Fisher, 8/20 – transcript & vid

Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher – August 20, 2014

(On today’s practice and the added participation from high school football players from Ferguson, Mo.)
“It was quite a day, as a matter of fact. We finished up training camp and obviously what better way could we finish up than to invite some special guests to practice today. We were brainstorming last night in light of everything that’s going on and we wanted to do something and things just fell into place. We had a lot of people work real hard to put this together and we’re fortunate that we can provide an opportunity for these young high school athletes to get away. Imagine that they were trying to get ready for games this week and they were having to practice in a park and not being able to practice at the facility at their high school. There’s no better game than high school football and we didn’t want them to be denied of this opportunity. So we invited them over as our guests and it looks like they had a lot of fun. They participated in practice in the one drill simulating crowd noise and we had a bunch of mistakes, so I wouldn’t say they were close to Seattle, but pretty close.”

(On if at first Mccluer South high school was originally invited but were not able to attend)
“That’s correct. It was late notice. We’ve extended the indoor (practice field) to them for as long as they need it. So we’ll just work around, so there’s no conflict in our schedules.”

(On how special it was to have the high school football players from Ferguson at practice)
“Well, it means a lot to us. We can all image what they’re going through in addition to everybody in Ferguson. It’s just very, very sad and we hope that things get worked out as soon as they possibly can, but this is different. This is football players and football players. I went over to talk to them before practice and they heard nothing I said because they were looking behind me watching the players walk by so this will be something that I hope they’ll always remember.”

(On his annual, camp-closing dizzy bat race with rookies)
“Yeah, that was interesting, probably one of the best. What happens is, the guys run out of water in the beginning. They get too excited and run out of water, but good rookie class. All in all from a camp standpoint I thought we got a lot accomplished. We have a challenge ahead of us right now because typically break-camp week is a distraction. Even though camp’s a little different than it has been in the past, we nonetheless we are breaking camp, and now we have to go on the road. So we got to get focused and go into a tough place to play against a team that’s got a preseason home opener ahead of them.”

(On LB James Laurinaitis’ return)
“He did. He got through the individual drills, got some 7-on-7. We’ll do some more stuff tomorrow. Obviously, we had ‘Brocks’ (DT Michael Brockers) back and (OL) Rodger (Saffold) got back in the ‘team’ stuff today, which was good to see.”

(On DB Lamarcus Joyner and his progression through camp)
“He’s done a good job. He’s still learning every day. He’s very productive for us on the field in the nickel sub situations. He’s going to get a chance to play a lot with the four starters in the sub package this week.”

(On T Joe Barksdale, his consistency and how far he’s come since picking him up in 2012)
“Joe took advantage of his opportunity. The timing was perfect for us. We needed the help, we got him in here, he learned. He was very consistent last year. He’s been very consistent right now. We’re in the position… and he’s got some guys out there to work against. I mean he’s learning a lot from (DE) Chris (Long) and he gives Chris all he can handle out on the practice field. So it’s very competitive out there.”

(On if Barksdale has ever missed a practice since joining the team)
“No, he’s not. He’s very durable.”

(On how the expansion of the practice squad- going from eight to 10 players-is beneficial)
“It gives us an opportunity to develop two additional players and everybody else. So it adds players to the pool, the developmental pool, which will be good. It’ll give us some flexibility as far as the decision is concerned.”