I stopped by the second of the two practices last night at Williams Stadium, where they’ve brought in portable floodlights because the lights on the press-box side of the stadium are currently non-functional due to continuing construction.

Some quick notes and observations:

—Malcolm Boyd, listed as a starter at left guard for the Flames, simply had a deep bone bruise on his knee. An MRI revealed no cartilage damage, so he’ll be fine going forward. “He’s a real tough kid,“ LU coach Danny Rocco said.

—RB Ryan Mickens was on crutches Thursday evening, his right leg in a splint. Rocco said he has a stress fracture in the leg and is out for at least four weeks.

—DE Terry Adams has missed practice time with dehydration.

—CB Ronald Hobby (hyperextended knee) was back at practice Thursday night.

—WR Ervin Garner sat out practice Thursday night with a sore hip flexor.

—Two players in the 2010 Liberty recruiting class are not on the roster this fall: LB Bobby Partilla and ATH Tracy Curry. Partilla is on campus, in class and paying his own way this year as he works to get his grades in order. Curry is not in school, as he’s working on getting his SAT scores up. Curry could make it to campus for the spring semester, and if he does enroll in January, he’ll be able to participate in spring practice. Neither will be helping Liberty in 2010.

—The team will hold a scrimmage-like practice on Saturday, utilizing referees for the first time. The practice runs from 2:20-5 p.m., but the scrimmaging (or running of scripted plays and situations, really), won’t begin until around 3:15. All practices are open to the public. Only about one-quarter of the practice will be “live,“ in terms of tackling. The rest will be “thud,“ where the whistle blows at contact. Attrition during training camp is a real concern, and as much as you want your players acclimated to hitting, there’s a fine line to walk.

—That’s it for now. I’ll have a notebook in Sunday’s News & Advance with thoughts from the scrimmage.