MIAMI — Last year's plan for the nose guard spot consisted of superannuated Keith Traylor trundling out his 340 pounds on 38-year-old knees for several downs and being significantly spelled by 2007 fourth-round pick Paul Soliai. After this apprenticeship, Soliai would assume the nose guard position himself.

Didn't work. Soliai subtracted conditioning by adding bulk, and the larger version shrank in lineup presence as the year passed. Meanwhile, the Miami Dolphins were pushed around in the middle on their way to being last in the league in rush defense and 30th in yards allowed per rush. This year's nose guard plan brings in 33-year-old Jason Ferguson from Dallas, perhaps getting another two or three years out of him — Ferguson has insisted he's not staying around as long as Traylor did — and Soliai either being a solid backup or maybe being gone.

He's working out a little better — so far.

With the typical first-week training camp caveat — it's early — there's some significance to what happened during Tuesday's team drills. Soliai plugged up several running plays while with the second team in the early team drills, earning him several snaps with the first team during later team drills as Ferguson got a rest.

"We want to see Soliai out here; we want to see him take a lot of plays," Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said. "We'll see what happens when we get into some of these games and see how he responds, too. We need to see that. I've been pleasantly impressed with Paul right now. He's another guy who lost a lot of weight, came in, and he's moving a lot better. He's using his hands a little bit, but he's got a long way to go, fundamentally, and we need to get him there."

Coaches and teammates have noticed Soliai's improved quickness now that he's back down to the 335 pounds or so he carried on his 6-4 frame at the University of Utah.

Linebacker Channing Crowder called Soliai the biggest surprise of the first training camp weekend, saying, "He's beating the heck out of people. He started out slow last year, but he came out for this camp."

Soliai said: "Last year, I was 348 and up. I thought if I was going to play in the middle, I should gain a lot of weight. Plus, it was my first year of playing nose and thought if I was heavier, I would be harder to move."

That rookie mistake was followed by another: "I really wasn't ready, I wasn't focusing on my techniques of playing nose."

Soliai made only three tackles all season and was inactive for the last three games. This, even as Traylor didn't start the penultimate game of the season and was inactive for the final game after dustups with a couple of teammates and soon-to-be-fired coach Cam Cameron.

The arrival of Sparano, general manager Jeff Ireland and Dolphins football czar Bill Parcells from Dallas brought two things: a new regime with no ego tied up in previous draft picks and several former Dallas players, including Ferguson.

"Whatever he's got to say, I'm putting it down in my notebook," Soliai said of Ferguson. "I'm still learning. I'm still a young cat."

Interestingly, Ferguson also slimmed down a bit in the offseason.

"He's down to a real solid body weight for us right now," Sparano said. "He's almost lost 20 pounds since he's been here, which has been the theme with a few of the big guys right now. So that's going to help him a little bit, make him a little bit fresher.

"But Jason is better when he's in rundown situations, those types of things, and he's playing fresh."

As was the case last year, they'll need somebody to keep that thirty-something nose guard fresh without letting line plunges turn into long rumbles.