tight end we saw in 2012, after he was still getting things up to speed this spring, during the Colts nine-week offseason program.
As expected, the Colts are moving Allen all over the offensive formation and his presence allows Pep Hamilton to be more creative.
The tight end position around the NFL has gotten a lot of attention this offseason and Allen, who led the first team offense in catches on Friday, is among the reasons.
"Finding that 'Y' tight end, that stud tight end that can be your in-line blocker and also be a mismatch down the field in the pass game, it's hard to find that guy," Chuck Pagano said Friday morning. "We've got a lot of the guys out there that are adequate blockers, that are really good pass catchers, matchup nightmares for defenses.
"We feel like we've got guys like that and Dwayne is one of those guys. When you talk about running the football and you need a guy at the point of attack, Dwayne gives you that."
