Rams News

Rams miss Enis but
are happy to grab Holcombe
04/18 11:33 PM

By Elizabethe Holland
Of the Post-Dispatch Staff

Robert Holcombe is no Curtis Enis, Rams coach Dick Vermeil declared Saturday after the running back became the Rams' second-round draft pick.
But that's OK. The Rams are no Denver Broncos.
Despite both sides' shortcomings, the marriage of the Rams and Holcombe features some similarities that both parties would love to forget and that both, with the help of each other, intend to erase.
Holcombe played for the crash-and-burn Illini, a team that lost every game in his senior year, plus nine of 11 in his junior year. Before that, he played for a winless team at Davis High in Houston.
``You want to know about a losing season, you go talk to me,'' Holcombe recently said. ``I can tell you all about it.''
The Rams, meanwhile, have established themselves as the losingest NFL franchise in the 1990s.
Vermeil had wanted Penn State's Enis to help salvage what is left of the decade, but when Enis went to Chicago as the No. 5 overall pick, Holcombe fell to the Rams. This, decided Vermeil, ended up as not a bad thing at all.
``He is not Curtis Enis, but we are very excited about having him,'' the coach said. ``There are no flaws. He is absolutely clean medically, when you consider the pounding he's taken playing in the Big Ten and carrying the load of a losing football team.''
The Rams had developed an interest in Holcombe before Saturday, but not enough to have him visit Rams Park. In fact, before draft day, the only contact the Rams had had with the tailback was at the combine in Indianapolis, when he and running backs coach Wilbert Montgomery talked informally.
Kansas City and Jacksonville, meanwhile, had Holcombe in for visits. Although Holcombe wasn't widely expected to become a first-round pick, many were surprised to see the Chiefs pass on him at the No. 27 spot. With the retirement of Marcus Allen and the questionable status of unrestricted free agent Greg Hill, the Chiefs were thought to be hungry for a running back.
Although Holcombe is pleased to be going anywhere in the NFL, he expected he would go to Kansas City over St. Louis -- even though his friend and teammate, Mehlville High grad Steve Willis, predicted he would become a Ram.
``That was definitely something that could have happened but it didn't, and God led me to St. Louis and that's where I intend on making my home and doing the best that I can to help the football team,'' Holcombe said from his family's home in Houston. ``This is an opportunity that I have always looked forward to, and I'm just grateful.''
Vermeil said Holcombe would compete with Jerald Moore and David Thompson for the starting position, a spot that came open with the release last season of the troubled Lawrence Phillips.
Not only is Holcombe seen as a positive person of good character, the All-American third-team player shattered Illinois' career rushing records and ranks sixth in the Big Ten with 5,105 yards.
``You have to respect the way (Holcombe) plays within the situation he's found himself in the last few years,'' Vermeil said. ``He's a very, very competitive, tough, durable, smart running back that can make people miss, can bounce outside, can run over people, catches the ball well. He plays every play like it's the most important play of the game.''
Added Montgomery: ``He is a totally complete package. He darts in and he darts out of traffic probably as well as any back you're going to see in the draft. He's not afraid to block. He can catch the ball coming out of the backfield. . . . Every play to him is an empty-bucket play. I mean he's going to give you what he has on every given snap.''

ARCHIVE

HOME