MANKATO — Brad Childress expressed little concern about the knee injury suffered by quarterback Tarvaris Jackson on Saturday.

Childress, speaking after the Vikings’ second practice of the day, would not confirm that Jackson suffered a Grade 1 sprain of the medial collateral ligament in his left knee during the morning session, but the Vikings coach said he has no plans to bring in a third quarterback to take reps behind Sage Rosenfels and John David Booty. That should serve as a clear indication that Jackson won’t be out long because if he was going to miss substantial time someone would need to be signed to take some of the reps.

“I’ll have to see going forward,” Childress said when asked about Jackson’s status. “I’m not that clairvoyant. He just stayed and treated and it looks like he’ll be just fine.”

Jackson was injured during an 11-on-11 drill when he stepped up in the pocket and collided with defensive tackle Letroy Guion, who had slipped to the ground while being blocked by center John Sullivan.

“It’s just unfortunate. It could have happened to any of those guys,” Childress said. “We had a couple of close calls a little earlier in practice this morning with guys on the ground. That’s why you’re as coaches talking about, ‘Get off the ground, get off the ground, get off the ground.’ You don’t want to go to a walk through tempo. You want to practice hard and fast and our guys are doing a great job of that. We just need to do a little better job of staying up, however you stay up.”

With Jackson absent for tonight’s second practice, much of which was held in Blakeslee Stadium, Rosenfels got many of the reps with first team and Booty also got plenty of work.

“For J.D. and I, it always helps to get more reps,” Rosenfels said. “You really can’t have too many reps. I’m just trying to take advantage of every rep I get.”

The evening practice was one of two the Vikings will have during training camp in Mankato. There also will be one next Friday. Here are a few items from tonight’s practice:

• Childress said there was no update on the status of negotiations with first-round wide receiver Percy Harvin, who has now missed four practices. The Vikings have a single afternoon practice today. Rob Brzezinski, the Vikings vice president of football operations, is handling the talks for the team and he was in Mankato on Saturday night. Don’t think that means anything one way or the other but obviously the Vikings want to get this done very soon.
• Ryan Cook, the starting right tackle last season, saw time with the second-team offense at center. That’s the position he played in college. Childress said Cook is going to get a look at tackle, center and guard during camp.
• Cornerback Benny Sapp worked with the first team in the nickel defense. Sapp also was in the nickel for much of last season after Charles Gordon suffered a leg injury.
• Linebacker Jasper Brinkley isn’t afraid to hit. He has delivered a few big hits so far in practice and is definitely trying to make an impression as he battles for the job behind E.J. Henderson at middle linebacker.
• Linebacker Erin Henderson was around the ball for much of Saturday. In one-on-one drills against running backs on Saturday night, he intercepted a pass intended for Ian Johnson and strolled toward the end zone. The fans at Blakeslee gave him a nice round of applause.
• It’s two days into camp, so it’s far too early to pass any judgment on Sage Rosenfels so far. I’ll say this, it appears Rosenfels is still trying to establish his timing with many of the wide receivers. Rosenfels does appear to have chemistry with Bernard Berrian. Berrian caught a couple of day passes Saturday night, including a nice 35-yarder from Rosenfels that he hauled in in stride and took into the end zone. 
• Finally, the Vikings will be in full pads (or at least football pants) for the first time Monday.

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