Former Rebels go back to square one

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, July 14, 2005 | 9:11 a.m.

Ryan Claridge and Adam Seward find themselves spending their mornings this week doing what they've done for most of the last five summers -- lifting weights in the Lied Athletic Complex.

But what has become such a familiar routine for the two standout UNLV linebackers will take a dramatic turn in a couple of weeks when both report to their first NFL training camps.

In fact, it already has.

Claridge, a fifth-round pick of the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, and Seward, a Bonanza High graduate who was a fifth-round selection by the Carolina Panthers, have spent most of the past three months working out with their new teams either at mini-camps or voluntary (wink-wink) Organized Team Activities (OTAs).

It didn't take long for the duo to realize they're embarking on a whole new football world.

"It's a lot more intense by far," Claridge said. "People are serious. There's a lot of things at stake. You need to be able to do your job and do your job well or else you're not going to be around very long.

"It's tough," he continued. "It's not like what people think, that you just show up on Sunday and play. There's a lot more stuff that goes into it than that. Even though my older brother (four-year NFL offensive lineman Travis Claridge) kind of told me what to expect, I was still shocked. You're there every day. You think, 'Man, can we meet this much?' But there's so much information you have to learn.

"It's probably more frustrating as a rookie because it's your first time going through it and you really don't know what's going on."

It's especially tough for a linebacker trying to grasp the complicated defensive schemes of Bill Belichick.

"They want you to learn what all the positions are," said Claridge, who is expected to play inside linebacker. "It's a lot to learn. Some days you go in at 6:30 in the morning and you don't leave until 9 p.m."

Seward knows the feeling. He just got back July 1 from Charlotte, where he spent the better part of 2 1/2 months trying to comprehend the middle linebacker's responsibilites for John Fox's Panthers.

"It's definitely been more mental than physical so far," Seward said. "Everybody out there is a good athlete. The playbook we have is a three-inch, three-ring binder full of stuff. You've got 20-something coverages to learn. And all the blitzes have seven or eight words in them. And when you're a middle linebacker you have to know all the signals and know all the plays."

Seward admits he was a little lost at his first mini-camp right after April's NFL Draft.

"I had a kind of deer-in-the-headlights look," he said. "I went in there and that playbook was so huge. I called my agent up and said, 'How the heck am I going to learn all this material?' But by the (OTAs) I felt a lot better and it started to get a little easier. I think the coaches were pleased and I feel pretty confident going into training camp."

Claridge, who recently signed a four-year contract worth $1.527 million that included a $142,000 signing bonus, returns to Foxboro next week where training camp begins on July 20 at Gillette Stadium. Seward, who has yet to agree on terms on an expected three-year contract, reports July 29 to Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., for Panthers' camp.

Both have one simple goal ... to make the team.

"That's the main focus," Seward said. "I want to make the team as a rookie and go in there and contribute. My goal is to get on every special team I can and back up a Pro Bowler like Dan Morgan."

"I'm just looking forward to playing football," Claridge said. "That's all. Bottom line. It's a job now and you need to show up every day and give them a high quality effort. And that's what I intend to do."