T Saints Minicamp Notes: White House visit; Shockey moves forward

Saints Minicamp Notes: White House visit; Shockey moves forward

METAIRIE -- A pre-season trip to the White House and an upcoming ring ceremony are on the horizon for the World Champion New Orleans Saints.

Players have been informed they will receive their Super Bowl XLIV rings on June 16, the second to last day of Organized Team Activities and one day before the teams breaks for vacation. In addition, arrangements have been made for the team to visit the White House and meet President Barack Obama prior to the start of the regular season, according to team spokesman Greg Bensel.

All the pertinent logistics will be released at a later date once White House officials clear the president's calendar. The Saints could fit in a trip to the nation's capital around the time of their preseason opener at New England on Aug. 12.

Several Saints players already have visited the White House with their college teams after winning the BCS National Championship, most notably running back Reggie Bush and defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis with Southern California and defensive end Will Smith with Ohio State, among others.

“We were there along with LSU,’’ Bush said of his team’s shared visit to the White House with the co-champion Tigers following the 2003 season. “We walked through the White House, took a picture, then President (George W. Bush) said a few words and they got you the hell out of there.

“You don’t stand around for long. Security is very tight. They don’t mess around in the White House.’’

Smith and the 2002 Buckeyes visited the White House following their BCS Championship victory against Miami in January 2003.

“Just going in there and seeing all the historic rooms in the White House and actually having a chance to meet the President, I thought it was great,’’ Smith said. “It’s something I’ll remember the rest of my life.’’

Asked if President Bush addressed him directly, Smith replied: “He congratulated us as a team. I think he’s more of a Texas fan.’’

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  Tight end Jeremy Shockey returned to the practice field Saturday for both workouts after being limited Friday with back spasms.

He made his first comments since being hospitalized May 27 with seizure-like symptoms after collapsing during a routine weightlifting session.

“It’s good to be back,’’ Shockey said. “God bless that everything came back good news and put that behind me. Now I can focus on getting in better shape, getting in football shape.’’

Asked to elaborate on his fainting episode caused by dehydration and a low blood sugar count, Shockey replied: “I think Sean has already elaborated on that; I’m not a doctor. If you want to know what it was, listen to his comments.’’

Shockey said he experienced a similar episode in Las Vegas over Memorial Day weekend in 2009 which also left him hospitalized.

“But I’m not here to talk about what happened a couple of weeks ago,’’ he said. “I’m here to talk about today and the upcoming season. My back is still hampering me a little bit. But I did some things, and I hope to continue working and getting back to 100 percent.’’

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Second-year free safety Malcolm Jenkins was held out of both workouts Saturday with a bruised left knee. Jenkins said he knocked knees with a teammate during Friday's p.m. workout. “It swelled up on me (Friday) night,’’ Jenkins said. “But it’s no big ideal.’’

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The team will conclude minicamp with its fifth and final workout at 10:15 a.m. Sunday. It will be open to the public, weather permitting. Gates will open at 9:15 a.m.

Saints beat writer Brian Allee-Walsh can be reached at balleewalsh@neworleans.com