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The mauling right tackle from Boston College, the Lions' first-round pick in April's NFL draft, officially signed a five-year contract worth up to $15 million -- and $8.9 million guaranteed -- shortly before the team opened training camp Thursday at its Allen Park practice facility.

On the field, Cherilus split his time between the second and third teams and was beaten easily in his first one-on-one line drill by secondyear defensive end Ikaika Alama-Francis.

After practice, a session that ended 12 minutes early because of its quick pace, Cherilus made his way over to a line of fans and spent five minutes signing hats, footballs and programs.

"I'm excited to be here for the first practice," Cherilus said. "Really, the first practices, these are the basis of the whole thing. Trying to get all the little things done, so it's good to be in here right now playing football."

Greg Diulus, Cherilus' agent, said negotiations never grew contentious before a deal was struck late Wednesday. Both parties recognized the importance of getting Cherilus in camp early to compete for the starting job at right tackle.

George Foster, who made nine starts at the position last year and was re-signed to a oneyear deal this offseason, opened camp as first string.

"I wanted to be there from the start," Cherilus said. "I didn't want to fall behind. I really wanted to be here. I'm glad they got it done and now we can work on football."

Second-round pick Jordon Dizon remains the only Lion without a contract. Dizon, taken 45th overall out of Colorado, missed both practices Thursday.

In an e-mail Thursday afternoon, Dizon's agent, Peter Schaffer wrote negotiations were "still running."

"Every day you miss, it's catch up time," Lions coach Rod Marinelli said. "All the structure and the base that you put in that first night, you can't repeat it. Now you're just on the run, catching up, so it's always tougher."

Lesson learned

Rookie running back Kevin Smith, who's battling Tatum Bell for the feature role in the Lions' new ground-oriented offense, got a rude welcome on one of his first carriesÊ Thursday when safety Greg Blue thumped him with a tackle, knocking him to the ground.

"It was just a lesson learned, get low," Smith said. "First day in pads, baby. Sometimes you just got to take that. You smile at it, you get up and my mind is it won't happen again."

Smith said he's working on running with a lower center of gravity, a knock on him coming out of the draft.

As a junior at Central Florida, Smith ran for 2,567 yards on an NCAA-record 450 carries. But Smith said his upright running style wasn't a problem in college.

"But it's kind of different because (at) Central Florida I was the man so you couldn't really touch me in practice," Smith said. "Out here it's a freefor-all. Everybody can take the shots that they want. I'm at the bottom of the barrel right now."

Injury report

Four Lions -- safety Daniel Bullocks, receiver Shaun McDonald, tight end Dan Campbell and guard Edwin Mulitalo -- opened camp on the Physically Unable to Perform list.

Mulitalo (elbow) and Campbell (elbow) could come off as soon as today, while McDonald (knee) and Bullocks (knee) will test their injuries.