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No summer vacation for first-rounders Robinson, Donald
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_8a3a8f47-04dd-5133-bebf-39fb60987cbf.html
Among the Rams’ 2014 draft class, seventh-rounder Michael Sam has garnered more headlines than anyone because of the history-making nature of his quest to become the first openly-gay player to make an NFL regular-season roster.
But when all is said and done, first-rounders Greg Robinson and Aaron Donald will have much more to say about the success of the Rams this season and beyond.
And after the traditional NFL summer break following the conclusion of practices in June, offensive lineman Robinson and defensive tackle Donald reported for training camp this week raring to go.
As is the case with most NFL players, there really wasn’t much of a break during their time away from Rams Park.
Donald said he took a grand total of three days off to relax with his family, including a brief stop in Toledo, Ohio, to visit his brother Archie.
“I went jet-skiing,” Donald said.
(Yes, nothing says “summer vacation” better than jet-skiing in Toledo.)
Other than that, it was all work for Donald back in his hometown of Pittsburgh, working with a local trainer.
“It was a lot of speed work, lot of explosive stuff,” Donald said.
As if he needed to get any quicker.
Donald was so impressive during workouts in June that offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer called him the team’s defensive MVP of the spring. Donald picked up where he left off during the Rams’ rookie practices Tuesday and Wednesday at Rams Park.
To a large degree, Donald was unblockable during one-on-one pass-blocking drills Wednesday. Try as they might, a handful of reporters couldn’t get Donald to brag about himself.
When it was playfully suggested that perhaps Wednesday’s drill was designed to let Donald through untouched, he just chuckled.
As for the Schottenheimer remarks, Donald said: “I didn’t hear it. It’s a good thing just to see that the coaches are starting to see me on the field.”
Oh, they see him all right, and can’t wait to have Donald take his turn in what potentially could be a formidable defensive tackle rotation. Donald’s summer work was designed to help him make the most of his opportunities once the games began.
He did “band” work, in which he worked on his “get-off” — those first steps off the line of scrimmage with the equivalent of a huge rubber-band tied to him to provide resistance.
“We tied it around my ankles. We tied it around my waist. We did a lot of crazy stuff,” Donald said. “Once you take (the band) off, you feel a lot faster. That’s the point of doing it.”
Donald’s summer training regimen also included long-distance running for conditioning, and “parachute” work to help with quickness. (Like a smaller version of the parachutes used to stop high-speed jets when they land.)
“I know we did a lot of barbaric stuff,” Donald said. “If you’d seen it, you wouldn’t believe the stuff we did.”
As for Robinson, he did a lot of traveling over the Rams’ summer break, but it didn’t involve smoking cigars and drinking cocktails on a beach. He split his training time doing work in Oregon, Houston, Florida and his hometown of Thibodaux, La.
Robinson’s month-long break from Rams Park began with work at a Bo Jackson Nike facility in Oregon. Next, he headed down to south Florida, where Rams rookie running back Tre Mason is from, to work out with his former Auburn teammate.
Then came Houston to work with offensive tackle Trent Williams. a two-time Pro Bowler for Washington and former teammate of Sam Bradford at Oklahoma. Williams also was at the Nike facility, hit it off with Robinson and then invited Robinson to work out with him in Houston. Williams is a Texas native. The “facility” where Robinson and Williams worked out wasn’t one of those high-tech performance institutes.
“It was at a junior high,” Robinson said. “We just needed the field. It was pretty cool. I learned a lot from him.”
There was nothing fancy about the Florida workout venue with Mason, either. Robinson called it, “just a little field. ... It don’t matter where you get (the workout) in, as long as you get it in.”
Last stop in the Robinson training tour was Thibodaux.
“When I went back home, I just did my own thing (training-wise) and did what I was instructed to do by Coach Rock,” Robinson said.
Every Rams player leaves Rams Park for the summer break with a set of personalized instructions on what they need to work on, compliments of strength coach Rock Gullickson and the Rams’ athletic training staff.
Overall, Robinson said, “there were a lot of different things I worked on, but it was good to just work with different people and learn from multiple people. Some of it was just doing cardio, just trying to stay in shape, and some was more offensive line drills.”
Mentally, Robinson said his head was spinning during earlier practices, not just because of the switch to guard but also learning the playbook. Pass protection schemes can be complex in the NFL, and Auburn did very little passing while Robinson was there.
“It was something new for me, and I did struggle,” Robinson said. “But now I’m at the point where I just stop thinking and just play. It started out kind of difficult but now I’m starting to pick up the plays a lot better.”
