Schad Can’t Wait for Training Camp to Be Over : Ram First-Round Draft Choice Still Struggling to Catch Up to the Competition

You don’t need three guesses to figure out which Ram will be beaming after the closing of training camp Tuesday.

Tackle Mike Schad, the team’s No. 1 draft choice, wears the pain of a beaten rookie on his face as he drags his body across the team’s training complex at Fullerton each day.

For Schad, this has been more like a visit to “Helltown.” Enter Schad’s dormitory room and see the marks he has scratched on his wall with a penknife, counting down the days to his release on Aug. 19, when the team breaks camp.

OK, maybe it hasn’t been that bad. But pretty close.

“That first week I just ran around with my head spinning,” Schad said. “I’ve never been around guys like this before.”

Schad, who is light years behind the others after missing the first three weeks of camp, has been beaten on, stomped on and put on. He has been pushed and shoved and all of the above, which isn’t easy to do to a guy who stands 6-feet 5-inches and weighs 295 pounds.

“What they want to do is make me understand the level of competition here,” Schad said.

Let’s just say that Schad and the NFL have reached an understanding.

If it’s not defensive end Gary Jeter pushing Schad’s face into the ground, it has been Shawn Miller tossing him aside like an old shirt.

In one recent practice, nose tackle Miller blew by Schad on five consecutive plays. Schad became so frustrated that he picked a fight with Miller, who proceeded to wrestle Schad to the ground.

“Shawn had a hold of my face mask, and I didn’t like it,” Schad said.

These first two weeks have left Schad tired and sore and desperately searching for some dignity.

“At this point, I’m sure he’d like to be better than he has been,” said Hudson Houck, Ram offensive line coach. “I think he realizes what he has to do. This has been a very blunt indication of the progress he has to make.”

Of course, Schad never really had a chance. The Rams made him their first-round pick and the 23rd pick overall, figuring he wouldn’t have much of an impact his first year.

Schad played for Queen’s University in Canada, which isn’t exactly Oklahoma when it comes to teaching the fundamentals of football.

Needless to say, the leap from Canada to the NFL was more than a hop, skip and a jump.

“Any mistake you make here, a guy is quick to capitalize,” Schad said. “There is no room for error, otherwise, you’ll get eaten up.”

The Rams have all but served Schad at training table.

What has hurt Schad most, though, was missing three weeks of camp.

Schad said he kept pressing his agent, Gil Scott, to make a deal with the Rams so he could get to work.

But in these days of negotiations, first-rounders rarely make it to camp on time.

“I didn’t think it would take three weeks,” he said. “It’s going to hurt my first year totally.”

But the Rams aren’t giving up.

“I don’t know if we ever thought he was going to come in and be better than (staring tackle) Irv Pankey,” Houck said. “We’d like to get him in, get him in shape and see if he can help us out.”

So far, Schad isn’t making for the kind of headlines first-rounders are supposed to warrant. Then again, Schad doesn’t feel much like a first-rounder right now, anyway.

“Once I got on the field, the draft was forgotten,” he said. “I’m just another player. I’m just trying to do the best I can.”

Things can only get better for Schad, who hasn’t had the chance to think about life in a while. The Rams are two days away from breaking camp, and Schad hasn’t even found an apartment yet.

“I’ve got some friends looking for me,” Schad said.

You can bet they’re not defensive linemen.

The holdout may be over soon for Ram linebacker Mel Owens. Contacted Saturday at home in Balboa, Owens said the details have all but been worked out on a contract that will reportedly pay him about $600,000 over two years. Owens made $235,000 in 1985.

“I think I just need to put a signature on it Monday,” Owens said. “I don’t see any problems.”

Owens, the Rams’ starting left outside linebacker since 1983, said he has been working out regularly.