The Big Ten Quad, hosted by former Buckeye Eddie George, will air Thursday at 8PM (ET) with James Laurinaitis, Simeon Rice, and Lorenzo White as guests.
Don’t miss it!
According to many, James Laurinaitis was drafted to be the starting middle linebacker of the St. Louis Rams this season. Today is their first preseason game and he is fulfilling that prophecy by starting the game in the Mike spot.
Congrats to James! He will continue to work hard, and Rams fans will not be disappointed!
The Rams are in New York to take on the Jets. You can watch locally on KTVI, CBS 2 in the greater NY market, and NFL Network elsewhere. If you know where to look, you can watch online. 
News out of St. Louis is that James Laurinaitis has signed a 4 year contract with the Rams the day before Rookies open the team’s 2009 Training Camp.
According to a release on stlouisrams.com, the terms of the contract were not released.
Congrats, James! Go get ‘em in camp!
The official Rams Twitter account has announced that the team’s preseason TV schedule.
KTVI-TV, Channel 2 in St. Louis, will broadcast each of the Rams’ four preseason contests, which will be available in high-definition.
Link: FOX 2
Longtime fans of James Laurinaitis, knew there wasn’t really anything to worry about with his transition to professional football. We knew he’d go into the situation with a thirst for knowledge and a stellar attitude.
The Rams have noticed and are impressed, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The defensive coordinator, Ken Flajole, shared his thoughts:
“It’s a little premature, but I’ve been happy with James. It seems like he’s a very bright young man, has a passion for the game — all the qualities that we look for. So far, so good.”
Rams fans should also be thrilled to know that James will not be running his mouth to the press every possible chance he gets. He’d rather let his actions, on the field, do the majority of the talking.
“I feel like when guys come in and they start being vocal without proving themselves, that’s where they can get on the bad side of people, I think you need to just be quiet and learn. These guys have been here for a while, so soak it up. And when you put pads on and you’re able to play a game, go out there and just let your actions speak. And then we’ll see what happens.”
There’s a nice update/interview with James on the Rams Scout.com page. I’m not sure if it’s premium information or not, so I’ll just post a couple of parts I really enjoyed, which both involved James’ fellow former OSU linebacker Larry Grant. It’s nice to see them reunited at the next level like this.
“Larry is athletically, when he came over from junior college he was at mike backer and it was kind of me and him battling for the spot my sophomore year. And he’s extremely talented. He’s a guy that’s hard working and knows a lot about football. He’s a leader. He’s been a leader when he was at Ohio State, he did his job. To see him here with me is awesome because he’s helping me out with some things in the defense. I think with Larry you get a guy who’s extremely good with his hands and he makes some plays. I think if he gets the chance to play football he’s going to show some people that he’s going to be pretty good linebacker.”
He also talks about the chemistry that he and Larry already have on the field together.
“Right, exactly. We’re doing things here that we’d been used to doing at Ohio State. Staying after, watching film on our own, trying to get things down. When you have guys that are already comfortable with each other it gives you a head start communicating. But regardless you’re going to have to be able to talk to these guys that you just met. Like everybody said, communicating, talking routes through coverages helps guys out, talking formation helps guys out, so there has to be a lot of communication amongst everybody.”
Read the full interview here.
Also, the Rams Twitter account has announced the following webchat with James!
Check out LB James Laurinaitis on Tuesday, June 9 at 7:00 PM Eastern for a live chat session on NFLRUSH Zone (http://nflrz.nflrush.com).
James’ #55 Rams jersey is now available for presale at FansEdge.com. Click here to reserve yours today!
James Laurinaitis wearing a #55 jersey; and one without any hints of scarlet or gray. It’s definitely going to take a little getting used to, but, as a fan, I am beyond excited for James! He kicked off his very first minicamp as a professional football today with the Rams. Here is a short report from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Second-round pick James Laurinaitis worked mostly with the No. 3 unit at middle linebacker during team drills. Chris Draft was at MLB with the starters. “As this weekend goes, we’ll try to get (the rookies) in there a little bit more, just so we can get a little better feel for what they can do,” Spagnuolo explained.
Hope to hear more soon!
James was a guest on 97.1 The Fan’s “The Big Show” yesterday, here in Columbus. Here’s a little more about the daily sports radio talk show:
Join former Buckeyes Chris Spielman and Kirk Herbstreit along with Bruce Hooley every weekday for late-breaking sports news and hot topics. The three will weigh in on the most significant local and national sports headlines and feature interviews with the sports world’s biggest players.
You can listen to a replay here.