The Sports Xchange

HOUSTON — The long-anticipated return of Houston Texans outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney is set for Monday, when he’ll be officially activated from the physically unable to perform list.

The Texans’ plan for Clowney is to have him practice on a limited basis in his first football activity since undergoing microfracture knee surgery in December.

“We’re going to get him out there and he’ll be in walkthroughs and in individual periods,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien said Sunday. “We’ll add a little more each day.”

The Texans signed Clowney to a four-year, $22.272 million guaranteed contract last year that includes a $14.518 million signing bonus after drafting him first overall out of South Carolina.

Clowney has been working on the side with trainers and has been running and doing change-of-direction drills to regain his mobility and explosiveness.

Clowney was limited to seven tackles in four games as a rookie, dealing with a concussion in the preseason, a torn meniscus that required surgery in September and the microfracture surgery.

“We’ll evaluate him at the end of the week,” O’Brien said. “Monday will be a good day for him to put the gear on. He’s worked real hard.”

–Standing in front of his locker, Texans rookie inside linebacker Benardrick McKinney shook his head and frowned.

McKinney had his moments during his NFL preseason debut, a 23-10 win over the 49ers at NRG Stadium, but overall the second-round draft pick from Mississippi State was left unsatisfied by his performance.

“I was moving around a little too fast trying to get the feel of the game,” said McKinney, who tied with fellow inside linebacker Mike Mohamed for the team lead with four tackles. “I was too excited. I know I was too hyper and amped-up on defense.”

McKinney missed a tackle on 49ers tight end Garrett Celek as Celek wiggled out of his grasp to score a touchdown.

“I was a little too excited,” McKinney said. “I was trying to do too much and wasn’t calming down. I think I settled down on special teams.”

–Louis Nix has endured plenty of pain and frustration over injuries and wasted time in his development as an NFL nose tackle. Those emotions were replaced for the former third-round draft pick from Notre Dame when he started against the 49ers in place of veteran Vince Wilfork.

Although Nix didn’t register any statistics, he made it through the game without any setbacks to his health.

“Coach (Bill O’Brien) wants a lot of out of everybody,” Nix said. “Being hurt, being down about it, it’s a frustrating time for me. I was pretty nervous, but it just felt good to get out there and not be hurt. I’m just happy to be healthy again. I felt a little rusty.”

Nix spent his entire rookie season on injured reserve.

“He had a long rookie year,” O’Brien said. “He had a knee issue, wrist issue, and it is good that he’s back out there. He’s a good kid. Sometimes, they go through tough times their rookie year because they’re injured through no fault of their own.”

–Although left guard Xavier Su’a-Filo is still expected to return during the preseason after “tweaking” his foot/ankle, it won’t happen this week.

O’Brien doesn’t expect the 2014 second-round draft pick from UCLA to make it back to practice this week. Su’a-Filo got hurt last week in practice.

“It’s more of a soft tissue deal than anything,” O’Brien said. “I don’t think he’ll be back this week, though. He’s working extremely hard to get back. He’s been in there for treatment twice a day, three times a day.”

–Kevin Johnson is a precocious rookie, a mature and polished first-round draft pick.

The cornerback from Wake Forest played more defensive snaps than any Texans defensive player, lining up for 29 snaps for 71 percent of the defensive playing time.

“He was one of the rookies that went in there and did some decent things consistently,” O’Brien said of Johnson, the 16th overall pick of the draft. “Right from the day he walked in here, I’ve been impressed with his maturity, his routine. It wasn’t perfect, but he made some plays and that was good to see.”

Johnson didn’t start as veterans A.J. Bouye and Kareem Jackson started at cornerback, but played nearly the entire game and finished with two tackles.

“I felt good,” Johnson said. “It is something I’ve been working on for my whole life and to get that first game out of the way, it felt good.”

O’Brien offered a friendly reminder to Johnson about the jump in competition he was making from the Atlantic Coast Conference to the NFL.

“I think I said to Kevin Johnson, ‘This isn’t Duke you are playing against. This is the San Francisco 49ers,'” O’Brien said. “So, I’m sure he was revved up and ready to go.”

–Alfred Blue patiently read the 49ers defense Saturday night, allowing enough time for his blockers to open holes.

Displaying sound vision and impressive acceleration, the new Texans starting running back aggressively broke through the line of scrimmage and ran away from linebackers during a 23-10 preseason victory at NRG Stadium.

Blue rushed for a team-high 59 yards on nine carries as the primary replacement for Pro Bowl runner-up Arian Foster, who’s recuperating from groin surgery and slated to miss at least part of the season.

“I would say I felt a difference,” said Blue, who averaged 6.6 yards per carry after averaging 3.1 yards per run as a rookie last season. “I had the patience and let the blocks develop. You let it come and don’t be too fast out there when you see the first thing and you think that’s the hole. We call it ‘false daylight’ in the backfield, so you’ve just got to let the play develop and be patient.”

Blue probably eased concerns about the Texans’ running game with his performance, especially during a 32-yard sideline jaunt in the first quarter on which he bolted off left tackle down to the 49ers’ 12-yard line. The Texans finished with 146 rushing yards on 45 carries, averaging just 3.2 yards per carry.

“I think we definitely flashed and dashed out there a little bit,” Blue said. “It’s up to the coaching staff whether we came up to their standard or not in the run game.”