Keenum Settling in to New Surroundings/Wagoner

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Keenum settling in to new surroundings
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/11326/keenum-settling-in-to-new-surroundings

EARTH CITY, Mo. -- Newly acquired St. Louis Rams quarterback Case Keenum was born in Brownwood, Texas. He played high school football at Wylie High in Abilene, Texas, and his college ball at the University of Houston. He spent his first two seasons in the NFL with the Houston Texans.

In short, everything Keenum's ever known and accomplished in football has been for Texas and in Texas. Until now.

When the Rams claimed Keenum off waivers from the Texans on Monday afternoon, it meant Keenum was, for the first time, going to have to leave his comfortable Texas environs for something altogether new.

"It hasn’t really set in yet," Keenum said. "I’m just trying to stay at it. I’ve got the grind going and just continue to work. But I’m excited to be in a new place, be out of Texas, be out of my comfort zone and grow a little bit."

If all goes according to the Rams' plan, Keenum will have plenty of time to go through that growing process. When starting quarterback Sam Bradford was lost for the season to a second torn ACL in as many seasons, the Rams insisted they'd be patient before adding some depth behind new starter Shaun Hill.

The Rams followed through on that plan, waiting for Keenum to be released and then claiming him off waivers with no expense other than the corresponding roster move. In adding Keenum, the Rams picked up a young quarterback with eight games of NFL starting experience.

It's that experience that made Keenum appealing to the Rams.

“Because of injury, Case got a lot of experience last year, started eight games," coach Jeff Fisher said. "You look at the body of work -- no, he didn’t win any of those games -- but there was some really good things that you saw out of a young player. We spent a lot of time evaluating those games and felt like he’d be a good option to come in here and try to develop as a three or a two. We just wanted him in the mix.”

For now, there's no need to rush to get Keenum up to speed. Even if he wanted to, it would be awfully difficult for Keenum (or any quarterback, really) to attempt to come in and be ready to play. The Rams are committed to Hill as the starter and have Austin Davis penciled in as No. 2. Things should remain that way for the foreseeable future while Keenum works to learn coordinator Brian Schottenheimer's offense.

Where Keenum brings game experience that Davis doesn't have, Davis possesses knowledge of the offensive system that Keenum currently lacks.

Keenum said he hit the ground running upon arrival in St. Louis and is spending most of his waking hours attempting to narrow that learning curve.

"Any system in this league is tough," Keenum said. "This game is obviously pretty tough. I’m excited to learn some new stuff. It’s just kind of trying to be able to translate what I know and how I’ve run things and get terminology. Obviously that’s like speaking another language, so I’m just trying to learn another language as fast as I can."