He’s a Man of Many Positions in Rams’ Training Camp : Football: Jones, the team’s eighth-round draft selection, could end up at safety, receiver, quarterback, kick or punt returner.

Rickey Lamond (End Zone) Jones was having a lot of fun. The Alabama State quarterback was doing everything but engraving his name on the Heritage Bowl’s most valuable player trophy. He ran. He passed. He returned kicks. He compiled 478 yards of total offense.

He did, however, experience a brief moment of disappointment during the Hornets’ 36-13 victory over North Carolina A&T;, and it turned out to be the single most important play of his college career.

“I dropped back to throw a bomb and the minute I let go of it, I knew it was going to be a little over the receiver’s head,” Jones said. “So I was the first one to break to the ball. The guy picked it off and started back and I was one of the first guys to him. I hit him and knocked him about five yards backward.”

Tank Younger, the Rams’ director of player personnel, said it was the “best hit I saw all last year.”

“He had what you would have to call a career day running and passing, but he did throw this interception,” Younger said. “Then he came back and made the tackle and it was really a big-time hit. He really stiffed the guy. He wasn’t scared.”

Younger’s voice was heard and the Rams drafted Jones in the eighth round, No. 198 overall, and penciled him at free safety.

“We saw him as a good athlete, but we didn’t know whether he was good enough to make it as a quarterback,” Coach Chuck Knox said. “But we felt that a good athlete like him could play someplace.”

Good was not the adjective Younger had in mind. He was thinking of something more suited to Jim Thorpe.

“No doubt, he was the best all-around athlete I saw last year,” Younger said. “He’s fluid, he’s fast, he’s smart, he’s got great vision, you know, the type of guy who you’d play at shortstop on your baseball team or point guard on your basketball team. He’s just got great athletic ability.

“He’s got a great arm, too, but unfortunately, he doesn’t have the height we look for in a quarterback in this league.”

Jones, 6 feet 1 and 185 pounds, still hopes he will someday get the chance to prove otherwise, but right now he’s so happy to be on an NFL roster, he would give defensive tackle a shot if the Rams asked.

“I knew I probably would get drafted as a free safety or maybe receiver or even just for kick returns, but I think I can play quarterback in this league,” he said. “The Rams said they would give me a shot at quarterback and if I don’t make it at quarterback then I wouldn’t mind playing free safety at all. I just want to make the team and play any way I can.

“I don’t really think the height thing is that big of deal, though. I think the only size that matters is the size of your heart. If your heart’s big enough, you can play.”

The question is where.

“I kind of envisioned him as a defensive back who could also be the No. 3 quarterback, the disaster quarterback,” Younger said. “But that, of course, is the coaches’ decision.”

At this point, let’s just say the Ram staff is not discounting any of the possibilities: safety, quarterback, receiver, kick and/or punt returner.

“We thought of any number of positions, including wide receiver,” Knox said, “but for what we are trying to do, the best position would be at free safety.”

When the Rams scrimmaged against the San Diego Chargers last week, Jones made one glaring error, but his athleticism was also evident.

“He’s a raw talent who’s been converted from quarterback to safety and Rome wasn’t built in a day,” said Joe Vitt, assistant head coach/defense, who coaches the safeties. “Let’s face it, he’s got a lot of work to do. There’s run reads and pass reads, but he’s a tremendous athlete and he’s an intelligent person and that gives him a chance.

“There’s no question he’s a football athlete. We just have to find the right spot where he can help us and he can flourish. It’s our job to put him at the best place and give him a true chance to make this football team.”

Free safety is not a position that is totally foreign to Jones, who played safety and quarterback at Lanier High School in Jackson, Miss. As a senior, he intercepted eight passes.

“This isn’t my first time playing free safety, but it’s my first time on a level like this,” he said. “When I first came to mini-camp, I wondered whether or not I was going to get it.

“There was a lot of stuff I had to learn, but once I learned it, it sort of went clockwise. Learn one thing, then another, then another. I learned one defense and then the next. It was intimidating at first, but I feel a lot more comfortable with it now.”

His comfort zone may have to expand considerably before it’s evident, but Jones has one important factor going for him that most safeties lack: quarterback instincts.

In his heart, he’s still a quarterback who thinks like a quarterback. And that’s an advantage when your job is intercepting passes.

“I like free safety because it’s a lot like playing quarterback on the defense,” Jones said. “You have to check off and set the defense. Plus, I know what the quarterback’s going to do. I can sort of feel it, like what route a guy is going to run.

“Playing free safety and being the No. 3 quarterback, that would be a great role to start. I just want to play and I feel like I’ve got a real good shot at making this team. They know I can play quarterback, free safety, even receiver. They know I can catch the ball and run the ball on kick returns. The way I feel, I can play anything.”

Boastful? Maybe, but there have been doubters before and Jones has proven them wrong.

The house he grew up in was behind the house of the coach of Jackson State, but Jones was not recruited as a quarterback by his hometown college.

“They didn’t start recruiting me until two or three days before the signing date,” Jones said. “They wanted to sign me as a free safety, not a quarterback, and wanted to redshirt me the first year; I didn’t go for that.

“My mama wanted me to be near my brother in Birmingham so I went to Alabama State. It was my first time being away from home and she felt like I needed to have some kinfolk about me.”

Jones amassed 6,829 yards of total offense at Alabama State and averaged almost 240 yards per game as a senior. He scored 64 touchdowns. And the Hornets beat Jackson State three times.

“Every time I’d go home to Jackson, I couldn’t go out for a pizza without people recognizing me and asking why I didn’t go to Jackson State or saying what a mistake the coach made by letting me get out of town.”

It’s a mistake the Rams won’t make. They will give Jones ample chance to use his varied talents in a host of ways before they send him packing.

JACK-OF-ALL-JOBS: Rickey Jones’ athleticism has made him a candidate for safety, quarterback, receiver, punt and/or kick returner with the Rams. C16