Rams News

At rookie school, Vermeil impressed by non-rookies

06/05/98

By Elizabethe Holland
Of the Post-Dispatch Staff

After a week of rookie school, the draft picks and free agents at Rams Park grinned a little easier, looked a little more loose, and even seemed to be having fun.
``If you just watch the rookies now, they're starting to smile and relax a little bit, and that relieves some of the tension that they come to a rookie school like this with,'' Rams coach Dick Vermeil said Friday.
Vermeil was smiling, too -- but not only because of the rookies. He got his grins watching quarterbacks Tony Banks and Will Furrer work out all week with the 20 players who reported to rookie school.
``What I was really pleased about was watching two quarterbacks throw the ball so accurately and so consistently,'' Vermeil said. ``That's what's nice. They look smoother and more deliberate in their mechanics right now, and that's positive.''
Unless you're backup quarterback Steve Bono or soon-to-report quarterback Kurt Warner, now with the Amsterdam Admirals of the NFL Europe league.
Acknowledging that it's difficult to learn a lot about rookies in this sort of setting, Vermeil listed these players among those who caught his eye: receivers Tyrone Goodson and Az-Zahir Hakim and tight end Roland Williams. Vermeil also said Daryl Bush, a linebacker out of Florida State, appears to have made a 95 percent recovery from knee surgery earlier this year.
A Hog's appeal: The Rams were drawn to former Redskins offensive tackle Ed Simmons for more than his playing ability. With 11 years' experience and the honor of being a former member of Washington's ``Hogs,'' Simmons has a leadership quality and maturity arguably missing from the Rams' offensive line.
``You're always looking to see if you can add a performer, especially in an offensive line that needs to mature, and a veteran can help you mature just a little bit quicker,'' Vermeil said.
Simmons, who signed a one-year deal with the Rams on Thursday, will play at guard. He said that taking on a leadership role is one of the things that drew him to the team.
``He (offensive line coach Jim Hanifan) stressed to me that they don't have a lot of leading veterans on the offensive line, that it's a real young line,'' Simmons said. ``He just wanted to get somebody in that can . . . inspire them or show them the ways, lead a path for them.''
Chief negotiations: The Kansas City Chiefs and receiver Andre Rison appear to be on the verge of a multiyear contract extension. Rison, who caught 72 passes for the Chiefs last year, has one year remaining on a two-year deal and is scheduled to make $1 million this year.
His agent, Charles Tucker, said: ``He'll probably give up the possibility of becoming a free agent and probably lose a couple of dollars, but hopefully make up for it doing off-the-field stuff. . . . He felt comfortable with the fans of Kansas City and said, `They treated me royally, even before I came and got my Pro Bowl status back. I owe them something for that.' ''
``A'' student: Williams, the tight end from Syracuse who was the Rams' fourth-round pick, was late to the team's first minicamp in April, but for good cause: He had to make two presentations as part of his master's degree program.
The presentations, one a public-relations campaign for the Syracuse library system and the other for the WNBA, both were given A's. And as it turns out, the Rams may have helped along in the grading process.
``I actually had my Rams hat on when I did both presentations,'' Williams said. ``I had a suit on with my Rams hat on. Everybody appreciated my loyalty to both.''
Williams has three more classes before he receives his master's degree. He will finish his graduate work ``next year . . . after we go to the Super Bowl.''
Free football camp: Mike Jones, starting outside linebacker for the Rams, plans to hold two free football camps this month for St. Louis-area residents -- boys and girls -- ages 8 to 18. The camps are sponsored by the Michael Jones Foundation, a nonprofit charitable group, and will feature several Rams and other NFL players as coaches.
A one-day minicamp dubbed 52's Special Camp will be held 4 to 5:30 p.m. June 17 at Normandy Senior High, 6701 St. Charles Rock Road, for physically and mentally challenged individuals. Jones' camp for elementary and middle school students will be 9 to 11:30 a.m. June 18-19 at Normandy. A camp for high school students will be 6-7:45 p.m. on June 17-19 at Normandy.
On June 20, Jones' foundation and Toby Wright's ``Wright to Dream Foundation'' will join at Rams Park for a day of activities from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The camps are free, on a first-come basis and will involve speakers who will discuss goal-setting, gang violence and gang awareness, among other subjects. For registration information or details on how to become a camp sponsor or volunteer, call (314) 940-4585.
Ram-blings: Pattonville grad Andre McFarlin, a running back out of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, and Marvin Welch, a running back out of Henderson State, worked out for the coaches Thursday at Rams Park. . . . The Arizona Cardinals have signed sixth-round pick Zack Walz, an outside linebacker from Dartmouth, to a two-year deal. Walz, the fourth member of the Cardinals' draft class to come to terms, was drafted one spot ahead of St. Louis' sixth-rounder, Glenn Rountree, a guard out of Clemson. None of the Rams' draft picks have been signed yet. . . . Remember Rams 1995 third-round draft pick Steve McLaughlin, the guy who was great in practice but dismal in games? He has signed with the Portland Dragons of the Arena Football League.
Around the league: Morris Bradshaw, the Oakland Raiders' director of marketing, is perturbed with the bad publicity the team gets because Raider clothing is popular with gangs. ``I get really sick of turning on `America's Most Wanted' or `Cops' and seeing someone wearing our stuff, being busted. It's a concern and it's not something we're proud of, but we don't know what to do about it.'' . . . Despite foot surgery in December, New Orleans Saints quarterback Heath Shuler was able to practice at full speed for his team's minicamp last week. . . . Ellerbe Becket Architects of Kansas City, the firm that renovated Notre Dame Stadium, has been picked by the Packers to renovate Lambeau Field. . . . Joel Brewster, an oddsmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants, said the odds of the Denver Broncos repeating as Super Bowl champs if John Elway had retired would have fallen from 8-1 to 20-1.
Writers in other cities contributed some information for this notebook.

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