All work, no play for Palmer
By Kathleen Nelson
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
06/06/2006
Rams Palmer
Rams guard Tony Palmer (LEFT) tangles up with defensive end Victor Adeyanju at last month's minicamp at Rams Park.
(By Huy Richard Mach/P-D)
Since the end of the rookie minicamp in mid-May, guard Tony Palmer has kept his nose to the grindstone: No visits to his mom and dad in Midwest City, Okla. He has not even made a jaunt to Columbia to reconnect with his friends from the University of Missouri.
The farthest he has ventured from Rams Park since arriving May 12 was to Washington University over the weekend, when members of the Mizzou coaching staff conducted a football camp. While he was in the neighborhood, Palmer rode through Forest Park and stopped at the zoo.
"It was great to see them," Palmer said of his former coaches, not the animals. "They wanted to know how everything was going, how I was making the transition to the NFL."
In Palmer's opinion, the transition has "been going better lately." He estimated that he was comfortable with about 70 percent of the playbook.
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"At first, I was a deer staring in the headlights; now, it's starting to click," he said. The veterans have been helpful, especially Todd Steussie, whom the Rams signed as a free agent in April. "He's shown me how to pick up my feet, just little things that make a big difference. They've all been helpful. I owe so much to them."
Since rookie camp, much of his learning at Rams Park has come from watching the veterans and listening in organized team activities (OTAs), and work in the weight room. In rookie minicamp, Palmer took roughly 50 percent of the snaps. In OTAs, he takes perhaps 10 percent in a session that lasts about an hour.
"I gotta get in my mental reps," he said. "You really have to focus when you're not involved in the play."
Off the field, he has immersed himself in the playbook with his roommate and fellow seventh-round pick, guard
Mark Setterstrom. Though the two are the Rams' biggest rookies, Palmer claims that they seldom get in each other's way in their tight quarters at the Four Points Sheraton.
"It's working out pretty good. We respect each other's space. I guess that's a lot of space," said Palmer, who weighs about 330 pounds. "He doesn't have any annoying habits. I hope he can say the same. We talk a lot and go through the playbook together. Talking it out with him really helps both of us."
Though the Rams pay living expenses, none of the draft choices has signed a contract. Since they've yet to cash in, they maintain a spartan lifestyle, which fosters camaraderie. On workout days, they eat breakfast and lunch together at Rams Park. A meal on the town usually consists of a stop at Quizno's or the Chinese takeout place, conveniently located between Rams Park and the Four Points, with Setterstrom, J.D. Washington, Donovan Raiola or Blaine Saipaia.
The routine of OTAs ends Thursday and is replaced with a full-team minicamp Friday through Sunday. The biggest difference: intensity. Players will spend three hours a day on the field and will work in pads.
"December - that was the last time I was in pads. Man," Palmer said with a long pause. "But, Coach Linehan has made sure that we've established a fast tempo and that we work hard every play. It will be tough, but it's just another challenge."
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