Sophomore wide receiver DeAngelo Benton sat out of practice Thursday with his right arm in a sling and his arm/wrist in a plaster cast. There's no word yet on how long he'll be out of practice.

Benton was seen Wednesday night with a small, temporary cast on his right wrist but had a more permanent looking cast by Thursday's practice.

The 6-foot-2, 201-pounder caught six passes for 88 yards last year but is expected to be one of the leading contenders to get more playing time in the receiving corps this year.

Some other observations from practice ...

• Freshman DB Ryan White had on an orange jersey and was working with the quarterbacks. Offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn coached White as he threw passes to one of Auburn's student assistants. White was a quarterback at Lincoln High in Tallahassee, Fla., last year but was expected to play cornerback at Auburn. Not sure what to make of him working at quarterback today.

• WR Philip Pierre-Louis and Travante Stallworth were both on the field practicing. Both had knee injuries (Pierre-Louis injured his left knee in the spring, Stallworth high right knee in the fall) but didn't look to be slowed down any. They both had knee braces on, though.

• Freshman DE Justin Delaine was not working out with the rest of the group. He was jogging on the sideline but wasn't in a jersey and didn't have his helmet with him. Looked like he had a slight limp.

• Say this about the freshmen offensive line class: there some big 'uns out there. Eric Mack, Chad Slade and Tunde Fariyike aren't going to have to bulk up too much for this level.

• Ladarious Phillips is a big boy, too. Even though he's going to be given a shot as a running back, he fit right in with the linemen.

• Another abnormally large freshman (with big calves) was punter Steven Clark. He's 6-foot-5, so it's no surprise, but seeing him standing next to 6-foot Ryan Shoemaker hammers home how tall he is. Clark got off some boomers in a punting drill but also shanked one that I saw.

• Not a banner day for the punt returners. A slight wind was messing with them, forcing them to run up a considerable distance to catch the ball. Darvin Adams dropped one and immediately did 10 pushups. Quindarius Carr dropped another and got reamed out at by Trooper Taylor, who yelled, "Look at the nose of the ball! Damn!"

• A big special teams day for our viewing period. Not too exciting. The quarterbacks were working on pooch punts. Yawn.

• The most exciting moment of the period was a sled drill, with five players involved at a time. The coaches got into it (especially Trooper) and Jay Boulware, who was in charge, wanted to hammer home the point of being physical throughout.

Back with more after interviews in a bit.