Marcus Harrison vowed to be back on the field for Saturday’s Family Day at Soldier Field. He made it with time to spare.
The second-year nose tackle, who came to camp 14 pounds overweight and flunked his physical, practiced for the first time Tuesday after being removed from the non-football injury list. He was limited to individual drills but his return sparked an impromptu celebration by teammate Anthony Adams, the guy Harrison is competing against for the starting job.
“It was hard watching your teammates as they went through the grind,” Harrison said. “But now it’s time for me to get back in it.”
Harrison weighed 323 pounds on report day, well above the 309 the team desired. He missed the first four days of camp, doing conditioning drills on a side field. The team didn’t pass him until Harrison went through a fitness test Tuesday.
A reporter asked Harrison how much weight he has shed the last few days.
“I don’t know. I think it’s dropping as we speak,” Harrison said.
He weighed in at 319 pounds before Tuesday’s practice.
Fighting words: A little hostility showed Tuesday when the offensive and defensive lines got into a bench-clearing brawl, sparked by a shoving match between end Mark Anderson and guard/center Tyler Reed. Things escalated when tackle Cody Balogh stepped in to defend Reed. Roberto Garza and Israel Idonije were involved in some way, and the skirmish ended with Anderson flinging someone’s helmet.
“Sometimes when you get a late push, you can’t let it ride every time and you have to retaliate,” Anderson said. “But you keep it in the family.”
Later, receiver Earl Bennett and cornerback Zack Bowman got into a shoving match. Tackle Chris Williams came over to defend Bennett, his old Vanderbilt teammate. Then Olin Kreutz tried to use a wrestling move to take down Idonije. It was pure comedy.
Extra points: Idonije continued to work exclusively at defensive tackle while Tommie Harris was limited. Coach Lovie Smith said there is no cause for alarm with Harris. … The Bears signed to keep training at Olivet Nazarene for at least one more season. … The Bears waived guard Maurice Miller, whom they had claimed from Tampa Bay. … Josh Beekman continued to work with the first team at left guard over Frank Omiyale.
vxmcclure@tribune.com
