Ellard Off to Good Start : Ram Receiver Already Ahead of the Game by Reporting on Time
Henry Ellard is having the training camp of his life, which isn’t saying much, considering that Ellard has never been much of a camper.
This is Ellard’s sixth season with the Rams but only the third time he has started camp on time. That’s a good field goal percentage in basketball, but a lousy average for a wide receiver.
They don’t call him Holdout Henry for nothing. In 1983, Ellard’s rookie season, he had a contract squabble. And there was the publicized battle of 1986, when Ellard didn’t show up until 89 days after the rest of the Rams reported. And last year, Ellard sat out the first week of workouts before finally signing a four-year deal that made him happy.
Ellard was surprised that no one asked for two forms of identification when he reported on time with Ram veterans July 21.
“It’s nice to be here working and not have to worry about contract issues of the past,” Ellard said. “That’s out of the way for three more years and it makes all the difference in the world.”
Tell it to the Rams. Even when Ellard did arrive after his holdouts, it seemed to take his body a few weeks longer to come to terms.
A typical Ellard holdout involved the subjects of tightened purse strings and hamstrings, the latter an injury that has bothered Ellard since he ran track and field at Fresno State.
“It’s been plaguing him ever since,” Coach John Robinson said. “Having that behind him and the contract behind him, those are nice things.”
On a boat, you need sea legs. In football, you need field legs. And after a long off-season program of stretches and workouts at Rams Park, something Ellard had never done before, he and his legs seem light years ahead of schedule.
In brief appearances in the first two exhibition games this summer, Ellard had 8 receptions for 126 yards and a touchdown. A 22-yard touchdown catch against the Denver Broncos was nullified by a penalty. Ellard was held out of last Saturday’s exhibition game because of a slight groin pull.
Though it’s far too early for a final judgment, Ellard says he’s not the only one who is new and improved. It’s the whole offense, he says, one that has completed its first full season with offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese.
It’s quarterback Jim Everett, who is more comfortable with the system and his role in it. It’s new offensive threats to divert attention from Ellard--Gaston Green in the backfield, receivers Aaron Cox and Willie Anderson flanking Ellard outside. Last year was, well, last year--Ellard’s holdout, the strike and a 6-9 record.
“We just weren’t ready,” Ellard said of the offense. “We just didn’t come around. Now we’re more versatile. There’s a lot of reading involved in our offense. It took awhile for everyone to catch on. Before, we had a simple offense. You could learn it in a week. Now, it takes more time. There’s reading and option routes. It took almost a year to feel comfortable.”
Now some addition by subtraction: The loss of Eric Dickerson, one of the National Football League’s best runners, eliminated the obligation to have the back run 30 times a game, a pleasure-burden that certainly put the passing game on the Rams’ back burner.
“Still, you’d like to have a back like Dickerson,” Ellard said. “But people knew we were going to run the ball 80% to 90% of the time. Now, we don’t have the big weapon in the backfield. We still have a good runner (Charles White), yet we’re a more balanced team.”
Robinson agreed that Ellard is better in part because everyone else is better.
“One of big problems we’ve had in past five years has been constant change in the passing game,” Robinson said. “There have been new people, injuries, holdouts, a litany of things you can put down relative to the passing game. Five years, five quarterbacks. Now, there’s continuity.”
And Henry?
“He’s a high-level player,” Robinson said. “This is really the first year he’s been here--not only been here--but been in mini-camp, flown down (from Fresno in the off-season) to spend time. That continuity you equate to a good receiver and quarterback is just taking shape.”
Robinson wants a 70-catch season from Ellard, a goal both coach and player consider realistic.
In 1987, despite his holdout and missing three games because of the strike, Ellard led the Rams with 51 receptions for 799 yards and 3 touchdowns.
In fact, Ellard has led the Rams in receptions four consecutive seasons. His best year was 1985, when he had 54 catches for 811 yards.
Of course, it also was a prelude to holdout in 1986.
“I thought the fourth year was going to be the year for me,” he said of 1986. “But it was the year I had to hold out half the season. It threw everything off. I had to start all over again. This year, I can really feel the difference of me being here early in training camp. It makes a big, big difference.”
Ellard has had second thoughts about the effect his holdouts have had on his career, but says he wouldn’t do it any other way.
“I don’t really regret missing the time I did,” he said. “But between the strike and me holding out, I’ve missed almost a solid year. I consider this to be only my fifth year as experience goes. The things we did, we had to do. It’s all part of negotiating a contract. I don’t regret any of that. It couldn’t be avoided any other way.”
Ram Notes
Coach John Robinson said Thursday that tailback Charles White (bruised ribs) won’t play in Saturday night’s game against the Houston Oilers. . . . Doug Ward, the Rams’ assistant public relations director, resigned his position Wednesday night. He would only say the decision was “mutual.” . . . Quarterback Steve Dils left training camp after learning of the death of his father. He will miss Saturday’s game and won’t return until Monday at the earliest. . . . The Ron Brown-to-Tampa Bay trade rumor made the rounds again Thursday, though Robinson said nothing was transpiring. . . . Tampa Bay Coach Ray Perkins told reporters Thursday that interest in Brown has died down this week and that the Buccaneers have turned their attention to Stephen Starring of the New England Patriots.
