ALLEN PARK - The temperature had soared into the mid-90s and the suffocating humidity pushed the index into triple digits before the Detroit Lions' practice finally ended after 99 minutes.

But wide receiver Quinshad Davis' work wasn't done.

Davis still had to carry the helmets and shoulder pads belonging to Golden Tate and T.J. Jones off the field long after his veteran teammates had retreated to the air-conditioned comfort of the locker room at the Lions' practice facility.

Such is the life of a rookie in the National Football League.

But there were no complaints from Davis - or any of the other rookies, for that matter - because the vets have been there and one day they'll hopefully be on the other end of the rituals first-year players go through during training camp.

Luckily for the Lions' rookies, the days of hazing are long gone.

Sure, they might have to carry extra equipment off the field at the end of practice and defer to the veterans in the locker room, but there's too much at stake to make life any more difficult than necessary for the first-year players.

The rookies are already busy enough trying to learn what it takes to play in the NFL.

"I bought a white board because when we first got here for OTAs that junk was crazy," rookie linebacker Antwione Williams, a fifth-round draft pick from Georgia, said with a laugh. "Our head was spinning. They were installing 15 plays a day but we kind of help each other out because we couldn't get lined up at first.

"But we came a long way."

Williams was speaking alongside fellow rookie Miles Killebrew, a safety from Southern Utah who was drafted in the fourth round this year.

Williams and Killebrew are roommates and have been friends since the first time arrived in Allen Park during the offseason.

"As soon as Miles makes a play, I'm the first one running over there to congratulate him," Williams said. "We came in together. It's kind of a camaraderie thing."

Although many of the two dozen rookies in camp are competing for the same jobs, the competition ends when the whistle blows and they support each other off the field.

"We want to stick together and we want everybody to make it," said Davis, an undrafted free agent from North Carolina. "We push each other to the limit and we make sure we got everything down pat."

Davis' roommate is fellow wide receiver Jay Lee, another undrafted free agent from Baylor.

"We met in early January," Davis said. "We trained together down in Texas and we've been going through this process together, really helping each other, keeping each other accountable.

"I'm just taking it one day at a time, just doing my part, making the plays when the balls come to me."

The rookies aren't just getting support from each other.

Center Graham Glasgow, a third-round pick from Michigan has gotten help from his fellow offensive lineman throughout the first week of training camp.

He practically gushed when talking about his fellow linemen.

"The guys are awesome to work with," Glasgow said. "We have a fantastic group on the offensive line. I really, really like those guys a lot. Borderline love, those guys. It's only been a short while but I feel a strong connection with some of them.

"Man love, I guess you can say."

So what's the most difficult part of training camp for a rookie?

Well, that depends on who you ask.

"Getting the technique down," Williams said. "There's a lot of different plays, a lot of different techniques and stuff like that. Coach (Teryl Austin) and coach (Bill) Sheridan are great coaches and everything. They teach us a lot of technique.

"There's a lot of stuff going in. You try to be the best you can be at it."

For Davis, it's been taking another step on the football ladder.

"Just adjusting to the NFL," he said. "In college, it was up tempo, real simple. Now you got so many different things to learn, it's complicated. Adjusting to it when you first get here would be the hardest thing for me.

"Since the summer, I've got a lot better. It's come more natural to me. It's easier to me now."

Killebrew says it's all the information the players have to process when it comes to learning plays.

"It's an NFL playbook," he said. "It has to be intricate ... but we study together in the room and it's definitely a system that we've benefited from right now."

And Glasgow?

"The speed of the game is a little faster," he said. "Not just a little faster. It's faster. And the guys that you're playing against are fantastic players."

Glasgow is often one of the last players off the field because he stops to sign autographs for fans lined up along one side of the field.

That's usually not a short process and by the time he's ready to leave, all of the veterans have departed and their equipment is in the hands of other rookies.

Glasgow also said he didn't have any good stories to share from dorm life.

"No, not really," he said with a grin. "I just pass out when I get in there."