Senior BowlDesmond Conner of the Hartford Courant spoke with former UConn Huskies offensive lineman Zach Hurd earlier on Tuesday and Hurd told him he wasn’t playing in the Senior Bowl on Saturday due to a calf injury.

“Yeah, I hurt my calf a couple of weeks ago and I just want to be OK for the [NFL] Combine,” Hurd said. “I’ll be ready, definitely.”

Even though Hurd won’t be playing, UConn will still have linebacker Lawrence Wilson representing them there as he looks to improve his stock for the 2011 NFL Draft.

Here’s what Scouts, Inc. (Day 1, Day 2 – ESPN Insider Links) have had to say about Wilson during the first two practices of the week.

Day 1 – Monday

Tough start
Connecticut LB Lawrence Wilson looked stiff laterally during the bag work. He slipped on the bag at one point.

Day 2 – Tuesday

Basic instincts
UConn’s Lawrence Wilson is showing great instincts. He sniffed out the screen and stuffed Maryland’s Da’Rel Scott in the backfield. Then on the next play he diagnosed the reverse and made the play.

Not in a zone
UConn LB Lawrence Wilson showed good instincts earlier, but he didn’t look as sure of himself dropping into zone coverage. He got caught drifting with one route that took him out of position and allowed another receiver to come in behind him.

Strugging to catch the ball
Linebackers Mason Foster (UCLA), Mark Herzlich (Boston College) and Lawrence Wilson (Connecticut) are fighting the ball during individual drills. Ohio State’s Ross Homan made a clean catch on one pass, but dropped the next one.

You can catch Wilson and the rest of the nation’s top seniors in the Senior Bowl on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. on the NFL Network. I’ll have an update again on Thursday.