Every one of the 30 or so dreamers lining the Rams practice field this weekend in Thousand Oaks has a story to tell. You don’t just pull up at an NFL rookie minicamp, a place where lifetime dreams are allowed to continue or meet their bitter ends, without toting an extraordinary amount of baggage the result of roads less traveled.

For every high draft pick with a lucrative contract on the way, there’s three undrafted free agents hoping to make enough of an impression to get a training camp invite.

For every former five-star recruit from USC or Alabama, there’s a former no-star recruit who flashed just enough at tiny Tarleton State to earn an NFL tryout.

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Rams rookies quickly warm to ‘old dude’ coordinator Wade Phillips Yet here they all wound up at the same place at the same time with the same singular objective.

“And it’s funny when you think about it,” Rams rookie tight end Gerald Everett observed. “We all want to end up at the same place, but everyone’s path is a little different. There’s really no one path to the NFL.”

But there is one common thread.

“You just have to keep working for your dream,” Everett said, “No matter where you start, or what obstacles are in your way. Just keep fighting.”

Everett is a case in point.

In the back of his mind he always felt he would find his way onto the NFL radar. The raw athletic ability was always noticeable growing up in Atlanta. From a physical standpoint, there were compelling components to work with.

On the other hand, he did set football aside when he got to high school to focus on basketball and track and field. At the time it seemed like the beginning of the end of his football career. But in retrospect it turned out to be a shrewdly brilliant decision.

The basketball skill-set he honed is one he he presently leans on to help beat defenders to the football. At 6-foot-3, Everett’s vertical leap enables him to outjump defenders for the ball but he can also box-out to secure his fair share of 50/50 balls.

“My basketball background really helps me on the football field,” he said.

A reality he soon learned upon circling back to football his senior year of high school after moving from Martin Luther King High to Columbia in Decatur, Ga.

It turned out to be one of those just-in-the-nick of time decisions that set him on his current path.

Albeit one with enough twists and turns to fill a page-turning best seller.

Everett earned All-State honors at Columbia after a breakout senior season, only his sudden arrival to the recruiting party was entirely too late to garner scholarship interest.

Bethune Cookman, an FCS program, did offer a scholarship and Everett immediately accepted. But as enrollment day drew near, he had a change of heart and decided he was better served taking the JC route, which is how he ended up at Juco powerhouse Hutchinson Community College.

Everett sat out the 2012 season, but in 2013 put together a standout season that eventually landed him a scholarship to Alabama Birmingham.

His first season resulted in 17 catches for 292 yards and a touchdown, a foundation Everett hope to build on over his final two seasons.

Only for a major roadblock to come crashing down in front of him.

Alabama Birmingham abruptly decided to cancel its football program, a crushing, shocking development that left more than a hundred players, coaches and staff members scrambling to figure out there futures.

The fact they announced it immediately after the Jaguars became bowl eligible was a particularly low blow.

“I was disgusted,” Everett said. “At the same time, it put it in perspective that this is a business and you don’t always have control over what happens.

Everett allowed himself one day to mourn. If nothing else, just to process everything that just happened.

But not only was he determined to not let someone else’s decision be the reason his dreams got squashed, he instinctively knew every second counted in terms of getting his future back on track.

Any concerns were put to rest within a day or so.

“My phone started ringing. There were programs showing interest in me.” he said. “I knew I was going to be fine.”

Everett eventually followed his Alabama Birmingham offensive coordinator Bryant Vincent, to South Alabama.

“It turned out to be a great decision for me,” Everett said. “That’s when things really started to fall into place.”

And where the NFL began coming into better focus.

Everett arrived at South Alabama at 220 pounds, but at the urging of his coaches began putting on weight. The goal was to make a permanent move to tight end, with the added girth enabling him to be a better blocker but also be able to stand up physically against bigger defenders.

And while Everett’s body got bigger, he didn’t lose any of his athletic ability.

The result was a matchup nightmare for Sun Belt Conference linebackers and defensive backs.

As a junior, Everett caught 41 passes for 575 yards and eight touchdowns. He followed that up with 49 catches for 717 yards and four touchdowns last year as a senior to earn a spot at the Senior Bowl and the NFL scouting combine.

His postseason work immediately caught the interest of the Rams, specifically new head coach Sean McVay whose offense has a strong tight end component.

“I can tell you that through this process and you’ve gotten to know Sean, what his scheme requires and as you eluded to with the tight end, I have a feeling that Gerald’s one of Sean’s favorite players in the draft,” Rams general manager Les Snead said.

In Everett, McVay saw a tight end he could use as a complement to second-year tight end Tyler Higbee and perhaps even Temarrick Hemingway, who has impressed McVay so far in offseason workouts.

No surprise, then, the Rams made Everett their first selection of the NFL draft with the 44th pick overall, with the hope of developing him into the Rams’ version of Jordan Reed, a tight end McVay effectively utilized as the Washington Redskins offensive coordinator.

“Going back to just talking about Higbee and what (we) saw from Hemingway, those are encouraging things,” McVay said. “I don’t think you can ever have enough playmakers and if those guys merit it by the way that they compete in practice, then those guys will be on the field as well.”

In doing so, it proved a point that friends and coaches within Everett’s circle continually stressed to him throughout his long, winding road.

“The NFL will find you no matter where you are,” Everett said. “You know, coming out of high school I wanted to go to a big-time program. But my path didn’t end up in that direction. But I want to be a testament that no matter where you are, if you keep working hard and believing in yourself, you’ll find your way.”