Randall Cobb makes his professional debut in the 2011 NFL season opener on Thursday night. (Joseph Wilkinson, UK Athletics)

Randall Cobb’s first NFL preseason hasn’t exactly gone as planned.After being selected in the second round of the NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers, Cobb’s time with his team was cut short due to the NFL Lockout. Once the labor situation was resolved, Cobb impressed in camp, but sustained two bruised knees a kickoff return during the Packers’ second preseason game. Injury forced Cobb out of practice and cast his availability for the first game of the regular season in doubt.Cobb, though, returned to practice this week. The time he missed in the preseason likely will limit his contributions in the passing game, but the former do-it-all Wildcat will handle both kick and punt returns in his NFL debut. The Packers won a Super Bowl last season in spite of being one of the worst return teams in football a season ago and Cobb will be asked to make a major impact right off the bat.The Packers and New Orleans Saints face off in a highly anticipated matchup tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC. If the Packers take the opening kickoff, the beloved UK’er may just be the first player to touch the ball this NFL season.Packers hope for a return to relevance through Cobb (Tom Silverstein, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

Related Stories

View all