Awalt, Itching to Play, Waits Out Negotiations

Rob Awalt, the former San Diego State tight end, is taking it easy, eating home cooking, working out with his friends in the morning, going out for a light jog or a game of racquetball in the afternoon. Sounds like the ideal lazy summer. Only Awalt wants none of it.

He would rather be sweating it out in Charleston, Ill., going through the rigors of two-a-day practices at the St. Louis Cardinals’ training camp.

“I want to play football; that’s what I want to do,” Awalt said Wednesday. “When I first started this, that’s all I wanted to do. But I found out real fast this is a business. I’ve seen the real business side of football, and they don’t handle it like Monopoly money.”

That is why Awalt, the Cardinals’ first selection in the third round of the National Football League draft, is back at his family home in Sacramento instead of with most of the other rookies and free agents in camp at Eastern Illinois University. He is waiting for his agent, Bruce Allen, and the Cardinals’ contract negotiator, Bob Wallace, to come to an agreement.

“I’m hopeful,” Wallace said from his St. Louis office. “I’m always hopeful.”

But Allen is not so optimistic about a quick end to the impasse. He said earlier this week he thought a settlement could be reached shortly. His outlook Wednesday was more cautious.

“We’re talking, but we’re not seeing what we’re looking for,” Allen said from Phoenix. “I think Robert will be staying in Sacramento for a while.”

None of this particularly pleases Awalt. When he left St. Louis Friday after participating in eight days of informal workouts, he figured his holdout would be brief. He packed only enough to tide him over for a weekend.

“I just packed one bag with some T-shirts and shorts to work out in,” he said. “I don’t even have a long-sleeved shirt or a pair of pants. It’s all in my trunk parked at a hotel (in St. Louis).”

Awalt’s answer is to keep reasonably busy. He tries to simulate part of the training camp routine. He rises early each morning, works out for a few hours with some players at Sacramento State and then returns home, where he relaxes, takes in some afternoon recreation and goes to bed by 11 p.m.

“Emotionally, I’m a football player,” said Awalt, 6-feet 5-inches and 245 pounds. “Just let me go and play football. But I know in the long run, what we’re doing is good for my future.”

Allan said he has taken a little harder stand in his talks with St. Louis because of Awalt’s apparent value to the team. The Cardinals are thin at tight end, and Awalt, who caught 45 passes for 541 yards last season as a senior, could make an immediate impact.