FOXBORO — Everyone wants stability. Everyone is striving for permanence.

In the Patriots locker room, stability and permanence is best illustrated by the locker setup. While the veterans have imposing wooden lockers that line the outer edges of the room — complete with all the accessories that a modern athlete needs — the rookies are in the middle of the room in temporary, makeshift lockers made out of ugly blue metal.

In that room, everyone is striving to get one of those wooden lockers. It signifies that you’ve arrived, that you are a part of an NFL team.

Jeremy Ross is one of those guys looking for a permanent locker. A kick returner and wide receiver out of Cal who stands 6-foot-0 and weights 209 pounds, he was an offensive Swiss Army Knife as a collegian: He totaled 2,287 all-purpose yards at Cal (201 rushing, 764 receiving, 471 punt return, 851 kick return), an average of 53.2 yards per contest, and finished his career second on the school’s all-time punt return average list with an average of 15.2 yards per return (31 returns, 471 yards, one touchdown), behind only the 16.7 posted by DeSean Jackson.

Despite some excellent measureables (a 39-inch vertical and a 4.44 40-yard dash), he wasn’t drafted, so the 23-year-old was signed by the Patriots the last week of July.

In a typical year, the undrafted and rookie free agents already have the odds stacked against them — just trying to catch the coaches' eyes if you’re one of the 80 or so players on a roster is hard enough. That’s not to say there aren’t success stories: BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Brian Hoyer, Mike Wright, Kyle Love and Dane Fletcher all made the New England roster after being picked up as undrafted or rookie free agents, while Danny Woodhead was a UDFA who popped up on the Jets radar before he was nabbed by the Patriots.

But this year, because of the lockout, those undrafted free agents didn’t have the spring sessions to get acclimated to the system. There were no organized team activities and no passing camps. This year, with no foundation in the system, they’ve been thrown into the deep end and told to swim.

“I think they know the situation we kind of came into,” Ross said before practice on Wednesday. “We know it. It’s unfortunate, but we just have to take it as fast as we can and absorb as much material and the offense as much as we can.”

Ross is luckier than many of his fellow rookie free agents: He had some good reps throughout training camp, and has seen the field in the first two preseason games, primarily in the second half. He was targeted twice in the preseason opener against the Jags but did not record a catch.

However, he did post three kick returns, averaging 22.7 yards a return. In the second preseason game against the Bucs, he caught two passes for six yards, and added four punt returns for a team-high 9.3 yards a return.

With limited time in the system and having to fight with veterans for reps — and the first round of cuts looming on Aug. 30, when teams have to pare their rosters from 90 to 80 — there could be a temptation for a player like Ross to try and do too much when they’re in the game in hopes of catching the eye of the coaching staff.

“I don’t see it as a thing where I’m trying to catch the coach's eye as far as doing too much,” Ross said. “I’m just trying to handle what I can handle and work hard as I can to make sure I’m getting everything I can down.”

“It’s up to the player to perform their tasks and assignments, and to stay within the context and the framework of what you’re trying to do defensively or offensively, or even in the kicking game because it’s going to impact the player that’s next to you,” said Patriots Director of Player Personnel Nick Caserio. “So just go out, focus on your assignment and try to execute the technique to the best of your ability, because if you try to go outside the framework of what you’re doing, it’s going to impact the entire context.”

Ross is not walking into this situation by himself. Running back Shane Vereen, who was selected in the second round of the draft by the Patriots this past April, was a college teammate, and the two have been sharing their experiences.

“It definitely makes this experience better, to be able to share it with somebody else I’ve been with in the past for a couple of years,” Ross said of Vereen. “Having him here is good, because we can just chill and chop it up and hang out and talk about old times if need be. We know each other well, so it makes it fun.”

In the end, Ross understands the challenge that he’s facing, but he’s simply soaking it all in and taking the whole process as a learning experience.

“I’m enjoying it — it’s definitely a great experience, the tough times and the good times. Everything is just great,” Ross said. “I’m learning a lot from a lot of the players and coaches and being in the system has taught me a lot about myself. I’ve definitely been feeling good about it, the whole process. Learning, because I love to learn and I think it’s just great, the opportunity to just be here and learn. I’m just having a great time.”