Lorenzo Reyes

USA TODAY

IRVINE, Calif — Shortly after the NFL draft, Jared Goff dialed up Marcus Mariota and asked for some advice.

After all, the newly minted No. 1 overall selection of the Los Angeles Rams — and presumptive future of the franchise — has a lot in common with Mariota, the Titans quarterback.

They share the same agent. They both were highly-hyped quarterbacks plucked in the top two picks of the draft. And both played in spread offenses in college, which can be tough to translate to the NFL.

So Mariota shared his secret.

It’s something Goff says he did countless times at home in the long offseason months. And it’s also something he says is already paying off in big dividends.

“Record yourself saying a play call. Then play it. Hear it. Draw it. Go through the progression. And then visualize it,” Goff told USA TODAY Sports Saturday evening, moments after the first training camp practice of his career. “So you kind of get reps, at least mentally as much as you would out here practicing. It’s really smart.”

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Sitting at home with the playbook by his side, Goff is able to work out some of the calls he struggles with the most.

And it’s something that has helped Goff chip away at what he calls his biggest hurdle: processing the speed of NFL defenses.

“I’ve gotten to a point where I’m pretty comfortable right now and I’m able to function and make plays out there and do things I want to do,” Goff said. “But you can always be better. For me the whole pre-snap stuff has gotten tenfold easier since I started rookie minicamp. It’s second nature at this point. That’s the stuff where you come in and make a decision” — he snapped his fingers — “like that.”

A big reason why is because of Mariota’s advice.

But this is only Day 1.

Goff had just completed a two-hour practice session at the team’s temporary home at the University of California, Irvine, that saw him zip passes into tight windows, miss others, fumble snaps, throw touchdowns, and toss interceptions.

The installation package, as Rams coach Jeff Fisher said afterwards, was purposefully simple, to keep things manageable. The ball wasn’t meant to go down the field.

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Some fans didn’t care.

Sitting in field-length metal bleachers in the warm Southern California sun, one fan shouted for Goff to “stop checking it down, man.”

But it’s only a matter of time before Goff becomes the Rams starter with the full offense at his disposal. He’ll continue to compete with incumbent Case Keenum this preseason. Before appointing him the starter, however, Fisher and the coaching staff want to see him improve.

“Jared was great today,” Fisher said in a press conference. “We had some quarterback-center exchanges and I’m not going to put it on (center Eric) Kush, but a couple of those snaps, it’s hard to catch the ball at your ankles and get up to throw when you’ve got rushers in your face.

“But he’s great. He’s really comfortable. He spent a lot of time, as you would expect from him, in the (playbook) this summer and throwing to receivers. He has a much better feel now than when he left.”

With that, the rookie’s first day of training camp is just about over. Goff will conduct a press conference off to the side of the practice field. He’ll go back to the team’s temporary locker room. He’ll watch some film. And eventually he’ll go home.

“I just want to do my best to prove myself,” Goff said. “Continuing to grow and continuing to improve is my main goal. I want to look back two weeks from now and say I got better than I was today.”

He says he doesn’t do it as much as he used to now that football is actually here, but if Goff has some time and wants to get some work in, he may even grab that recorder, a pencil and some paper.

Follow Lorenzo Reyes on Twitter: @LorenzoGReyes