Ram Camp : Laughlin Gets to Play Again in Ohio Stadium
The Rams’ first major roster reduction brought no surprises Tuesday, although Jim Laughlin was pleased to find himself a survivor.
For Laughlin, the only Ohio State alumnus on the Ram roster, it means a sentimental journey back to Columbus, Ohio, where the Rams will play the Philadelphia Eagles on Friday night in their third exhibition game of the season. (KCBS, Channel 2, said Tuesday that it will telecast Friday’s exhibition game live, starting at 4:30 p.m., PDT).
Laughlin realizes that the Rams still have 10 linebackers and plan to keep only seven. After this game, who knows?
“It’s just a matter of there being room for me on the roster or not,” he said. “It doesn’t look real good for me, but I’m hanging in there.”
Laughlin was a fourth-round draft choice of the Atlanta Falcons in 1980, started 13 games in two seasons and went to the Green Bay Packers as a free agent in ’83. The Rams signed him late last season.
The Ohio State athletic department is promoting the game as a fund raiser, splitting receipts with the Rams and Eagles. But a crowd of perhaps only 20,000 is expected for the first night game to be played in Ohio Stadium. That’s considerably smaller than the sellout crowds Laughlin played before as a Buckeye.
“They love their football there,” Laughlin said.
They also love the Buckeye band, the cheerleaders, Woody Hayes and the whole big-time college football scene, but Laughlin missed some of that.
“I never saw the band in my four years there,” he said. “We were always in (the dressing room) at halftime, listening to Woody.”
Ram Notes
Coach John Robinson seems to have subtly promoted quarterback Steve Dils. Asked how he regarded Dils and Jeff Kemp on the depth chart, Robinson said: “At this point, equal. Obviously, you’d look at Dieter Brock as having an edge.” That’s as close as Robinson has come to declaring Brock No. 1. . . . The Rams released five players and put rookie offensive tackle Mike Shiner, a free agent from Notre Dame, on injured reserve with a calf injury. Cut were former USC quarterback Scott Tinsley, who was last season’s scout team quarterback; second-year center Tony Slaton of USC; rookie linebacker Gary Swanson of Cal Poly SLO; rookie running back Bill Stone of Adams State in Colorado, and wide receiver Ricky Martin of New Mexico. Also, holdout Eric Dickerson, unsigned nose tackle Greg Meisner and defensive end Jack Youngblood, who was excused from training camp, were placed on the “did not report” list. Those nine moves dropped the roster to the maximum of 60. The maximum will drop to 50 next Tuesday and to 45, this season’s limit, a week after that. . . . Today is the last day of training camp at Cal State Fullerton. The Rams will practice at 1:45, have a farewell barbecue and move to Rams Park for a practice Thursday before flying to Columbus. Robinson said: “I like where we are (in progress) and I like what we’ve done.” But he’d still be most happy to see Dickerson before the season opens Sept. 8.