Rookie cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. impresses early at Vikings training camp

Yes, it's early. No, they aren't wearing pads. But if there's one young, unestablished player turning heads through two days of Vikings training camp, it's rookie cornerback Andrew Booth Jr.

The second-round draft pick and hopeful starter opposite veteran Patrick Peterson is moving well, displaying good instincts, says he's 100% back from offseason sports hernia surgery, and needed all of one practice to intercept Kirk Cousins, an 11-year vet who doesn't throw many of them.

"[Booth] was playing the technique that [defensive coordinator] Ed [Donatell] and [defensive backs coach] Daronte [Jones] coach really well," coach Kevin O'Connell said Thursday about Booth's pick the day before.

O'Connell, a former NFL quarterback and offensive-minded coach, said his side of the ball is "still getting our timing down," making this particular sideline throw difficult early in camp.

"Nonetheless, against one of the premier players at [receiver Justin Jefferson], [Booth] was able to put his foot in the ground and go get the football," O'Connell said. "One of our big football philosophies is all about [turnovers], going to go get that ball – and trying to protect the football. To see a young guy do that early on, it was very early on in practice, there was no 'safe' feeling to how he was playing. He's going to get a lot more opportunities against [Jefferson], and we'll see how those go."

What say you, Kirk?

"I think that one was just, 'Put the ball further out to the sideline or just say no to it and progress,' " he said. "You still have those plays that you make mistakes on and you've got to learn from."

After eight years of watching the older Mike Zimmer prowl the practice field, the fresh-faced O'Connell looks more like a ballboy as he strolls about TCO Performance Center.

No longer saddled with the specific duties of a position coach or a coordinator, O'Connell was asked what exactly he tries to accomplish during practice?

"I try to bounce around as much as possible," he said. "I find myself still kind of gravitating toward the quarterbacks and wideouts and tight ends, but I think for me, I'm excited to get around the defense.

"Get around Daronte when he's running drills and just hear — I obviously hired these coaches for a reason, but it's so cool to walk around and just experience them all in their own ways, unique ways, of coaching and teaching. We joke about it, but some of the best moments and real coaching, in my opinion, takes place out on these fields when we can have those interactions."

He mentioned a rep from Wednesday's practice when Ihmir Smith-Marsette ran a route early on in the first rack of plays, and receivers coach Keenan McCardell talked to him about how he could do it better.

"And then about 30, 40 minutes later," O'Connell said, "kind of a different concept but similar route for him, he absolutely nails it."

The Vikings are calling this week the "ramp-up" period of training camp. They won't put the pads on until Monday and will do that only 11 of the 16 times they're permitted per NFL safety rules.

The 65-year-old Donatell said the kinder, gentler rules are fine with him.

"There's a fine balance to it all," he said. "But I love when the rules change because it's a chance to adjust and get an edge.

"All the rules they're making to help the players, it's a different kind of player now. They're more explosive, they have nutrition, there are all kinds of things that factor into being ready to go on Sunday. These are all changes that we just have to work around."

But are players as ready for a season now as they were in the old days of harder training camps?

"I can't tell you the answer to that," Donatell said. "But I can tell you it's even. All the teams have it the same."

• Cornerback Nate Hairston, who is on the non-football injury list, has an ankle injury. O'Connell said he expects Hairston to return "shortly."

• Inside linebacker Jordan Hicks missed practice for the second straight day with a non-COVID illness. O'Connell said Hicks is "kind of day to day, minute to minute."