Spruce

Nelson Spruce is ready to put his injury behind him and begin his Rams career

http://www.vcstar.com/story/sports/nfl/rams/2016/09/20/nelson-spruce-ready-put-his-injury-behind-him-and-begin-his-rams-career/90753070/

Twenty-five snaps.

That’s all it took for Nelson Spruce to convince the Los Angeles Rams that the undrafted rookie receiver from Westlake High was worth hanging onto this fall.

“I had a quarter and a half to really make my mark,” said Spruce on Tuesday in front of his locker at the Rams’ football headquarters at Cal Lutheran University.

“The rest of the time I just had to sit back and watch. When I kind of got the news and they called that team meeting and I was one of the guys left in the room, it was a big weight off my shoulders.”

Of course, Spruce made a memorable impact during the Rams 28-24 come-from-behind win over Dallas on Aug. 13 at the Coliseum.

He caught six passes for 51 yards and a touchdown in little more than a quarter of action, leaving the Coliseum hooting “Spruuuuuce!” in approval.

The moment was captured forever by HBO’s “Hard Knocks” reality TV show, which Spruce had grown up watching avidly.

“I grew up watching that every year,” Spruce said. “(Being) a part of it, seeing my teammates on it, me on it, was surreal.”

But the knee sprain Spruce suffered while running a flat route on Sean Mannion’s game-winning touchdown pass to Aaron Green sidelined him for more than five weeks, including the balance of training camp.

Which meant a torturous three weeks waiting to see if he had done enough during offseason camp, two weeks of training camp and one preseason game to convince the coaching staff of his worth.

“I’ve worked for this opportunity my whole life,” Spruce said. “To kind of have that valuable time cut short but that injury, it put a lot of stress on me. So once I got that good news, I felt like a new man.”

When the news broke that he had made the team, Spruce said he “got a lot of love” from friends and family and “a lot of support” from the community. He attended a Westlake High football game with quarterback Jared Goff, the Rams’ No. 1-overall draft pick.

“That was the first game I’ve been to since I graduated,” Spruce said. “So it was cool to go back. I saw a lot of old faces from the staff that I had known.”

Spruce practiced in his No. 86 jersey Tuesday for the first time at Cal Lutheran, which is just six miles away from where he starred at Westlake High.

“It felt really good,” Spruce said. “Until this point, I’ve kind of just had to sit back and watch and wait for my time. We weren’t full speed today, but just to be out there with the team, back in the mix, felt really good.”

The knee sprain itself was as new an experience as the NFL has been for Spruce, who said it was the first significant injury of his football career.

“It’s kind of a new process to me,” Spruce said. “You’re kind of away from the team, so that’s the tough part, while you’re rehabbing to get back into it. I think the most important part is to just stay mentally into it.

“When you know you’re not playing, it’s easy to not stay too focused in meetings and not keep up on the playbook. That was the big challenge for me.”

Spruce caught 294 passes for 3,347 yards and 23 touchdowns in four years at the University of Colorado. He left as the most prolific receiver in Pacific-12 Conference history.

The return of Spruce and fellow rookie Pharoh Cooper (shoulder) this week brings the Rams receiving corps to full strength.

Without its two slot receivers, Los Angeles is dead last in the NFL in third-down percentage, having converted only 22.2 percent through two games.

Spruce is hoping to help that figure as soon as possible.

“I feel like I’m quarterback friendly and I have sure hands,” Spruce said. “In short-yardage situations where we have to move the chains, I feel like that’s where I can be useful.”