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Terrence Cody has been given a nickname by fellow defensive lineman Haloti Ngata.
The nickname: "Cheeseburger".
I wonder where the inspiration for the moniker came from.
Cody took part in his first training camp practice today after passing his conditioning test. The Ravens' rookie defensive tackle failed on his first two attempts and was held out of yesterday's practice, but gave it another go this morning with better results.
"It felt good," Cody said. "It was hard at first. I came in yesterday, I knew about the test but I didn't know how to run it. I tried two times and got close, but couldn't quite finish. But I got up early this morning and knocked it out. Big relief.
"I came out yesterday and didn't pass it so I feel I have to prove myself. I had my family call me and ask me what was going on and I had to tell them. They were like 'You got so far. Don't quit.' I slept on it and got up this morning with a head full of steam and got out there and passed it."
The conditioning test consists of a series of six "up-backs", which are 25-yard sprints in each direction. The players get a 70 second rest in between each up-back, and must finish within a certain time limit.
The times vary by position; obviously the cornerbacks and wide receivers have less time to complete the test than the linemen.
Cody said had support from a bunch of his teammates when he gave the test another try.
"I was kind of down on myself, telling myself I could've worked harder," he said. "But I had a lot of people behind me cheering me on after I failed. I had the D-line, Jarret, Kelly, Haloti, all of them cheering me on, keeping me going."
The Alabama product says he still weighs around 350 pounds but would like to cut a little more weight and improve on his conditioning.
"I feel like it's pretty good, but I can get better," Cody said. "There's always a lot of room for improvement. That's what I had a talk [about] with coach Harbaugh. I can get a lot better before the season starts.
"When I got here, they told me I wasn't going to be a two-down player, I was going to be an every-down player. They wanted to use me on third downs and all kinds of scenarios. They want me in the best shape I can be, and if not, they want to help me get into that shape."
