CA’s OXNARD — Don’t look now, but Dallas Cowboys second-round pick Luke Schoonmaker is out there practicing after missing all of obligatory minicamp in June and the first two weeks of training camp due to plantar fasciitis in his foot.

The Cowboys have made it clear that they will be careful with the former Wolverine’s workload after he was activated from the NFI (non-football injury) list on Monday and participated in individual position drills but was not included in team reps as a precaution.

After his first day of training camp, Schoonmaker reported feeling wonderful.

There would be “definitely” good things happening this week, he said.

It’s not completely out of the question that he’ll play in the preseason game against the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars, but you shouldn’t count on it either.

“I’m hoping I can go this weekend, but we’ll see,” the former All-Big Ten player said.

McCarthy had to deal with the possibility of Schoonmaker’s availability on August 12th, so he set realistic goals.

I can’t wait to watch him practice today,” he enthused.

In Year 2, the young tight ends room led by Jake Ferguson and featuring talented former undrafted talent Peyton Hendershot is expected to benefit from the addition of Schoonmaker, a road grader of a blocker who can also make plays with his hands when asked.

But first, he needs to wrap up his time spent behind after missing multiple workouts due to injuries. His eagerness has gotten the best of him on more than one occasion before his activation, and Ferguson has had to calm him down in order to prevent a setback in the healing process. He has been spotted doing mental repetitions on the sideline prior to being activated, including completing phantom reps during team drills.

He was so enthused during the walkthrough that he started jogging and nearly fell. Right now, Schoon, we’re simply doing a runthrough. Ferguson made this claim a week ago. But it’s encouraging to see him putting in the mental practice. And that’s what you have to do to make sure he’s dead as soon as he steps inside.

The Cowboys like that kind of intensity, and it’s part of what made him a star at Michigan.

Moving forward, his plan in Dallas is to do this.

The next step in coming back and bringing it all together, Schoonmaker said, “felt great [to get out there] especially going from doing the rehab.” It was a blast to go around the field with my friends playing football.

“… I feel like I’ve been making fantastic progress in rehab, and I’m preparing myself to return to action as soon as possible.