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Raiders notes:

ALAMEDA — Darrius Heyward-Bey’s first day of practice was a suitable springboard to his NFL career. His second was a crash landing.

Heyward-Bey sat out practice Saturday afternoon, though the Raiders were unwilling to explain exactly why.

“He’ll get into it tomorrow,” spokesman John Herrera said after practice, the “he” being coach Tom Cable.

Hard to believe, but the afternoon session may actually have been the better of Heyward-Bey’s two practices. A day after making a succession of nice grabs, the first-round draft choice sprouted 10 thumbs in the morning practice. At one point he dropped three consecutive chances, one on a deep corner route from Jeff Garcia and two on simple comebacks.

“It’s Day 2 for those guys,” Cable said between practices. “They got a lot thrown at them ... What he got in two days is probably what he got in entire spring football (at Maryland). So there is a lot on his brain. Probably worried a little bit too much — ‘Am I in the right place?’ — in terms of routes, and maybe focused a little less on the football.”

NOT MUCH BETTER . . .

Quarterback JaMarcus Russell also had a tough day. His throws in the morning were scattershot. One of them hit middle linebacker Kirk Morrison in the center of his back. Another was knocked down so emphatically by Jay Richardson that it hit the defensive end’s elbow.

Russell did a little better in the afternoon, in limited action.

WHO’S IN, WHO’S OUT

The Raiders brought in two wide receivers for tryouts: veteran Samie Parker and Drisan James, who was at training camp in Napa last year. Parker played four years in Kansas City (2004-07), catching 110 passes for 1,529 yards and seven touchdowns.

“The fact that (Javon Walker) and Arman (Shields) aren’t practicing, gives us two more sets of legs, and obviously, you see the tempo that we’re going at, it’s important to have that,” Cable said.

Walker and Shields both are sitting out the camp with knee issues. Also down Saturday were FB Oren O’Neal (knee), C Samson Satele (shoulder), TE Zach Miller (sports hernia) and DE Derrick Burgess (flu). Ricky Brown (sports hernia) was down in the morning, up in the afternoon. Guards Robert Gallery (calf) and Paul McQuistan (knee) and DT Gerard Warren were up in the morning, down in the afternoon.

There was a special spectator for the afternoon session: Team owner Al Davis, who made his first appearance of the camp.

ALL-NAME TEAM

It will take several years to grade the Raiders’ 2009 draft class with any legitimacy. But one thing we know for certain: They came away with two of the best first names in the class in Oregon linebacker Slade Norris and Missouri defensive end Stryker Sulak.

The minicamp gave the two rookies a chance to explain their parents’ decisions.

“My little brother is named Zane, so he has a different one also,” Norris said. “With me, they had a friend named Slade, I believe it was Slade Abernathy, and they loved the name and decided it would be a good one for their first son.”

Sulak’s story is more interesting. His first name is Joseph. Family lore says it was his grandmother who suggested Stryker as a middle name, to mark the labor strike that hit the Alcoa power plant in Sulak’s hometown of Rockdale, Texas, at the time of his birth.

By PHIL BARBER
Press Democrat Staff Writer
Published: Saturday, May 9, 2009 at 3:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, May 9, 2009 at 9:41 p.m.

Practice? Talk about PRACTICE?

We'll see how he plays during an actual game.

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Not good in my opinion. Bey better start catching everything thrown to him or Al is going to be hearing it from the fans and "BSPN".

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PEACE RAIDER NATION!