Rams at UCI!

Welcome back, fans

The Los Angeles Rams are holding their training camp at the University of California, Irvine. Come inside the huddle and get a sneak peek at what it takes to house and feed 200 team and staff members.

Camp Details

LA Rams Training Schedule

The Rams will train at UCI from July 29 to Aug. 17. Check the schedule for practice dates open to the public.

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Directions to UCI

Get driving directions to UCI by freeway or take public transportation and plan your trip with the OCTA Trip Planner.

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Parking Passes

Rams fans will have the option to purchase a daily UCI parking permit or a full training camp pass.

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More details from UCI Transportation 

How To Host a Football Team

After decades, UCI finally has a football team! OK, it's only for a few weeks, but it still takes a lot of preparation. The Rams are bringing in bigger beds, tons of food, even "anti-Belichick" dorm locks to thwart potential spies. Here's a rundown of the logistics.

How many Rams will be on campus?

200+

Rams at a Glance

90 Players
120+ Rams Staff
Including:
  • 23 Coaches
  • 6 Athletic Trainers
  • 2 Nutritionists
  • 4 Equipment Managers
  • 1 Rampage

Ram-Friendly Furniture

Our dining room chairs had to be weight-tested to ensure they could hold
400 lbs.

Where do Rams Sleep?

Larger King beds are needed for mighty RAM bodies in UCI dorm rooms.

What do Rams Drink at Camp?

  • 400 cases of water
  • 400 cases of Gatorade
  • 500 gallons of juice

What do Rams Eat?

The average football player Devours up to 10,000 calories per day during training camp. 3x more calories than the average person!


To accommodate larger portions, plates have been enlarged to 10.5"

What Fuels a Team of Rams?

Item Quantity
Eggs 70 lbs
Bacon 30 lbs
Sausage 20 lbs
Fresh Fruit 125 lbs
Prime Rib 150 lbs
Roasted Shrimp 125 lbs
Grilled Chicken 220 lbs
Rice Pilaf 300 cups
Full Potato Croquettes 100 lbs
Grilled Asparagus 100 lbs
Cauliflower Tian 100 lbs
Kale Salad 40 lbs
Seasonal Veggies 53 lbs
Trail Mix 300 lbs

Slideshow: Flashback to 2016

  1. LA Rams at UCI Michael Dennin, UCI vice provost for teaching & learning and professor of physics & astronomy, joins Peter the Anteater in showing Rams running back Malcolm Brown, wide receiver Nelson Spruce and defensive back Michael Jordan (from left) how to “Zot!” Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  2. LA Rams at UCI Wide receiver Paul McRoberts makes a one-handed catch during Rams practice last summer on UCI’s Crawford. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  3. LA Rams at UCI On the sidelines, Rams running back Malcolm Brown tries out the MusicGlove, a rehab device co-developed by David Reinkensmeyer (center), UCI professor of mechanical & aerospace engineering, anatomy & neurobiology and biomedical engineering. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  4. LA Rams at UCI Legendary Rams running back Eric Dickerson (right) shares a laugh with UCI ecology & evolutionary biology professor James Hicks at Crawford Field. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  5. LA Rams at UCI Running back Todd Gurley (in blue) clutches the ball as he encounters defensive players during Rams practice last year on UCI’s Crawford Field. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  6. LA Rams at UCI Hall of Fame player and former Rams star Eric Dickerson gives the “Zot!” sign at Crawford Field. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  7. LA Rams at UCI Wide receiver Bradley Marquez carries the ball during Rams practice at UCI last summer. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  8. LA Rams at UCI Rams players stretch on UCI’s Crawford Field after practice. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  9. LA Rams at UCI Rams running back Todd Gurley signs autographs for the crowd. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  10. LA Rams at UCI Players warm up at the start of the Rams’ first open practice at UCI in 2016. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  11. LA Rams at UCI A play area provides amusement for the kids. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  12. LA Rams at UCI Defensive tackle Aaron Donald signs various items for fans before practice last summer. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  13. LA Rams at UCI Rams players participate in a tennis ball drill on Crawford Field. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  14. LA Rams at UCI A happy Rams fan catches a football kicked into the stands during practice. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  15. LA Rams at UCI Rams mascot Rampage high-fives folks in the VIP area. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  16. LA Rams at UCI Rams fans line up to enter the stands on Crawford Field. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  17. LA Rams at UCI While spectators cheer and snap photos, players take the field for the Rams’ first open practice at UCI last July. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  18. LA Rams at UCI Quarterback Jared Goff signs autographs for fans after the Rams practice at UCI. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  19. LA Rams at UCI Before practice, water bottles are filled to slake players’ thirst. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  20. LA Rams at UCI Tackle dummies are dragged into place on Crawford Field as Rams crews prepare for practice. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  21. LA Rams at UCI Tight end Tyler Higbee gives an interview to the press as rookies arrive at UCI for the Rams’ 2016 training camp. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  22. LA Rams at UCI A camera crew from the “Hard Knocks” television series films wide receiver Pharoh Cooper as he checks out his room at UCI in 2016. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  23. LA Rams at UCI Rookie Rams players arrive for last year’s summer training camp at UCI. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  24. LA Rams at UCI The turf is aerated prior to the start of camp. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  25. LA Rams at UCI UCI’s Crawford Field is transformed in preparation for the Rams’ 2016 training camp. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  26. LA Rams at UCI Bleachers are installed along UCI’s Crawford Field for fans who want to watch the Rams train. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI
  27. LA Rams at UCI He’s at the 50! Andy Hebrard of Athletic Applications gets good field position as he works against the clock to stripe and number UCI’s Crawford Field in time for the Los Angeles Rams’ training camp last year. Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI

