LeGere: Louis continues to impress on O-line

[BearsNews]

Louis continues to impress on O-line

By Bob LeGere | Daily Herald Staff
Published: 8/8/2010 10:31 PM


BOURBONNAIS - Lance Louis was at right guard with the first team for the third straight practice Sunday night.

He replaced Roberto Garza, who has moved to left guard, taking Josh Beekman's job.

It appears that the Bears will line up that way for Saturday night's preseason opener against the Chargers.

Bears coach Lovie Smith has been impressed with Louis since he arrived last year as a seventh-round pick out of San Diego State.

"He's a powerful guy," Smith said. "He's a good knee-bender, has good speed and had great combine numbers. He can do all the things you're looking for. You can (have him) pull him outside, and he has enough power to block inside.

"He just needs reps, which he's getting. It's helping him a lot too, to go against our defensive line, which is pretty good. We've seen improvement in him, and he's steadily moving up the depth chart."

Earlier in camp, offensive line coach Mike Tice was asked about Louis, and he was already making a positive impression.

"He's very aggressive, he's big, he's strong, and he knocked people around pretty good," Tice said of Louis after an early practice. "For a guy that hasn't played a lot of football, he went out there and didn't show any fear, and he competed."

What a player: Tight end Greg Olsen, who led the Bears with 60 receptions last year, had been flying under the radar for most of training camp - until Sunday night.

Olsen was the star of the practice, catching a ridiculous 5 TD passes in the 7-on-7 red zone period.

"Sometimes that's just the way the balls end up going," Olsen said. "Whoever's open. Jay (Cutler) is not dropping back and picking his guys, he's following his progressions and throwing the ball where it has to go. Tonight was my turn.

Then, on the first play of 11-on-11 team work, Olsen streaked straight down the middle of the field and caught a pinpoint throw from Cutler. The pass split safeties Chris Harris and Craig Steltz, who had Olsen bracketed - but not closely enough.

"We've hit that a couple times so far in camp," Olsen said. "Those are the kind of big plays that we're looking forward to making this year."

Injury update: Rookie safety Major Wright (groin) returned to practice Sunday. Twelve players were out with an assortment of minor injuries: wide receivers Devin Hester, Earl Bennett and Antonio Robinson, cornerback Josh Bullocks, safety Danieal Manning, running backs Brandon Minor and Harvey Unga, linebacker Brian Iwuh, center Tim Walter, defensive linemen Mark Anderson, Averill Spicer and Maurice Evans.

Cornerback Zack Bowman suffered what is believed to be a minor knee injury during practice and remained on the sideline for the duration.

Coming and going: Undrafted rookie quarterback Mike Teel was released Sunday, and Northwestern wide receiver Zeke Markshausen was signed to take his place on the roster.

Teel, No. 4 on the depth chart, had been sidelined since Aug. 4 with a hamstring injury.

Markshausen walked on at Northwestern, and the 5-foot-11, 185-pounder entered his senior season with 1 career catch for 6 yards, but caught 91 passes for 858 yards and 3 touchdowns last season. His 91 receptions last year were second most in school history and the seventh most in Big Ten history.