by DAVID MOORE, Staff Writer dmoore@dallasnews.com , THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS

"He looked pretty good and moved around well," coach Wade Phillips said. "He looked like he was a little sore on his shoulder, but he didn't seem to have any problem."

Williams returned to practice five days after suffering the injury in a collision with teammate Orlando Scandrick. A sprained wrist earlier in training camp also kept him out for only a short period.

"He comes back real quick," Phillips said. "That's a good thing."

Scandrick was the culprit of the wrist injury as well. When asked if he would take it easy on Williams from here on out, the cornerback jokingly said he would take himself out of practice rather than line up against Williams.

Have the two spoken since the hit that forced Williams to miss the preseason game against San Francisco?

"I asked him how he was doing and told him it was an accident," Scandrick said. "He said all right. He said he wasn't mad at me, he was mad at the situation."

Injury frustrates Hodge: Rookie linebacker Stephen Hodge, a sixth-round pick out of TCU, declared that he would be able to play Friday against Minnesota.

Then he went out to practice, and Phillips said he's not so sure.

"I thought he took a step back," Phillips said. "It's perplexing."

Hodge has been slowed by a swollen knee all camp. He's already missed two preseason games - which he said were the first games he's missed because of injury since he began playing Football in fourth grade.

"This is the worst timing possible that you can ever imagine," Hodge said. "You're working your dream, then you get here and you're injured, and you've never been injured.

"It's hard to adjust. It's real frustrating. Super frustrating."

Jones won't return punts: The Cowboys experimented with Felix Jones returning punts this off-season.

That experiment has been put on hold.

Special teams coach Joe DeCamillis said that Patrick Crayton and Terence Newman will return punts when the Cowboys open the regular season in Tampa Bay. Jones will continue to field some punts in practice but won't be part of the game rotation.

"We've kind of ditched that a little bit because he's not comfortable catching them back there," DeCamillis said. "But as the season goes on, if he becomes more comfortable, we will."

Jones will be used to return kickoffs with Miles Austin.

Roster moves: The Cowboys waived receiver Julian Hawkins and guard Greg Isdaner and claimed Curtis Johnson off waivers.

Johnson, waived injured (hamstring) by Indianapolis, was a defensive end who will get a look at outside linebacker.

Linebacker Brandon Williams was placed on injured reserve, and Robert Brewster was assigned to the reserve/physically unable to perform list.

A torn pectoral muscle is expected to keep Brewster out for the season, but the move leaves the door open for the rookie tackle to return.

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