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_8a3a8f47-04dd-5133-bebf-39fb60987cbf.html
Among the Rams’ 2014 draft class, seventh-rounder Michael Sam has garnered more headlines than anyone because of the history-making nature of his quest to become the first openly-gay player to make an NFL regular-season roster.
But when all is said and done, first-rounders Greg Robinson and Aaron Donald will have much more to say about the success of the Rams this season and beyond.
And after the traditional NFL summer break following the conclusion of practices in June, offensive lineman Robinson and defensive tackle Donald reported for training camp this week raring to go.
As is the case with most NFL players, there really wasn’t much of a break during their time away from Rams Park.
Donald said he took a grand total of three days off to relax with his family, including a brief stop in Toledo, Ohio, to visit his brother Archie.
“I went jet-skiing,” Donald said.
(Yes, nothing says “summer vacation” better than jet-skiing in Toledo.)
Other than that, it was all work for Donald back in his hometown of Pittsburgh, working with a local trainer.
“It was a lot of speed work, lot of explosive stuff,” Donald said.
As if he needed to get any quicker.
Donald was so impressive during workouts in June that offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer called him the team’s defensive MVP of the spring. Donald picked up where he left off during the Rams’ rookie practices Tuesday and Wednesday at Rams Park.
To a large degree, Donald was unblockable during one-on-one pass-blocking drills Wednesday. Try as they might, a handful of reporters couldn’t get Donald to brag about himself.
When it was playfully suggested that perhaps Wednesday’s drill was designed to let Donald through untouched, he just chuckled.
As for the Schottenheimer remarks, Donald said: “I didn’t hear it. It’s a good thing just to see that the coaches are starting to see me on the field.”
Oh, they see him all right, and can’t wait to have Donald take his turn in what potentially could be a formidable defensive tackle rotation. Donald’s summer work was designed to help him make the most of his opportunities once the games began.
He did “band” work, in which he worked on his “get-off” — those first steps off the line of scrimmage with the equivalent of a huge rubber-band tied to him to provide resistance.
“We tied it around my ankles. We tied it around my waist. We did a lot of crazy stuff,” Donald said. “Once you take (the band) off, you feel a lot faster. That’s the point of doing it.”
Donald’s summer training regimen also included long-distance running for conditioning, and “parachute” work to help with quickness. (Like a smaller version of the parachutes used to stop high-speed jets when they land.)
“I know we did a lot of barbaric stuff,” Donald said. “If you’d seen it, you wouldn’t believe the stuff we did.”
As for Robinson, he did a lot of traveling over the Rams’ summer break, but it didn’t involve smoking cigars and drinking cocktails on a beach. He split his training time doing work in Oregon, Houston, Florida and his hometown of Thibodaux, La.
Robinson’s month-long break from Rams Park began with work at a Bo Jackson Nike facility in Oregon. Next, he headed down to south Florida, where Rams rookie running back Tre Mason is from, to work out with his former Auburn teammate.
Then came Houston to work with offensive tackle Trent Williams. a two-time Pro Bowler for Washington and former teammate of Sam Bradford at Oklahoma. Williams also was at the Nike facility, hit it off with Robinson and then invited Robinson to work out with him in Houston. Williams is a Texas native. The “facility” where Robinson and Williams worked out wasn’t one of those high-tech performance institutes.
“It was at a junior high,” Robinson said. “We just needed the field. It was pretty cool. I learned a lot from him.”
There was nothing fancy about the Florida workout venue with Mason, either. Robinson called it, “just a little field. ... It don’t matter where you get (the workout) in, as long as you get it in.”
Last stop in the Robinson training tour was Thibodaux.
“When I went back home, I just did my own thing (training-wise) and did what I was instructed to do by Coach Rock,” Robinson said.
Every Rams player leaves Rams Park for the summer break with a set of personalized instructions on what they need to work on, compliments of strength coach Rock Gullickson and the Rams’ athletic training staff.
Overall, Robinson said, “there were a lot of different things I worked on, but it was good to just work with different people and learn from multiple people. Some of it was just doing cardio, just trying to stay in shape, and some was more offensive line drills.”
Mentally, Robinson said his head was spinning during earlier practices, not just because of the switch to guard but also learning the playbook. Pass protection schemes can be complex in the NFL, and Auburn did very little passing while Robinson was there.
“It was something new for me, and I did struggle,” Robinson said. “But now I’m at the point where I just stop thinking and just play. It started out kind of difficult but now I’m starting to pick up the plays a lot better.”
