OWINGS MILLS -- IT'S THE FIRST WEEK of June. It should be too early for football. Baseball's All-Star Game is more than a month away. The NBA Finals haven't started. It was only four months ago that the Indianapolis Colts won the Super Bowl.

But, on Tuesday, veterans and free agents from the Baltimore Ravens gathered at the training facility in Owings Mills for the team's first mandatory minicamp. They will be here for three days, practicing for almost two hours a day.

It's a chance for the coaches to get a good look at everyone who will come to training camp. It's a chance for the veterans to re-acquaint themselves and get to know some of the rookies.

The locker room was more crowded than usual Tuesday with the rookies' lockers set up in the middle. There was barely enough room to walk around.

Ravens coach Brian Billick is growing a gray beard again, something he did at training camp two years ago.

"My wife likes the beard, so it stays on," Billick said. "Deal with it."

Things have changed a lot from last season, when the Ravens came to camp after a losing season and weren't sure of their quarterback situation. This season, quarterback Steve McNair has a year under his belt in the Ravens system. They have a new running back in Willis McGahee and a Heisman Trophy winning rookie quarterback in Troy Smith. Even Jonathan Ogden returned after contemplating retirement.

"Last year we were 6-10, at this point we still didn't know what the quarterback situation was, what the young guys were going to do," Billick said. "(This year) we are coming off a 13-3 record. Our mindset, our expectations are hugely different. We're very respectful of what our fans expect, what we expect coming off a 13-3 year."

This week is the first mandatory camp for the Ravens. They have already held three volunteer camps.

"There are X amount of things we want to get done," Billick said of the minicamps or organized team activities. "I hope to get them fully prepared for training camp. If we can get the basis underneath us so that they are thinking less by the time they get to training camp, then we have been successful in our OTAs (organized team activities)."

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THE FOCAL POINT of the minicamp was linebacker Ray Lewis, the face of the Ravens in his 12 years with the team. Lewis has slowed over the years, but is coming off a good season with 164 tackles.

He seems to be happier than this time last season, when he was coming off injury problems and was critical of what the team was doing. There was talk the Ravens would trade him.

There is no such talk now.

"Where I am right now is scary, now I can say my best football is definitely ahead of me," said the 32-year-old Lewis. "Some people say you go in reverse when you hit the 30 mark. I'm going the other way."

He said he's as healthy as ever, and he has a lot of energy.

He also looked slimmed down.

"The crazy thing about it is that I didn't lose any weight," Lewis said. "I'm an easy 250, 255. My body fat is crazy right now."

He said he changed his routine during the offseason and worked out at night instead of in the morning.

"I'm doing more creative stuff, whether it's kick-boxing or wrestling," Lewis said. "I've been getting a lot of creative work in."

He said rest is the key, and he's been able to average 10 hours of sleep a night with the new routine.

"Right now, I'm sitting at a place where I don't think I've been in my career," he said. "The adjustment that's happened in my life right now, I can't explain it. My mom has been talking about it, like, everyday. I'm just telling her the things that I'm doing in the weight room and the way I'm running right now, I've never felt that. I feel good."

Lewis also said the Ravens are a lot better off this year.

"We're not worrying about the transition of if McNair's coming, if he's not coming," Lewis said. "He's here now and he can jell with his offense. Willis (McGahee) is here; a lot of great guys are here. I'm a fan of Troy Smith myself. He is the first person who I went up to to tell him that."

McGahee is a big key for the Ravens this year. They acquired him in a trade with the Buffalo Bills and consider him an upgrade over Jamal Lewis, who started the last six years.

McGahee had been criticized for his work habits with the Bills. But Lewis said he has spent a lot of time during the offseason with McGahee, who, like Lewis, is a former University of Miami player.

"He has a swagger, just a certain swagger," Lewis said. "He has an energy for the game that is incredible. We have been together the last 10 or 15 days and everything we're talking about is football. A lot of time you don't get that from players anymore because they want the offseason to be the offseason. If you're trying to do something, there is no real offseason and he understands that clearly.

"He does a lot of things, gives us a lot more versatility to the running game than we've had the last couple of years," Billick said when asked about McGahee.

"He can jump start the running game," center Mike Flynn said. "He's a great addition to our team."

Just how much of an impact McGahee, Troy Smith and the other newcomers will have won't be known for months. After all, it is only early June.

NOTE: Wide receiver Mark Clayton wasn't at Tuesday's practice. He's due in today.

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