Earthquake leaves Rams East Coast-native players shaken

Cornerback Derion Kendrick grew up in South Carolina, receiver Puka Nacua in Utah.

Along with their teammates and Rams coaches, they were still excited Monday as they recounted a shared moment of welcome to LA: Sunday’s 5.1 magnitude earthquake that struck the Southland amid a rare tropical storm.

The quake struck near Ojai, about 45 miles from the Rams’ Thousand Oaks training facility.

Kendrick was watching TV at home when he heard “boom, boom, boom,” he said.

“I’m like, ‘Damn, what the hell is going on?'” said Kendrick, who has been training for the first time since suffering a hamstring injury in training camp. “I looked outside and it was raining – but that doesn’t sound like thunder.

“It shook me a little because I’m not really used to it in my home country.”

Nacua said he shook for five to six seconds.

“We say, ‘This isn’t normal rain!'” he said. “I was shocked, I was scared and luckily there were other people around.”

On Sunday, trainer Sean McVay said his wife Veronika, their dog and their neighbors felt the tremor.

But not McVay, who was on the phone with offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur.

“It just shows what an idiot I am,” McVay said Sunday. “I didn’t notice, but everyone else around me noticed. It just tells you I’m in space.”

Unlike McVay, LaFleur noticed the shaking.

“The pool had waves and stuff, so I was like, ‘Holy crap,'” LaFleur said.

But McVay kept talking.

“He had no idea,” LaFleur said. “He was talking, and then my phone started going off this alarm and I thought it was just the fifth tropical storm alarm or whatever…

“And he says, ‘I didn’t feel it.’ Veronika was in the background: “You didn’t feel that?!”

“We all felt it. My children were less afraid.”

Remarks: Receiver Cooper Kupp has been training for the first time since suffering a hamstring injury early in camp. McVay said Kendrick and Kupp would attend joint practice sessions with the Broncos in Denver on Wednesday and Thursday…. Defensive coordinator Raheem Morris was absent from training due to a personal situation, a team spokesman said.