RAMS : Guarding Rocket Prepared Lyght for NFL

Rookie cornerbacks are supposed to come into the NFL and be awed. They’re supposed to be amazed and confused by the talent, get torched regularly by a higher level of receiver until they get their feet churning faster.

Todd Lyght’s first NFL practice with the Rams came and went Friday, but his biggest adjustment was remembering that almost every pro receiver he faces is going to be less talented than the guy he used to defend every day in practice at Notre Dame.

The guy’s name is Raghib (Rocket) Ismail. You know him by the trail of money he left on his way to Bruce McNall’s heart and the CFL Toronto Argonauts.

“That’s one of the things that I was joking to (fourth-round cornerback) Robert Bailey today,” Lyght said after Friday’s first day of the Rams’ two-day minicamp for draft choices and other rookies. “I’m used to guarding Rocket, he’s used to guarding Randal Hill (at Miami, Fla.). And I was backpedaling a lot faster than I should have been early on in my one-on-one drills. . . . Then I settled down and started playing good defense.”

The Rams are depending on Lyght, the No. 5 choice overall, to settle down quickly and move into the starting right cornerback spot. Despite Lyght’s slight disappointment with his play, the Rams were pleased with what they saw Friday.

“I haven’t played football since the Hula Bowl (in January), and as far as getting the speed down, the timing, I think I did OK for the first day back,” Lyght said. “But once I get out here on a day-to-day basis, things are going to pick up for me.”

Lyght (6 foot, 186 pounds), who is wearing No. 41 because the NFL won’t let defensive backs wear the No. 1 he wore in college, looked smooth in non-contact drills and appeared to be getting more comfortable as practice wore on.

“He favors Albert Lewis probably more than anybody I’ve been associated with,” said Ram secondary coach Tom Bettis, who coached Lewis at Kansas City for several seasons. “You’re talking about a taller corner who still has the same ability as a shorter corner.”

And along with those skills, Bettis said Lyght has the mental discipline it takes to play the gambling, no-help defensive coverage scheme he and defensive coordinator Jeff Fisher are teaching the Rams to play.

“One thing you have to be is tough mentally on that corner because many times you’re in a situation where you’re on an island covering a guy,” Bettis said. “He has shown that at Notre Dame, and I think he’ll continue to show it.

“You can see the man-to-man ability he has.”

But four teams passed on Lyght, who Bettis agrees was one of the top cornerbacks in college history before being slowed by a hamstring problem his senior season.

Lyght, who most projected to be taken in the top three picks overall, says he isn’t bitter that he was only the third defensive back selected--behind UCLA safety Eric Turner, who went to Cleveland, and Nebraska cornerback Bruce Pickens, who went to Atlanta.

“That’s great for me because I’m happy. I’m out in L.A., I’ll be with my buddy Pat Terrell (who also played at Notre Dame),” Lyght said.

Because of a new NFL rule limiting draft picks to one minicamp before June 1, Lyght and the rest will have to leave Sunday. Lyght has two more finals to take and is scheduled to graduate May 15 with a degree in psychology.

If offensive lineman Gerald Perry can’t play more than four games this season for the Rams, they get the Denver Broncos’ fourth-round pick in the 1992 draft, which is parallel to the 1991 fourth-rounder they traded to Denver to get him.

Robinson said the plans are for Perry, who is unsigned and still has to face a June trial on charges of third-degree sexual assualt in Denver, to report to the Rams’ May minicamp on or about the 13th.

But the Rams believe they got a great deal. They are confident that Perry, if he has overcome his alcohol problems, can step in immediately at any one of three starting spots on the line, and if he can’t, they get the pick back.

Perry was relatively inexpensive because only one other team expressed serious interest--the Raiders, Denver’s bitterest rival. To make sure Perry doesn’t end up with the Raiders, Denver inserted a clause in the deal with the Rams preventing them from dealing Perry to an AFC West team.

The Rams also threw running back Gaston Green into the package and got Denver’s 12th-round choice. Denver, meanwhile, has been trying to trade Green, who was working out by himself at Rams Park on Friday.

Tailback Marcus Dupree, who has switched from last season’s No. 34 jersey to his college No. 22, has all but lived at Rams Park during the off-season. He is lifting weights, jogging, and--most importantly--running drills to sharpen his cutting ability. The Rams plan to use Dupree as more of an outside runner after running him primarily up the middle last season.

Dupree, who impressed Robinson Friday in an intense quick-cut drill, expects to sign a contract extension within a few weeks, one that would increase his 1991 salary from less than $100,000 to about $250,000, plus numerous incentive. Dupree signed a one-year contract, plus an option, last season after coming back from a five-year layoff.

Other than Lyght and the No. 2 pick, linebacker Roman Phifer of UCLA, Robinson said he was impressed “just from a physical presence” by the two defensive linemen the Rams selected in the middle rounds--fifth-round 273-pounder Robert Young of Mississippi State and ninth-round 298-pounder Jeff Fields of Arkansas State.