He’s Set for All-Pro Onslaught : Rams: Cornerback Israel knows he will face the likes of Rison, Sharpe and Rice, but says he is ready for the challenge.

Steve Israel has studied the Rams’ schedule. He knows they are out there . . . waiting.

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Andre Rison.

Sterling Sharpe.

Jerry Rice.

All are just waiting for their shot at Israel, the Rams’ cornerback who has started only 13 games in his three-year pro career and has yet to intercept a pass.

But Israel just shrugs and asks: “What more could a young cornerback want? Andre Rison, Sterling Sharpe, Jerry Rice. I love it. Each one of those guys will make me a better player. I’m playing at a competitive position, and you want to be in competitive situations.”

Israel was in plenty of those situations last year as one of only a few healthy defensive backs in an overmatched Ram secondary plagued with injuries and problems.

For Israel, it was on-the-job training, an education, NFL-style.

After starting only two games as a rookie, he started 11 games last season, leading the team with 12 passes defensed.

His progress toward the end of last season, combined with off-season training to improve his already-flashy 4.3 speed, prompted Ram coaches to start him opposite Todd Lyght this season.

“Steve had a tremendous off-season,” said Joe Vitt, Rams’ assistant head coach. “He was in there (the weight room) four or five hours a day, six or seven days a week. He’s committed himself to greatness. And when you have a person who’s intelligent, athletic and has great work habits, you have someone with star quality.”

That’s the potential the Rams saw in Israel when they selected the former Pittsburgh standout in the second round of the 1992 draft. It has just taken some time for him to realize it.

Lately, Israel has been watching two-a-day workouts at UC Irvine from the sideline. He re-injured a quadriceps muscle in practice last Monday and hasn’t worked out all week. But he expects to return sometime next week, and is counting the days until the start of the season.

It could be a chance for redemption for a Rams’ secondary that accounted for only seven interceptions last season, a total matched by Atlanta cornerback Deion Sanders. In fact, five other NFL defensive backs had seven or more interceptions, led by Seattle’s Eugene Robinson with nine.

So it was no wonder that quarterbacks and receivers were chomping at the bit to get their shot at the Rams.

Want to make every season-highlight film? Just stop by Anaheim Stadium.

Footage of Rice’s one-handed grab over Ram cornerback Wymon Henderson gets more air time than Rush Limbaugh.

Want to set an NFL record? Just stop by Anaheim Stadium.

Cleveland’s Vinny Testaverde, no world-beater by any means, broke the league’s single-game pass percentage record by completing 19 of 21 passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns in a 21-7 victory.

The secondary started the season in great shape, with Lyght and Darryl Henley as the starting cornerbacks and Israel and Robert Bailey as the backups and nickel backs. Many on the Rams’ coaching staff thought Henley was approaching All-Pro status, and Lyght was looking as good as he had since the team drafted him with the fifth pick in the 1991 draft.

But every week, Israel remembers, there was another disaster to contend with:

--Week 6. Henley, under investigation by federal agents for alleged involvement in drug trafficking, was granted a leave of absence by the team. Henley was later indicted and cut by the team.

--Week 9. Bailey was lost for the season after injuring his left knee in the second quarter of a 13-0 loss to Atlanta.

--Week 10. Lyght, the team’s top defensive back, suffered a season-ending knee injury during warm-ups of the Washington game.

With each situation, the Rams were forced to look elsewhere for depth. They wound up pulling guys off the street.

Castoffs Sam Seale and Mitchell Price were signed for depth. Dexter Davis and Henderson, released by Phoenix and Denver, respectively, became part-time starters.

With Henley out, Israel stepped in at right cornerback and opposing teams took note of his inexperience--he started only two games as a rookie--and regularly sent some of their best receivers at him.

Still, Israel played well enough with 35 tackles (31 solo) to prompt Ram coaches to start him this season opposite Lyght, whose knee has fully healed and is banking on a breakthrough season.