Ram-friendly Research

Here are some sports-related UCI research projects the team may want to check out during its summer training camp.

Brian Cummings

Brian Cummings
Credit: Daniel A. Anderson / UCI

Tackling concussions

UCI is a hotbed of cutting-edge brain research, including important studies on concussions. One of the school’s newest head-injury investigators is Dr. Massimo Fiandaca, an Italian-born associate professor of neurology and neurological surgery who once worked as a team physician for the Boston Red Sox and co-invented a blood test that predicts Alzheimer’s disease. In collaboration with UCI colleagues and scientists at Georgetown University and the University of Rochester, he has now devised a blood screening method that could revolutionize concussion diagnosis. Fiandaca’s group discovered a blood component – or biomarker – that changes in reaction to traumatic brain injury. UCI plans to conduct trials with its men’s water polo team this summer to determine how soon after impact the indicator shows up. Fiandaca also helped launch a concussion screening program last fall for all varsity athletes at UCI.

Elsewhere on campus, Brian Cummings, a professor of physical medicine & rehabilitation, is looking for ways to prevent concussion-related dementia in athletes. Using skin biopsy stem cells from Alzheimer's patients, he grows miniature "brains" in a three-dimensional bioreactor, then tests compounds designed to fend off neurodegeneration.

Douglas Granger

Douglas Granger
Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI

A mouthwatering look at exercise

As a spit science pioneer, Douglas Granger has collected saliva samples from sea lions, soldiers and would-be Mars astronauts. The UCI professor also helped design a "salivary bioscience laboratory" inside the Nebraska Cornhuskers' new football stadium, where researchers use "oral fluid" specimens to chart players' circadian rhythms so they can avoid overtraining. Granger's work on improving athletic performance has drawn inquiries from several NFL teams and other pro sports franchises. His Institute for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research is housed at UCI.

Victoria Johnson

Victoria E. Johnson

Adding females to the fan equation

As the Rams continue efforts to rebuild their Southern California fan base, Victoria E. Johnson’s writings offer insights into the ways pro football has appealed to female followers. The UCI associate professor of film & media studies analyzes the marketing of “masculine” sports culture to a post-Title IX generation of women. Last year, for instance, she dissected the NFL's use of gender-targeted charity efforts the NFL’s use of gender-targeted charity efforts, ad campaigns and promotions to offset criticism of football’s domestic violence and concussion issues.

