While the 2023 NFL season still feels a long ways away, the Los Angeles Rams have already begun gearing up for what figures to be an interesting campaign. The Rams don’t look to be the part of Super Bowl contenders, but the NFL is known for surprises throughout the year.
Fans will get their first glimpse of the Rams at their public Training Camp, held each year for the public at the University of California, Irvine for free.
The full schedule of public training camp was revealed earlier this week, according to Lindsey Thiry of ESPN:
The Rams announced their training camp schedule pic.twitter.com/d7J1vW5g7j
— Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) June 27, 2023
Fans will have seven chances over a 10-day span to see the Rams prepare for 2023. Each practice runs anywhere from 90 minutes to two hours and begins at 4:25 p.m. PST on each day. The first public practice is exactly one month from Thursday on July 29.
The Rams will be showcasing not only their known veterans like Matthew Stafford and Aaron Donald — as well as the recovering Cooper Kupp who may or may not play a role in training camp — they will also give their rookies a first chance at making a public impression.
The Rams made several draft additions with their offensive line, a decision that was well-regarded by Stafford after missing a large portion of last season due to an injury. Those linemen, as well as a new-look defense, will go head-to-head for the fans.
Donald expecting leadership from younger Rams players
With the Rams losing a significant portion of their defense from 2022 — with only Donald remaining among the elite veterans — the Rams superstar is expecting big things from some of the team’s younger defensive players.
Donald is by far and away the heart and soul of the defense, but he also called for players like Ernest Jones and Jordan Fuller to step up as leaders this upcoming season in place of lost veterans, via Stu Jackson of TheRams.com:
“Obviously you don’t got a Bobby Wagner or a Jalen out there to do it, but you got a guy like Ernest that’s going to step up and play a leadership role, you got a Fuller out there,” Donald said. “There’s guys that’s young, but on this team they’re no longer young. It’s time to step up and be a leader as well. You just got to trust them guys are going to speak up and motivate me too. We all need it. No matter how long you’ve been playing this game, or how much success you’ve had in it, we all need somebody to push you.”
