Rams Look for Singletary Man in Middle : Linebackers: Kelm, Stams and Sanders compete for signal-caller’s job in new 4-3 defense.

The Rams are looking for the next Mike Singletary, but Larry Kelm, Frank Stams and Glenell Sanders are too busy competing for the starting middle linebacker job to worry about it.

In a training camp designed to conjure competition out of complacency, these players’ daily game of I-can-do-better is not only the fiercest battle for a job, it is also the most important in the Rams’ new defensive scheme.

Any of them could be the starter, but finding a Mike Singletary type is never easy.

“It’ll work itself out,” linebacker coach Ronnie Jones said. “It’s three guys going head to head, and we’re going to pick one of them.”

Said Sanders: “It’s going to come down to the last second, last 10th of a second for them to decide who’s going to be the starter.”

Each has his distinct playing style and philosophy.

Kelm is the smooth leader, a veteran of five seasons with the battle scars to prove it. Stams is the gate-crasher, a high-voltage player who loves to bolt into the backfield and wreak havoc. Sanders is the quietly confident hitter who in his rookie season last year with the Chicago Bears studied under Singletary.

The Rams can play only one, and the coaches say that after the exhibition season ends and the starter has emerged, they will stick with him.

Kelm is the favorite and has the most experience, Stams is probably the most talented physically and Sanders seems to have the cocksure attitude of the position down pat.

“If me and Mike Singletary had come out of college at the same time, nobody might’ve ever heard of him,” Sanders said recently.

Make that kind a statement and people notice.

Said Jones: “That’s the type of attitude you love to see. We try to pride ourselves on defense as being a team (that) if we say something, we can back it up. He has now said it, the key will be whether he can back up that kind of a statement.”

Jones says that the Rams are fortunate to have three very smart players at a position demanding intelligence.

Kelm has shown a trustworthiness under fire. Ram Coach John Robinson calls Kelm, a fourth-round pick in 1987, a “master” at managing the defense.

Kelm, never the most physical player but always around the ball, called the signals for Fritz Shurmur’s Ram defenses the past few years, and he has shown new defensive coordinator Jeff Fisher that he can do it now.

And because Kelm knew he would be asked to make more plays in a three-linebacker set, as opposed to the Rams’ former four-linebacker scheme, he spent his off-season working on speed and strength.

As long as Kelm tackles surely and isn’t beaten badly in pass coverage, he appears to have the inside track for the job. But that can change as swiftly as one misplay or one big hit by one of the others.

So when he sees Stams kamikaze into a big play, or Sanders pursue across the field for a big hit, Kelm says it’s natural to feel a little anxious.

“Sure it is,” Kelm said. “One of the other guys makes a big play, you’re thinking, ‘Man, I’ve got to do something now, too.’

“Yeah, there’s more heat on you definitely. You’re out there and there’s a lot of our defense based on us automatically changing to something. There’s a lot of pressure on the guy who has to make the calls, and not only do you have to make the call, you have to go play.

“So you can’t be patting yourself on the back for making the right call against the right formation, then they hike the ball and wham .”

Stams, a second-round choice in 1989 who has been moved all over the field in various versions of the Rams’ defense, has missed several practices recently because of a sore muscle in his right leg, but he has made enough glittering plays to remain in the picture.

After playing end at Notre Dame, Stams has been at various positions in his short pro career--an outside pass-rusher, an outside linebacker, an inside linebacker in a 3-4 formation and now a middle linebacker in a 4-3. He says he is comfortable in the middle, especially because in a 4-3 the middle linebacker has more freedom to roam instead of having to cement himself in particular lanes.

“I see him as a guy who loves to play the game, will turn it loose, run around, make some things happen,” Jones said. “But again, the key at that position is who can keep enough composure to get the right thing called at the right time and still play like a wild man.”

Said Stams: “I try to play on their side of the line of scrimmage. I don’t want them to see me as a linebacker who makes plays six, seven yards down the field. I think anybody can do that. I like to be a guy who can maybe make plays on the other side of the line of scrimmage, maybe anticipate the play a little bit.

“I’m kind of a free spirit and I kind of like to do things my own way, but I do see myself as a guy who can make the calls and get everybody right and get everybody on the same page.”

Perhaps the most intriguing player of the threesome is Sanders, who looks, in the words of Fisher, “like a Singletary clone,” because of his 6-foot body, his jolting hits and his intensity.

Sanders, 24, a Plan B acquisition who says he came to the Rams because they promised him a shot at the starting job, has made the most big hits of the three.

“Up to this point, Glenell looks to be a straight-ahead plugger,” Jones said. “If a hole opens up, he’s going to burst through it and put his hat on someone.”

Sanders has also impressed the Rams with his intelligence. During their May mini-camp, Sanders asked Jones to go over the more than 20 blitz packages in the system, one by one, then watched without taking notes as Jones sped through them. When Jones, expecting Sanders to have missed some or most of his speech, quizzed Sanders on specifics, Sanders answered every question correctly.

“I have that ability,” Sanders said. “That’s no problem. Just like Chicago, same system they’ve got here, I learned it in a week. I’ve never had a problem picking it up or learning.

“I don’t limit myself. Only thing that’s bad about me, some people say, I’m not tall enough. That’s it. That’s about the only thing people say I’m lacking.”