Just watch Vikings star tight end T.J. Hockenson sprint around at training camp. He looks fantastic. Almost like he could put the pads on and make a difference right now.

Even head coach Kevin O’Connell has taken notice of Hockenson’s noticeable progression as he works his way back from a torn anterior cruciate ligament .

“Yeah,” O’Connell said with a laugh while setting up the punchline. “Every time I see him working on the side field, it becomes awfully tempting to corner (vice president of player health and performance) Tyler Williams somewhere in the building and demand answers on when we’ll be able to start implementing him.”

That’s never actually going to happen because O’Connell understands how important Hockenson is to the future of the franchise. After getting injured on Christmas Eve during a game between the Vikings and the Detroit Lions, Hockenson has been steadily trending in the right direction.

“He’s very well ahead of maybe where some of the medical folks thought he would be,” O’Connell said. “A timeline exists, and we’re going to try to stay true to that while also giving him opportunities to push to maybe shrink that timeline a little bit.”

In other words, as tempting as it might be to rush the recovery process, O’Connell doesn’t want to put any pressure on Hockenson.

“I want him focusing on what he can control,” O’Connell said. “He has done an unbelievable job so far.”

In the meantime, Hockenson will continue to work off to the side during training camp, looking more and more like himself every time he steps onto the field.

Griffin still not practicing

It shouldn’t be much longer for veteran cornerback Shaq Griffin. That said, Griffin still has not practiced since suffering a leg injury early in training camp.

“He’s definitely progressing,” O’Connell said. “I know Shaq is doing everything he can and was off to a really good start doing a lot of the things.”

There have been a number of players added to the secondary over the past week, including veteran cornerback Fabian Moreau, who has already been working with the first-team defense. It will be interesting to see if Griffin steps back into a starting role once he’s available.

“He’s dialed in and engaged in meetings and walkthroughs,” O’Connell said. “That leads me to believe he’ll be OK.”

Tonyan avoids serious injury

After being carted off the field earlier this week, veteran tight end Robert Tonyan has avoided a serious injury.

That’s good news for the Vikings given how well he has performed so far.

Though it looked grim when it happened, O’Connell confirmed that Tonyan was suffering from back spasms. He will go through the recovery process on his own with the goal of being able to return at some point later this month during the slate of exhibition games.

“He’s going to be working through a lower back thing,” O’Connell said. “We hope to get him back soon.”

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