The murmur begins the moment Puka Nacua rounds a corner and walks onto the field at Loyola Marymount.
“There he is!”
It quickly erupts into near-hysteric calls of recognition, amplified every time the Rams receiver makes a play during practice.
“Puka! Puka!”
By the end of a workout, when Nacua trots in front of bleachers awash in fans wearing No. 17 jerseys, the cacophony becomes a sustained crescendo.
“P-u-u-u-ka!”
"This is the best energy,” Nacua said of the training camp atmosphere. “I love it.”
Nacua, 23, is coming off a record-setting rookie season in 2023.
With star receiver and mentor Cooper Kupp sidelined for the first four games with a hamstring injury, Nacua, a fifth-round draft pick, burst onto the scene as quarterback Matthew Stafford ’s favorite target.
Using a physical style and acrobatic body control, Nacua had 105 catches for 1,486 yards and six touchdowns. His emergence helped the Rams finish the season with a better-than-anticipated 10-7 record and a playoff appearance.
Nacua enjoyed a busy offseason. He made the Pro Bowl Games in Florida, attended NFL Honors at the Super Bowl in Las Vegas and played in the celebrity game during NBA All-Star weekend in Indiana.
While much has changed for him — he signed with Nike’s Jordan Brand among other endorsements — Nacua has remained humble, coach Sean McVay said.
“He's stayed the same guy,” McVay said, adding, “He has this authenticity to him … why everybody loves him.
“But when he goes in between those white lines, he is a maniac.”
Nacua credits Kupp for providing the example for success.
“I have five brothers in my own family, but I feel like Coop's been the brother that I never knew I had,” Nacua said. “It has been such a big blessing to be able to have somebody who's been in the L.A. environment for longer than I have and to kind of clear the waters for me and steer me in the right direction.”
Shortly after the Lions eliminated the Rams in an NFL wild-card playoff game, Kupp invited Nacua to join him for daily 6 a.m. offseason workouts. The intensity of the conditioning with the 2021 NFL offensive player of the year initially made Nacua sick to his stomach.
But he quickly adapted.
“He knows that … one of the hardest things is to have success early and then be able to continue to push and say there's more out there,” said Kupp, an eighth-year pro. “He’s done a great job of that and put the right foot forward to be able to set himself up to be able to go do something pretty special this year.”
Improving route-running efficiency and eliminating drops — he led the NFL with 13 — were Nacua’s primary offseason goals.
Nacua cut down on junk food and worked on the field and in the weight room to make his body leaner. Last season, the 6-foot-2 Nacua said he weighed 218 pounds at times. Now he weighs 210.
Nacua proudly displays his work, according to offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur.
“I was joking around with him,” LaFleur said. “Last year, he wore a long T-shirt. This year, after working out with Cooper offseason, he wants to show off his washboard a little bit.”
Nacua does not disagree.
Body control, already a strength, has been taken to “the next level” with a refined physique, he said.
Receivers coach Eric Yarber told Nacua the change was evident, joking that Nacua’s stomach was no longer moving the opposite direction when he made a cut on the field.
“It may have been a back-handed compliment,” Nacua said, chuckling, “but I think it's a good thing."
Eliminating drops is next, Yarber said.
Nacua is adept at concentrating before tough catches.
“I want him to concentrate on the easy catches just like it’s a hard catch,” Yarber said. “Use the fundamentals you’re supposed to use, and then get upfield.”
Kupp and Nacua are what Yarber described as a “1-2 punch” for a receiving corps that also features veterans Demarcus Robinson and Tutu Atwell and rookie Jordan Whittington.
Stafford, preparing for his 16th NFL season, has looked sharp distributing passes to all of them.
“All those guys are just intrinsically motivated guys that come out there, work hard,” he said of the returning receivers. “They're pushing themselves. They're pushing the guys in the room and then they're in turn pushing our team because they're making our defense better.”
The Rams are still more than a month away from traveling to Detroit for their Sept. 8 opener against the Lions.
Nacua is the most high-profile young player for a Rams team that features several. Center Steve Avila, defensive lineman Kobie Turner and edge rusher Byron Young are other second-year pros who are returning starters.
The young players and the veterans have lifted Nacua and helped him prepare for what comes next.
“Due to the people around me,” he said, “I’ve been able to feel like I’ve been able to progress more from where I was last year … and continue to move forward.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times .
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