Tremayne Anchrum bringing versatility, winning mentality to Rams
Tremayne Anchrum was preparing to find the best opportunity for himself as an undrafted free agent during the final round of the NFL Draft when he received a surprising phone call from Rams head coach Sean McVay.
"Honestly, we didn't really know where our future kind of lied," Anchrum said on a video conference Saturday. "I knew I was going to be a day three kind of guy. Getting to those later rounds, we started getting calls about, 'Hey, we'd love to have you as a free agent.' I got a couple of head coaches that called me talking about, 'Hey, we want you now.' Me and my father were kind of making arrangements for that. But, then Coach McVay called and said, 'Hey, are you ready to be a Ram?' At that moment, we all kind of figured I was going to be a free agent, but with the news, we were all really excited."
Both his skillset and college background will fit well into the Rams' culture.
Anchrum was Clemson's full-time starting right tackle in 2018 and 2019, with the Tigers compiling a 29-1 record across each of those two seasons. They also appeared in each of the last two college football playoff national championships, winning it all in 2018.
Though he was primarily a right tackle, he would spend time at guard during the practices leading into the playoff games and championship games in order to give teammates rest and also work on his technique at other positions. That cross-training is an approach run game coordinator and offensive line coach Aaron Kromer takes with young players in his position group.
"I'm comfortable on the right side of the line, mostly, right tackle, right guard," Anchrum said. "But again, I am open to playing any spot on the line."
Including this year's selections, Anchrum played alongside 30 future NFL draft picks at Clemson, according to Pro-Football-Reference.com. He said being around and competing with that talent helped prepare him for the next level.
"Playing for a high-level team like Clemson is a way, way advantage that you can never really underestimate," Anchrum said. "When you have a competition level that high where you play with the Clemsons, the Alabamas, the Ohio States of the world, you know what an authentic mindset looks like. You know what a championship effort looks like from a backend, on the front end, what it feels like, and the day-in day-out commitment that it takes to win. Knowing that, playing with a lot of great players, which I don't think there's a negative to, but it really holds you accountable, staying at that level of competition, staying on your A-game every single day, taking that into the next level is going to be invaluable."
He'll take that mindset with him, no longer worried about having to prepare for free agency.
"It's a little relief, I guess. It takes the hard part out, which is the decision making," Anchrum said. "Now the only decision right now is just to go out and play, and dominate."
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