WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – Rams running backs coach Ron Gould has known Eric Stevens and his family for several years.

"I recruited his older brother," Gould told theRams.com. "I remember sitting in a house and his father was telling me, 'You're gonna come back and get the youngest one here,' and that was Eric."

Indeed, Stevens went on to play for Gould at the University of California-Berkeley.

Recalling the type of player Stevens was, Gould said the 6-foot, 242-pound fullback was "physical, competitive, athletic, (a) hard worker" who will "knock your neck off."

"I mean, he was so physical," Gould said. "Had great hands, can catch a BB (pellet) in the night, you know? We use the phrase here, 'work works,' and he was that kind of guy. Not only was he talented, but he had the work ethic and he had the passion and the drive. Anything you asked him to do, he would get it done."

That mindset that propelled Stevens in college, and afterward to an NFL opportunity as an undrafted free agent with the Rams, then as a Los Angeles city firefighter, is carrying him in a different way these days.

He is five years into his battle with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.

Gould is doing his part in supporting that fight by choosing axeALS Foundation as part of the Rams' My Cause My Cleats game this Sunday against the Bills, alongside his own Rams position group and wide receiver Puka Nacua.

Gould clearly remembers the moment when he found out about Stevens' diagnosis.

Stevens had called him after returning from his honeymoon, saying he had dropped a weight during a workout, but was going to get it checked out when he came back. Upon returning, he was diagnosed with ALS and called Gould to let him know.

"I was devastated. I cried," Gould said. "It's because of the young man. This young man, he cares about anything. He became a firefighter because he wants to help other people, he wants to save lives. And so to see something like that, to see him in that state, it really devastated me because of who he is."

Besides knowing and hearing about Lou Gehrig's Disease, the first time Gould said he heard about ALS was when his sister-in-law's husband died of it within months of it being discovered. He said it was his first time ever having someone close to him pass away from ALS.

Gould learned about axeALS Foundation through Sevens and his wife, Amanda, both of whom founded the organization after Stevens was diagnosed at age 29. Its mission is to raise awareness and funding for ALS treatments and clinical trials, aid ALS patients and their families in living as normal lives as possible, and also encourage research for the "prevention, alleviation, care, treatment and (one day) cure of ALS," according to its website.

One day, Gould talked with the Rams' running backs in their meeting room about the cause and Stevens, and asked if the players would be willing to help spread awareness.

"All of us right away were saying yes," Cody Schrader said.

"I feel like for everybody, it was a no brainer," Ronnie Rivers said. "As soon as he asked us, we were all in for it. Anybody that he cares for, we care for as well. It's kind of that, a friend of friend of yours is a friend of mine. So any type of support that we could show Coach G and his former player, we're all about it."

"It's truly a family, the running backs that we have in our room," Blake Corum said. "And then it means even more that it's one of Coach G's former players. Like he always says, he's like a son to him, we're his sons, and so it means everything that we're able to support Eric and Amanda and the cause, because he's truly an inspiration, man. Being able to wake up every day with the disease that he has, smile, be happy, it's inspirational. But it means a lot to do it for Coach G as well."

"Coach G, when he first got here, he would always say he's going to the hospital," Kyren Williams said. "I would be like, 'Coach G, why are you going to the hospital? What's wrong?' He was like, 'Nah, it's one of my sons, he's going through ALS and battling with that.' So just hearing that, and the way Coach G interacts with us and treats us as his sons, it's like we're all family. And it's crazy because (Saints defensive end) Cam Jordan reached out to me today and was showing his support, because that was his former teammate as well. So it's like a big old family that Coach G has created, so I think it's just no brainer for us four to be able to continue to support that and support Coach G, but also support Eric and Amanda going through whatever he's going through."

"I didn't get emotional in there with them, but when I left the room, I was emotional," Gould said. "When they said that they would do it, it just warmed my heart, because that the kind of young men I have in that room. They're also very caring and very supportive. Eric is part of the RB family, and just because he's not here, he's still part of the family. So it really warmed my heart to see those guys be supportive of it."

Besides awareness, Gould hopes the attention created from choosing this as his cause helps with grants being awarded as well as fundraising and research efforts toward finding a cure for the disease.

"That's the biggest thing," Gould said. "We don't know what the future holds for Eric, but when I look at him, and I see the approach that he takes every single day – never complains, never wonders about the next day, but lives every moment, then I got to do more and I gotta continue to create awareness. I gotta continue to support axeALS, because I want to see that in the future, people's lives get changed because there's been research done and there's been money allocated tow making sure that we find a cure."