Texans hoping to have Jadeveon Clowney back by August

Jadeveon Clowney's rookie season didn't go as planned, so he's hoping his 2015 season gets off to a better start.

The 2014 first-overall pick and Houston Texans pass rusher had microfracture surgery on his knee in December, but the team is hoping to get him back for training camp.

"Hopefully he'll be able to get out on the field sometime during training camp," head coach Bill O'Brien said Monday at the owner's meetings. "Maybe at the beginning of training camp if he continues to work at the pace that he's been working."

The surgery typically requires a nine-month recovery time, but O'Brien says Clowney is working hard to get back as soon as possible.

"He's in there every day," O'Brien said. "He's putting in a lot of time in our training room with our trainers and our doctors."

Clowney played in only four games in 2014 because of injuries, and failed to record a sack. Adding a healthy Clowney to a front-seven that boasts J.J. Watt and now includes Vince Wilfork, could make Houston's defense one of the most feared in the league.