Rams TE Temarrick Hemingway eager to prove himself on a bigger stage

Temarrick Hemingway is staring into the camera. In the picture, his face is almost expressionless — no smile, no frown. A black jacket hugs his narrow shoulders, covering a slightly-askew white-collared shirt.

No more than 180 pounds, he looks very much a teenager.

“He doesn’t look like that anymore,” said Nygel Pearson, laughing.

Pearson coaches fullbacks and tight ends at South Carolina State, which means he got a close look at how Hemingway — now 6-foot-5, 245 pounds — went from a lanky receiver into an NFL-worthy target.

Chosen in the sixth round by the Rams, Hemingway became only the 56th player drafted out of the school in Orangeburg, S.C. Along with defensive lineman Javon Hargrave, a third-round pick, the tight end’s selection marked the first time that two Bulldogs were taken in the same draft in nearly two decades.

Now, with the Rams starting OTAs, the rookie has a chance to carve out his spot on an unsettled depth chart. Following the departure of Jared Cook, the only pass-catching tight end on the roster with any NFL experience is sixth-year veteran Lance Kendricks, who had 245 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns last season. The franchise also used a fourth-round pick on Weste Kentucky’s Tyler Higbee, who pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault and is due in court again on June 17.

Hemingway should have a chance to make an impact. Bo in Loris, S.C., a town of less than 2,400, the 22-year-old arrived at South Carolina State needing to add weight. A new diet and conditioning program paid off quickly; by the end of his redshirt year, he hovered around 210 pounds.

“I gained more than the freshman 30, whatever you want to call it,” Hemingway said.

Still, it took time for the idea of an NFL career to take hold. South Carolina State, after all, was not a prime destination for talent evaluators. The FCS program sits roughly an hour south of Columbia, S.C., and has produced only one first-round draft pick: defensive end Robert Porcher, who made three Pro Bowls with the Detroit Lions. From 2002 to ‘09, not a single Bulldog heard his name called.

But after getting 638 yards and four touchdowns through his first three seasons, the dream started to feel real. Heading into his senior year, he started noticing more and more scouts in Orangeburg.

“That’s when I knew I had to get serious about what I wanted to do,” he said.

The work didn’t stop with the end of South Carolina State’s season. In early January, Hemingway arrived at St. Vincent Sports Performance in Indianapolis, throwing himself into a pre-draft training regimen that lasted seven weeks. Almost every day, he would wake up at 7 a.m., hit 150-minute workout sessions in both the moing and afteoon, then close the day with position work and film study.

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“Everything we threw at him, he absorbed it,” SVSP executive director Ralph Reiff said. “He got better really quickly, from position work to footwork. The only place he was really more advanced than anything else was in his intellectual work.”

Reiff said Hemingway was usually quiet and reserved during their time together, but added that he became especially engaging when the talk tued toward football: “He jumped up on the whiteboard in the classroom and just sort of took over.”

Over and over again Reiff described him as coachable — the same word Pearson used to describe his former pupil.

The NFL combine helped him show off his raw talent: Hemingway was a top-two performer among tight ends in the 40-yard dash, three-cone drill and 60-yard shuttle. Asked if Hemingway reminded him of any past clients, Reiff brought up Jack Doyle, who has 209 receiving yards and three touchdowns in three seasons with the Colts. CBS Sports analyst Dane Brugler has compared Hemingway to Ladarius Green, a former fourth-rounder who recently inked a $20 million deal with the Steelers.

Those players may very well represent a floor and a ceiling. For now, Hemingway is just happy he has a window.

“I think it’ll all come in good time,” he said.