Texans Notebook: Rookies sing 'Happy Birthday' to Gary Kubiak

As training camp winds down, the Texans were having some fun during Wednesday morning’s practice. Wednesday was coach Gary Kubiak’s birthday, and quarterback Matt Schaub made the rookies sing “Happy Birthday” to their coach.

“I’m 51 today, so that was my present,” Kubiak told reporters. “It wasn’t much of a present.”

Schaub and linebacker Connor Barwin even tried to give Kubiak a Gatorade bath.

“They tried and missed,” Kubiak said. “Schaub had another incompletion for the morning.”

Quick Hits

• Kubiak said wide receiver Andre Johnson (groin) will play this weekend against San Francisco. “He’s definitely going to play, unless there’s any type of setback in the next two days,” Kubiak said. “He’s definitely going to play. Will he play as much as I play the starters? Probably not. I’ll probably put a play count on him like I did the ones last week.”

• There are positive developments with nose tackle Shaun Cody’s back injury. “He had a big time improvement in the first 48 hours,” Kubiak said. “I’d say he’s probably the same [Wednesday] as he was [Tuesday], but he’s moving around good. They’ve got him on some type of stimulator that he’s working on. I think that we probably get to next week and I’m not [director of sports medicine/head athletic trainer Geoff Kaplan] to tell you, but I’d imagine next week they’ll get him moving around and see how he does.”

• Kubiak gave an update on linebacker Darryl Sharpton’s recovery from a hip injury that has kept him on the PUP list. “It’s positive but it’s slow,” Kubiak said. “We knew we were looking at a process that was possibly a month or five weeks. The question with him is going to be once we get there in two and half or three more weeks and start setting our rosters, is he close? Is he ready to go or is he still a ways away? So, it’s taking some time.”

• Rookie wide receiver DeVier Posey says he is learning what it takes to play at this level. “I have to play at a high level every day,” Posey told reporters. “I know the talent is there. I’m supposed to be here. I just have to play at that high level every single day and I need to get that out of myself every single day.”

• Kubiak had praise for outside linebacker Bryan Braman, who is in his second year out of West Texas A&M. “He’s learned our defense,” Kubiak said. “He’s always played well for [special teams coordinator] Joe [Marciano], but he’s learned our defense, and, boy, he plays really, really hard, lot of talent. That was a hell of a find for a free agent.”