By Nick Wagoner
Senior Writer

Because he’s the head coach and he gets to make the rules, Steve Spagnuolo knew exactly what to expect from the first training camp under his guidance.

The only thing Spagnuolo had no control over was the weather and he relied on those from the St. Louis area to tell him what to expect in terms of that.

The proclamations made by those people were about as accurate as your local news person. Predictions of oppressive heat and humidity had Spagnuolo ready to adjust his practice schedule.

But those predictions never came to fruition. In fact, the Rams might as well have been back in Mequon, Wis. where they trained last season as the entire camp had no more than three or four practices with temperatures in the 90s.

The only time Mother Nature has been a factor has been a few rainstorms.

“I was told by a lot of people standing here I was going to have to worry about the heat,” Spagnuolo said, laughing. “We have danced around some storms but that’s about it.”

More than halfway through the preseason, the Rams reached a benchmark on the road to the regular season Sunday when the team put the finishing touches on the “official” training camp portion of the 2009 preseason.

While the Rams still have two more exhibition games and there will be plenty of time to continue practices and meetings, the training camp process that began on July 30 met its conclusion with a lone workout Sunday.

Of course, Spagnuolo takes the long view on the entire preseason and aside from schedule adjustments here and there, not much will change in the way the Rams work in the coming weeks leading to the Sept. 13 season opener at Seattle.

“Now the mind set will still be, in our opinion, it is still training camp right through that last preseason game,” Spagnuolo said. “Now we know we alter it a little bit there.”

There were plenty of differences between Camp Spagnuolo and other training camps of recent vintage. The first decision that had to be made was the location of this year’s camp.

After investigating a number of options for this year’s camp, Spagnuolo and the Rams eventually decided it was best to move back home to the Russell Training Center in St. Louis.

That move had the Rams setting up shop at a local hotel for all of the players and coaching staff. There, the team had meetings, meals and everything else for the first couple of weeks leading up to the preseason opener.

The Rams moved out of those digs just prior to that game against the Jets but have remained in camp mode since.

The entire operation of being back home went smooth according to Spagnuolo, who says the location will be re-evaluated in the offseason when the Rams will have a little more time to lay out logistics than they did this year.

“The people, (Assistant to Head Coach) Bruce Warwick did a great job putting it all together, (Vice President of Operations) John Oswald, all the guys that are involved in all the logistics did a great job,” Spagnuolo said. “It worked out I think as good as it could have. And like I said, we’ll just evaluate it and then decide on next year, next year.”

Being back in St. Louis also allowed for the team to reconnect with the fan base. The Rams had steady crowds for their open practices and an astounding 7,500 fans showed up for the scrimmage at Lindenwood University.

The Rams showed their appreciation for the fans at the conclusion of Sunday’s final practice as the entire team signed autographs and distributed merchandise to those in attendance.

“I’d like to thank all of the fans,” Spagnuolo said. “It’s been 32 (open) practices that people have come out to watch us practice. I know the guys really appreciate it. It really helps us and we appreciate it. We appreciate all the support they give us.”

Perhaps the top goal for this year’s camp was for the Rams to come together under the team building concept Spagnuolo has preached since he arrived in St. Louis.

The tone for this camp was set early as the Rams came out in full pads in live, full contact hitting drills on the first day of full squad practices. That was a departure from previous camps where the only live hitting would wait until an annual scrimmage situation.

The emphasis on physical play and hitting came as a bit of a surprise for the players but they quickly embraced it, going live on nine of the first 11 days of camp and sprinkling in live periods throughout the rest of camp.

“I think it’s going to help us out a lot,” tight end Randy McMichael said. “I think the one thing about football is it’s a physical game. You can’t practice being physical and you can’t practice being tackled. I mean it is what it is. Football is a tackling sport.”

Hard work has certainly been the calling card of Camp Spagnuolo. Beyond the hitting and tackling drills, the Rams had 14 two-a-day practices with at least 12 of those full padded practices that included live drills.
Beyond the two-a-days, the team spent hours a day in meetings, learning the new system on both sides of the ball.

More than the basic football stuff, Spagnuolo wanted his players to get a chance to come together as a team. Factoring in the work done on the field as well as the time spent off the field, cornerback Ron Bartell believes being in camp together is the best time for those team building efforts to take off.

“You get away from the norm where you come in, work, and just go home,” Bartell said.  “We’re coming in and we stay longer. Guys are rooming together so you get to befriend some guys that you wouldn’t normally befriend – like hanging out with the offensive linemen, something you wouldn’t normally do during the season.  It just brings that team chemistry that I think we need.”

The Rams will adjust the schedule now to look more like it will during the regular season though a short week this week means they will actually have two practices Monday.

All told, there’s no doubting that the first camp under Spagnuolo ran pretty smooth and even the weather cooperated.

Spagnuolo says he and the team got out of it what he’d like but that doesn’t mean there won’t be tweaking for future versions.

“I think in a lot of ways we did,” Spagnuolo said. “I am always jotting down notes and looking to next year what we could have done better. There is a list there so we’ll try to improve on it but I think we did.”