Rams receiver Pharoh Cooper has sunny outlook after ‘Hard Knocks’ episode

Rams receiver Pharoh Cooper knows that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

The rookie from South Carolina learned that fact a few weeks ago, but only after “Hard Knocks” cameras caught him being stumped by rookie quarterback Jared Goff, who also struggled with the question in a quarterbacks meeting during training camp.

Goff and Cooper were roasted on social media following the HBO series’ season premiere Tuesday night.

Cooper laughed it off Wednesday morning after a special teams practice.

He said he had not seen the episode but got plenty of feedback on Twitter about his knowledge of the rotation of the Earth.

“The main thing was, ‘I saw you in the blimp,’ and ‘Coop, you don’t know where the sun rises?’ ” he said, laughing. “I really didn’t know. Nobody ever taught me that.

“Now I know. It was educational. I learned something new that day.”

Cooper has been catching on fast to the offense and is expected to get plenty of playing time Saturday when the Rams play the Dallas Cowboys in their exhibition opener at the Coliseum.

Cooper, a fourth-round draft pick, said it would be the first NFL game he has attended, let alone played in.

Case Keenum will start at quarterback for the Rams, but Coach Jeff Fisher has said that Goff would probably play about a half.

Neither Fisher nor Goff was made available to reporters Wednesday.

“It’s going good,” Cooper said when asked about working with Goff. “We’ve talked after practice about a couple routes and worked on some stuff.

“Everything is going well and we’re getting that chemistry down.”

Harkey ready

In April, tight end Cory Harkey showed his versatility by winning a basketball skills challenge — and a new truck — during halftime of an NBA game between the Lakers and the Clippers.

The vehicle has been the main mode of transportation for Harkey, his wife and their two-month-old son during what has been a homecoming.

Harkey, 26, played at Chino Hills High and UCLA before he signed with the Rams as an undrafted free agent in 2012. During this past off-season, he was a restricted free agent and signed a three-year contract worth $5.7 million, according to sportrac.com.

“There wasn’t much looking — I knew where I wanted to be,” he said. “I love the coaching staff and this has just been home to me, the Rams organization, the past four years.

“It was a no-brainer.”

Tight end Jared Cook was released to clear salary cap space after catching 39 passes last season, the second most on the team.

So Harkey, who often lines up as a fullback, is part of a tight end corps that includes Lance Kendricks, Justice Cunningham and rookies Tyler Higbee and Temarrick Hemingway.

Higbee is on track to contribute immediately.

“For him coming in as a rookie, there’s a lot of stuff on your plate,” Harkey said. “He’s come a long way. I do what I can to help out.”

Special prize

A special teams practice ended with players competing in what coordinator John Fassel described as a “strongman” competition.

Players are paired with a ball between them. Each puts a hand on the ball and, on Fassel’s whistle, they try to yank the ball from the other player.

“We call it ‘August Madness,’” Fassel said, “like March Madness.

“It starts with maybe 32 guys, you lose, now there’s 16, losers out, just whittle it down to the one shining moment.”

Receiver Duke Williams defeated fullback Zach Laskey in the final.

Punter Johnny Hekker contributed a speaker system as a prize, Fassel said.

“As soon as that prize went up, all of the sudden their ears perked up and we got a little more out of them,” Fassel said.

Notes

Because of high ticket demand for the game against the Cowboys and the Sept. 18 home opener against the Seattle Seahawks, the Rams will make seats available in areas of the Coliseum they originally planned not to sell — mostly the upper level corners. The exhibition against Dallas, the first NFL game in Los Angeles since 1994, could draw a crowd close to the stadium’s capacity of 91,000. The club has made several thousand extra tickets available this week on Ticketmaster.com. Most of the newly made tickets available for the Cowboys are in the $40-$65 range. The Rams sold slightly more than 70,000 season tickets, then made 10,000 more single-game tickets available for their nine home dates (two exhibition and seven regular-season games). So that 80,000-plus constitutes a sellout. … The Rams practice Thursday at 10:05 a.m. Offensive linemen will sign autographs afterward.

Staff writer Sam Farmer contributed to this report.

Cooper has been catching on fast to the Rams offense and is expected to get plenty of playing time on Saturday when the Rams play the Dallas Cowboys in their exhibition opener at the Coliseum.

Cooper, a fourth-round draft pick, said it would be the first NFL game he has attended, let alone played in.

Case Keenum will start at quarterback for the Rams, but Coach Jeff Fisher has said that Goff would probably play about a half.

Neither Fisher nor Goff was made available to reporters Wednesday.

“It’s going good,” Cooper said when asked about working with Goff. “We’ve talked after practice about a couple routes and worked on some stuff.

“Everything is going well and we’re getting that chemistry down.”

gary.klein@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATimesklein