Kaleaph Carter Hopes to Move Up the Rams’ Lengthy List : Football: Former Edison player, one of four rookie running backs in camp, won’t rest until he gives football one last try.

FULLERTON — Kaleaph Carter can run down the list of Ram running backs rather quickly--starting from the top and working his way down.

“Cleveland Gary is still listed as playing. David Lang is still on the roster. Jerome Bettis, Tim Lester, Russell White, Anthony Thompson, Jay Barry and myself . . . “

That all?

“ . . . Now they’ve placed (tight end) Troy Drayton there as a deuce back. So now we have nine guys back there.”

But, hey, who’s counting?

You can never accuse Carter of not knowing the score, even when it’s against him.

Carter, a graduate of Edison High School and UCLA, is just a face in a crowded Ram backfield. He’s one of four rookie running backs in camp, but he wasn’t drafted and doesn’t carry the weight of a guaranteed contact.

So finding him on the depth chart isn’t easy, unless you know where to look.

“I’m low man on the totem poll,” Carter said. “That means I have to do every little thing and every big thing possible. And I can’t make any mistakes.”

It’s a razor’s edge and he’ll likely get cut.

Not many expect Carter, a 6-foot, 230-pound fullback, to make the Rams. Even he knows the odds. But you can’t blame a guy for trying.

This may be his last hurrah on the football field, but it was one he had to take. Carter has been through enough and felt he owed himself one more try.

“Years from now, I didn’t want to look back and say, ‘Kaleaph, what were you thinking? Why didn’t you give it a shot?’ ” Carter said. “I didn’t want to be a quitter.”

Carter never has been one, although the thought has crossed his mind once or twice.

He is still Edison’s career leader in yards rushing (2,563), but it could have been more. Much more.

A separated shoulder, a pinched nerve in his neck and back spasms forced Carter to miss virtually all his senior season. He felt he was done.

Carter was so convinced that he concentrated on track and field and won the State shotput title with a 64- 1/2 effort. He also was second in the discus (186-2). His future seemed clear but football kept calling.

He played four years at UCLA and earned the starting fullback job as a junior. But, as a senior, a partially torn Achilles’ tendon sidelined him most of the season.

End of career?

“I was thinking there was no way in the world I was going to play football again,” Carter said. “You have a big-time injury like an Achilles’ tendon and that’s it. But I didn’t get my degree at UCLA for nothing.”

Carter, a sociology major, began making plans for life after football. He made contacts in television, with hopes of eventually becoming a producer. He has interned for KCBS and worked for ABC during the Santa Anita Derby.

“I was lining up to do some gofer work, then move up,” Carter said. “But I couldn’t look at my children years from now and tell them I didn’t try.”

The tough part was getting the chance.

The New Orleans Saints, Miami Dolphins and Phoenix Cardinals took a look but said no thanks.

“I was a guy that was a high risk because of the injury,” Carter said. “What you had was a situation where Kaleaph Carter, who used to run a 4.6 40 consistently, now only ran a 4.8.

“Now, Kaleaph’s Achilles’ tendon is better.”

The Rams certainly thought so. They signed him as a free agent in April although they had drafted Bettis in the first round and White in the third.

“It’s kind of like being a walk-on in college,” Carter said. “I don’t know what my chances are. That’s OK. They are only as good as I make them.”

They have improved slightly.

Gary is still unsigned and hoping to be traded. Lang injured his knee and is expected to be out eight to 12 weeks. The backfield looked even more fragile Wednesday when Lester went down with a minor knee injury.

Still, Carter is at the end of the line.

“When Tim got hurt, they just moved Jerome over to fullback,” Carter said. “I understand that. It’s a business and they don’t have a lot invested in Kaleaph Carter.”

Of course, Carter does have a role.

“I’m the example,” he said. “If I make a mistake it’ll be, ‘See, that’s not what you want to do, guys.’ It’s not a negative thing. You just got to take it in stride. There’s more to life than football.”

But, for now, life is football and has to be.

“I’m in the situation where I have to do everything right,” Carter said. “I can’t take time out to relax. I’m not trying to impress coaches enough, I’m just trying to impress coaches, period. Then, if I do make the team, and let’s hope that I do, it will mean they have a plan for Kaleaph Carter.”

And maybe a little higher place on the list.