Piel Waves Goodby to Surf, Lands Contract With Rams
While Mike Piel’s agent haggled with the Rams over signing bonuses and deferred payments, Mike Piel was hanging 10 very large toes down at Trestles in north San Diego County.
“I’ve been surfing all summer,” Piel said. “It’s good for the hips.”
On Friday, Piel, a defensive tackle, caught the last wave in and became the Rams’ 14th and last draft choice to come to terms when he signed a three-year deal.
Let’s just say the surf’s always up when Piel is in the water. Piel, an El Toro High School graduate, is 6-feet 4-inches tall and weighs 263 pounds.
“I get some funny looks out there,” Piel, the team’s third-round draft choice, said. “But it’s fun.”
Actually, Piel would rather have been in training camp. Being the last draft choice out is no fun, especially when you live in town and can read all about it in the papers.
“I’m tired of dealing with that whole thing,” Piel said of his contract troubles. “It was a miscommunication thing; there wasn’t any talking going on. There were missed phone calls. It just took time.”
And Piel, it seems, has arrived just in time. The Rams these days are combing the streets for defensive tackles, with veterans Greg Meisner, Shawn Miller and Doug Reed all training-camp holdouts.
“He’s going to play 52 minutes in Canton,” Coach John Robinson said, referring to next week’s exhibition opener against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Last year, Piel was the named the outstanding defensive player at Illinois, quite an accomplishment when you consider that he played alongside Scott Davis, a first-round draft choice with the Raiders.
“I don’t know what the whole thing is with the guys that aren’t in yet,” Piel said of the holdouts. “I’m not really concerned with that. I know they need help at defensive line. That’s why I’m happy I was drafted by the Rams. It’ll give me a chance to go out and play.”
Piel likes to joke about his surfing prowess, or lack thereof, but it almost cost him a shot at the National Football League. He gave up football at El Toro after his sophomore year to devote more time to the waves near San Clemente.
“It was all a maturity thing,” he said.
After some convincing from his father, Piel gave football another try his senior year and ended up playing on a Central Conference championship team in 1982.
“Father does know best,” Piel said. From there, it was on to Saddleback College and then to Illinois, where he was named second-team All-Big Ten as a senior.
In other words, Piel, who weighed 190 pounds as a high school senior, has come a long way, on land and sea.
“I’ve got to get a bigger board now,” he said.
Ram Notes
According to the Rams, veteran wide receiver Kevin House has been released, with an option to return within a week if he can’t find work with another team. House, 30, figured to be fighting for the fourth wide-receiver spot. . . . Coach John Robinson is not shedding tears over the holdouts of defensive linemen Shawn Miller, Doug Reed and Greg Meisner. “Let’s be honest,” Robinson said. “These guys aren’t exactly the scourge of the league. I’m not being negative, they work hard and all “ Robinson said the Rams are willing to shop first- and second-round draft choices around the league to find replacements for the linemen. Robinson is also miffed over the holdout of guard Tom Newberry, who is under contract but out of camp. The Rams have offered to renegotiate Newberry’s contract, which pays him $150,000 this year and $200,000 in 1989.
