Ingram finally healthy, working for a job

BETHLEHEM - Two years ago, Cornelius Ingram was a very popular guy up here at Lehigh. He was a fifth-round pick getting first-round media attention.

On a clear day, he could see forever. He was a chiseled 6-4, 250-pound tight end with 4.5 speed and glue-stick hands who wowed everyone, including the coaching staff, with his impressive play in the spring camps and OTAs and in the first few days of training camp.

Then he tore the ACL in his left knee for the second time in less than a year, and just like that, a promising young player became yesterday's news.

He tried to come back last year, but the knee still wasn't completely healed, and he was released before the start of the season. In mid-November, the Eagles signed him to their practice squad.

The left knee finally is whole again now. The speed is back. The cutting ability is back. But a lot of time has passed. Two years is a lifetime in the NFL. The bright young prospect now is the preseason longshot.

He is the fourth tight end on a team that will keep no more than three. There is Brent Celek, there is highly regarded second-year man Clay Harbor, there is free-agent signee Donald Lee. And then there is Ingram.

"I try not to even worry about the circumstances or the situation," Ingram said. "I'm just focusing on one thing every day and trying to get better at it. That's most important to me.

"I can honestly say this is truly the best I've felt since my junior year [at Florida, before he tore his ACL the first time]. No hitching in none of my routes. I'm able to come off the ball full-speed and do everything with no limitations. That was actually the most important thing to me. Everything else will take care of itself as long as I stay healthy."

The problem with being at the bottom of the depth chart is you don't get nearly as many reps in practice as the guys above you, which means a much smaller window to move up the depth chart.

"Whenever I get my opportunities, I definitely have to take advantage of it," said Ingram, who didn't have any receptions last week in the Eagles' 13-6 preseason win over the Baltimore Ravens. "That's just how the business goes. But I'm just glad I'm healthy and the coaches know I'm healthy, and that helps out a lot."

The coaches have been impressed with how he's looked. But he has a lot of ground to make up and not a lot of time to do it.

"He's having an outstanding camp," offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said. "He really flashes brilliance. Now he's got to play at that high level on a consistent basis. He just hasn't been on the field much with our offensive structure in the last couple of years."

The reality is, the only way Ingram is going to wind up on the Eagles' season-opening, 53-man roster next month is if Celek or Harbor or Lee gets hurt, which is always a possibility in the NFL.

But there are 31 other teams in the league, and a good many of them - most of them, in fact - don't have the tight-end depth the Eagles have right now. Ingram is well aware of that. He knows that if he can continue to play well and prove that his knee is sound, he likely will have a job somewhere when the season opens.

"Something will work out," he said. "So I'm always positive about the situation. I go out with no worries and just try to play every play full-speed. And I've been feeling good doing that."

The sky seemed to be the limit for Ingram heading into his final season at the UF in 2008. He was considered the best pass-catching tight end in his draft class. With a solid senior season, he figured to go as high as the second round. But he tore his ACL in preseason camp and missed his senior year. NFL teams had reservations about the quality of the repair job on Ingram's knee when they examined it before the draft. Which is why he lasted until the fifth round. Those reservations turned out to be justified when he tore the ACL again.

"It's been tough," Ingram acknowledged. "You want to compete. You want to be on the field playing. Sitting out due to an injury, it hurts. Especially when you see guys being successful. You want to be a part of it.

"But guys who had been through back-to-back ACL injuries talked to me and told me it takes up to 2 years sometimes [to come all the way back]. I'm like, oh man, don't tell me that. It was just one of those things where I had to be patient.

"It's been a long journey, but I'm back. There's no swelling. No problems at all. I feel 100 percent and I feel really good."

Oddly enough, the realization that the knee finally was all the way back came on a basketball court, not a football field.

Ingram spent most of the 4 1/2-month lockout in Gainesville, Fla., training with many of his former Gator teammates, including fellow NFL players Percy Harvin, Louis Murphy, Brandon Spikes and the Pouncey twins, Mike and Maurkice. They would train in the weight room and on the track and football field in the morning, then move into the gym for some intense, trash-talking hoops in the afternoon.

"We trained every day, we hooped every day," said Ingram, a former all-state high school basketball player who played 19 games for the UF basketball team in 2004-05. "That confidence [in his knee] came back. There were no limitations.

"Once, I dunked. Then I dunked a couple of more times. That's when I thought, I'm out here on this hard court. Once I get back out on the field again, I'll be fine. Of course, I was running routes at home as well. But once I got out here [at camp] and started to make plays and move around like I did my junior year in college, I knew I was back."

Ingram remembers how it was before he reinjured the knee 2 years ago. He remembers all of the hype and the media attention and the impressed looks from the coaches. But that was then and this is now.

"It was fun," he said. "It was a great experience. But that's something I don't really think a lot about. I love to smile. It doesn't matter if I'm being interviewed or not. If you guys see me walking around, I'm probably going to be smiling.

"It definitely is different now, though. Coming in [2 years ago], I had a great minicamp and was having a great training camp, and then I got hurt. But I don't look back. If I focus on the things I need to do, I'll be fine."

Yes he will.