"Todd Heap heard the whispers, read the headlines and knew things would be different if he were healthy.

They started in 2007, when injuries limited the Ravens tight end to six games and 23 catches. They continued in 2008, when the injuries lingered and the discontent among the team's fans festered. Though Heap didn't miss a game, he struggled to find a consistent role in coordinator Cam Cameron's new offense.

Heap never thought about trying to get a fresh start somewhere else.

"I think my personality has always been, if there's a challenge posed, you meet it head on," Heap said during the team's passing camp last month in Owings Mills. "You try to dispel whatever people say. Those types of things motivate me."

He's coming off a 2009 season in which he showed his durability by playing more than 1,000 snaps as well as his reliability as a receiver with 53 catches for 593 yards and six touchdowns. But the Ravens announced Thursday that Heap has been placed on the non-football illness list, meaning he won't participate in today's first full-squad practice of training camp. But he has embraced his new role of mentor.

Before Thursday's announcement, Heap had proclaimed himself ready to go.

"It's been a great offseason for me, as far as my starting point from last season and how I was able to begin my workouts and build from that," said Heap, who turned 30 in March. "Right now I'm a couple of months ahead of where I was last year at this time. My confidence level is really high right now, but for the most part I've never said it was low, I'd never think of it that way. Feeling good, that's the biggest part. Going into camp is going to be a lot of fun knowing that's where I need my body to be."

That self-confidence has helped Heap embrace the arrival of two rookie tight ends, Dennis Pitta and Ed Dickson. Heap, entering his 10th NFL season, has helped less-experienced tight ends before, players such as Daniel Wilcox and Quinn Sypniewski, but they were more peers than proteges.

"Having these two young guys, rookies coming in and learning our offense and how we work around here, it's been fun for me," Heap said. "I remember I had a guy my first year who did the same for me. I definitely want to be the same kind of mentor that Shannon [Sharpe] was for me.""