David Reinkensmeyer

Professor David Reinkensmeyer demonstrates one of the rehabilitative devices in UCI's innovative iMove lab.
Credit: Steve Zylius / UCI

Robots, rappers and rehab

In a futuristic UCI lab called iMove, physical therapy patients don robotic arms, electronic gloves and other exoskeleton devices – including one that appeared in rapper Dr. Dre's "I Need a Doctor" video (at 5:54) – that could be adapted to help injured athletes. David Reinkensmeyer, a professor of mechanical & aerospace engineering, anatomy & neurobiology and biomedical engineering, says iMove is also developing wearable sensors to track wrist, arm and leg motion, which could be useful for optimizing sports performance.

Hal Stern

Hal Stern
Photo courtesy of the UCI Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences

Beating the odds

When it comes to predicting final scores or the likelihood of an individual play succeeding, Hal Stern is the ivory tower equivalent of a Las Vegas oddsmaker. The Stanford- and MIT-trained sports geek, who taught at Harvard before launching UCI’s statistics department and later becoming dean of the Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences, employs complex mathematical formulas to calculate the probability of winning a football game, among other efforts. Working from an office decorated with games of chance (such as 100-sided dice), Stern achieved a dose of fame a few years ago for his scholarly takedown of the Bowl Championship Series ranking system, which he called “a sham.”

The Physics of Football

UCI professor explains the science behind effective tackling and throwing

If Isaac Newton were alive today, he'd probably be a vampire, because how else do you explain someone living to the age of 373? He might also be entranced by pro football as a laboratory on the laws of physics, including some of his own discoveries.

For example, tackling and blocking demonstrate Newton's third law of motion, which states that for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction.

Michael Dennin

Physicist Michael Dennin, vice provost for teaching and learning at the University of California, Irvine

"When two players collide, both feel the same amount of force during the hit," says physicist Michael Dennin, vice provost for teaching and learning at the University of California, Irvine.

So why does one player usually come out ahead? "The only other relevant force is the ground," Dennin says. "The way you win is by using that surface. If you hit someone with an upward angle, it gives you a more effective net force because you're pushing off the turf."

That makes leg strength crucial for players, but the upper body is also important, he adds: "In tackling, you need arm and core muscle power to maintain a grip on your opponent."

One additional factor is the point of contact. Tackling is essentially about rotating the ball carrier down to the ground, Dennin says, so where you hit him determines success. "Think of trying to close a door," he says. "If you apply force close to the hinge, the door doesn't move much. But if you apply force at the handle, the door closes easily."

Another aspect of the game that showcases scientific principles is passing.

"The football is a fun physics object because it's not a sphere," Dennin says. "The secret to a stable pass is the spiral."

When thrown properly, a football rotates about 600 times a minute, or 12.5 mph, he says. "It's a good example of angular momentum," the same force at work in a gyroscope or spinning top, Dennin says. It keeps the ball on target. Without a good spiral, he notes, the football flies like "a wounded duck." And you don't have to be Isaac Newton to know that a wobbly pass is more likely to be intercepted.

Kaly Ngo

Student Success

Last summer, the inaugural Rams camp at UCI also became the training ground for 10 students and alumni from our Department of Film & Media Studies, who worked as production assistants on HBO’s reality television show “Hard Knocks,” which followed the progress of the Rams while they were on campus. Here is their story.

Read Story: Training camp becomes training ground

Team Chemistry

UCI chemistry professor Jennifer Prescher teaches the Rams how to crush the opposition.

Mascot Matchup

Peter vs. Rampage

Peter vs. Rampage
Statistic Peter Rampage
Gender Male Male
Age 51 11
Hometown Irvine L.A. & St. Louis
Honors Mashable's Mascot Madness Champ Star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame
Celeb Fans Conan O'Brien Nelly
Height 6'9" 6'1"
Education College major: Sprit, Loyalty
Minor: Entertainment & Tradition
MA in Turf
Management
Fav. Movie Empire of the Ants, Antz, Ant-Man Rambo
Weight A gentle-ant never tells 200 lbs
Fav. Hangout Aldrich Park L.A. Zoo
Food Ants, duh! Seahawk wings

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