The veterans are a bit more pragmatic. “To be honest with you,” says Rams defensive end Leonard Little, “after the first day of camp, all I care about is how quickly can I go back to my room and sleep.”

Training camp old heads know what this grind can do to you mentally and physically. Four days into camp here at Concordia, if you looked across the practice field you could already see the first signs of that physical toll. Tight end Anthony Becht was walking around in his bare feet in full uniform with bandages on both big toes, plus a wrap on his tender hamstring. Safety O.J. Atogwe had an ice pack on his left knee. Cornerback Ron Bartell’s leg was wrapped in ice and bandages. Draft was seen leaving practice early with a grimace on his face, an ice pack tucked in his shorts and an electric pain shooting through the muscles in his neck and back.

“It’s the dreaded fourth day of camp,” says head coach Scott Linehan. “These are the fatigue injuries. Usually about this time you start getting those kinds of things.”

Life up here in the Cheese League (the Kansas City Chiefs are camped out west of here in River Falls, while the Packers are 90 minutes away in Green Bay) is the pleasant exception to the NFL norm. “This place is fantastic, but when you train in most other places, the heat eventually gets distracting,” Draft admitted. “No matter how hard you’re trying to concentrate on a new play or a new scheme the coaches might be installing, it’s impossible to not be distracted. You’re standing there sometimes and you’re thinking ‘God, is it realllllly this hot? ... Errrrrrr, what did (the coach) just say?’”

The afternoon practice had ended a while ago, and Draft was about to go cruising back to the dorm on his rented mountain bike. The sun was dipping below the tall green pines that lined the practice field, and for the first time all day his back muscles weren’t spasming. It seemed like the perfect time to ask the question.

So is there anything good about training camp to the players?

“Hmmpf,” he said with amusement. “Well, when you’re in it, it’s hard to think that there’s any time good about it. But every once in a while, there’s a moment when you’re on the field and there’s a play or a series of plays where everything clicks. You see the linebackers and defensive backs just flow to a play, and without any verbal communication, something beautiful happens and you just know, ‘Yeah man, we’re on the same page. We got this.’ Yeah, there ain’t much beauty in training camp, but that’s as sweet as it can get.”

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