Warner Is Off and Running at Rams’ Training Camp

IRVINE â€”  Curt Warner has rushed for 6,705 yards during his NFL career, or, nearly as many as he’s gained in his first Rams’ training camp.

Or so it seems.

Warner, 29, is trying to resurrect a career that was left for dead in Seattle. He’s already learned about the differences in philosophies.

Coach John Robinson, a noted tailback teacher, works his runners to near-exhaustion during the first weeks of camp.

“We didn’t have anything like this (in Seattle),” Warner said after Monday’s practice. “We had some running drills, but not at this intensity, and that’s not to be derogatory about any other offense.”

Robinson’s theory is simple: You break a runner down, then bring him back to form slowly.

“For the next 10 days, all our tailbacks are five-(second) flat plow horses,” Robinson said. “We just kind of hammer at you. I think he’s anxious. Like all of them, they think of themselves as thoroughbreds in peak form. But the first phase of running the football is the physicalness, the toughness--running the football when every part of your body hurts.”

Warner said he has been rubbing out pain in muscles he never knew existed.

“I’m aching a little bit,” he said Monday. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t. You’ve go to run like you’re in a game out here. It’s not a place to be anything less than 100%.”

It’s been quite a test for Warner, who has had a history of leg problems and is returning from another arthroscopic surgery. Warner sat out the weekend with a strained groin muscle, but returned to practice Monday, soreness and all.

In Ram practices, tailbacks get hit. There are no red shirts for protection.

“I think it’s good,” Warner said. “It gets you to see it just like you’re going to see it in a game. When they put you in a game, it’s not such a dramatic change. . . . But, yeah, they break you down. It’s all part of a new team, a new environment, a new everything.”

Though Warner has been slowed some by injuries this summer, Robinson said Warner is everything he expected when the Rams signed the tailback as a Plan B free agent March 30.

“It’s obvious to me he has the kinds of skills (we expected),” Robinson said. “His skills have not eroded, in my view.”

Ram Notes

According to numbers filed with the National Football League Players Assn., first-round pick Bern Brostek’s contract is worth $2.65 million over five years. He receives a signing bonus of $875,000. The total package averages $525,000 per season. Brostek, by the way, fumbled a few center exchanges during Monday’s morning practice. Coach John Robinson said it was understandable, considering Ram quarterbacks are used to a quicker snap from veteran Doug Smith. . . . Linebacker Mel Owens injured his back making a simple cut on the grass at Monday’s morning practice. Robinson said Owens will miss a day or two. At lunch, Owens was walking like a player who might miss a week or two. . . . Latin Berry was the star of Sunday night’s practice, making one defensive gem after another. The third-round pick, who is being switched from runner to cornerback, is growing more confident each day. “If you asked Latin Berry, ‘Can you play corner in this league?’ he’d say, ‘Yes,’ ” Robinson said. “Four days ago, he’d have launched into a moment of prayer.” . . . Brostek is expected to play at least half of the Aug. 11 exhibition opener against Kansas City in Berlin, Germany. To make room for Brostek on the roster, the team released free-agent running back Michael Kane. . . . Former Ram linebacker Carl Ekern, who retired after the 1988 season, visited Monday’s afternoon practice. Ekern was a volunteer coach with the Rams last season and is now working with juvenile delinquents as he pursues a career in coaching.