Davis not expected to return until Aug. 26

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Carolina Panthers running back Stephen Davis probably won't return to the team until at least the third game of the preseason, coach John Fox said Tuesday.

"So far, there has been nothing to discourage that," Fox said. "But we're not at that point yet and we're just taking it a day at a time."

Davis is attempting to recover from microfracture knee surgery and is not allowed to practice with the team while he remains on the physically unable to perform list. He has been working with team trainers.

"He's going through his rehab, and all of those things have been good," Fox said. "Now, it's just a matter of time when we get him out there and start banging him around."

The Panthers play their second preseason game of the year Saturday against the New York Giants. They play Cleveland on Aug. 26 and end the preseason against Pittsburgh on Sept. 1.

Davis ran for a career-high 1,444 yards in 2003, but missed 14 games last season with knee problems. ---

DAVIS STUDYING: Rookie linebacker Thomas Davis stayed up so late Monday night studying for his new position that he nearly overslept for Tuesday morning's practice.

"Luckily, I had a roommate who woke me up," Davis said. "I'm putting a lot of time into (it) so I can be ready to go out and play fast.

Davis was moved from safety to linebacker Monday after starter Brandon Short injured his foot. Linebacker Dan Morgan said he has confidence Davis will be a big contributor this season.

"He's just another athletic guy who will make us that much better," Morgan said. "He has some learning to do. He has to get the feel of the position, but once he does that I think he will progress." ---

RUCKER'S HEART: Defensive end Mike Rucker no longer seems concerned with the irregular heartbeat that kept him out of parts of two games last season.

Doctors never came up with a definitive explanation of why Rucker's heart began racing during games, but Rucker said he believes he just needs to remain calm on the field.

"It was the adrenaline of being hyped up for the game and out there running around might have thrown it offbeat," Rucker said. "When we got back, we did tests. Everything was cool. We just kind of left it alone and monitored it for the rest of the year.

"Once you start thinking about it, you can psyche yourself out.... So I had to stop thinking about it." ---

COACH PROEHL: Panthers wide receiver Ricky Proehl said he remains uncertain about getting into coaching after this season - his 16th and possibly last in the NFL.

"It's something I would love to do, but it's so time consuming," Proehl said. "I don't think the general public knows how time consuming it is. You are at it for hours at a time - game-planning in the offseason, looking at the draft and free agents. The scripts we use now are things they wrote up in May. My kids are at such a fun age now, I don't know if I could do it. It takes a special person to do it and I don't know if I'm special enough." ---

NOTES: The punting competition between Tom Rouen and Jason Baker remains a toss-up. "I thought they both did fine" against Washington, Fox said....Morgan missed his second day of practice Tuesday with a mild knee sprain, but said he still expects to play against the Giants.