OXNARD, Calif. -- Even though CeeDee Lamb did not play in last week's Hall of Fame Game, the smile never left his face during his stay in Canton, Ohio.

The Dallas Cowboys wide receiver looked one way and saw former Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson. He looked in another direction and saw the Cowboys' original No. 88, Drew Pearson. Watching the Pro Football Hall of Famers enshrined last weekend, Lamb let his mind wander.

"Just being there all day, just thinking and kind of fantasizing if you will, 'What if?'" Lamb said. "All it takes is work and I approach every day like it's my last because you never know when it is. But till I get one of them [gold jackets], I'm working."

Getting to the HOF and donning the familiar gold jacket takes more than work. It takes incredible talent, which Lamb possesses.

The Cowboys have not had a more electrifying player during training camp.

"I expect it out of CeeDee," Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott said. "He has that X factor. He can go out there and ball. I am not really too surprised when he goes out there and does the thing he does. He is supposed to do that."

Lamb makes an impressive play almost every day in camp. Last week in a practice against the Los Angeles Rams, he kept turning around defensive backs, making at least one touchdown catch in red-zone drills. A few days before the Hall of Fame Game, he made a leaping grab of a Garrett Gilbert fade over cornerback Trevon Diggs for a touchdown that had sidelined quarterback Dak Prescott bowing to him.

"CeeDee continues to make play after play, catch after catch that [is] jaw-dropping," Prescott said. "Looks like another 88, I guess, that wore that number. It's impressive."

It's not clear whether Prescott was referencing Dez Bryant, Michael Irvin or Pearson. Or, heck, maybe it was all three former Cowboys greats who have worn No. 88.

After catching 74 passes for 935 yards and five touchdowns in 2020, the expectations are even greater for Lamb in 2021. He produced those numbers despite missing the truncated offseason program, training camp and preseason games because of COVID-19.

If a player's biggest jump comes between his first and second season, then Lamb will see a big boost thanks to organized team activities, a minicamp, training camp practices and preseason action, all heading into the Sept. 9 regular-season opener at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC).

Making that Year 2 jump

The competition between @_CeeDeeThree & @TrevonDiggs though 👀#CowboysCamp | #Compete pic.twitter.com/8RVxndLNRc

— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) August 1, 2021

After lining up mostly in the slot as a rookie, Lamb's role will be expanded this season. With Amari Cooper recovering from offseason ankle surgery, the Cowboys are lining up Lamb in all three spots. When Cooper returns to practice, they plan to mix and match Lamb, Cooper and Michael Gallup to create matchup issues.

"It's not like he's playing a completely different position. He's a pure athlete and he's a hell of a receiver," Prescott said. "But just to be able to see him move around and be outside a lot more than inside right now, it's special and it's going to allow us to move him around and move other guys around. And when we break the huddle, you're not going to necessarily know where any of the guys are lining up."

By working inside and outside, Lamb will gain a better idea of defensive coverages.

"Now, just looking at the big picture, it makes me play a lot faster and understand concepts a lot easier," Lamb said. "I'd say Year 2 is definitely going to be a lot better as far as the mental part of the game, just getting faster than Year 1."

For Lamb, the mark of improvement will not come from any of his highlight-reel catches, like his touchdown grab against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 4 last season in which he contorted his body to make the reception while almost horizontal to the ground. Truth be told, Lamb said he ran the incorrect route based on what he thought the Vikings' defense was showing and former Cowboys quarterback Andy Dalton put the ball in the correct spot.

"But me knowing where the ball is supposed to be and kind of where I was, it kind of worked itself out if you will," Lamb said. "Just the adjustment and everything was just all reaction."

Lamb's focus is more on the mundane. Wide receivers coach Adam Henry is in his ear about the proper footwork and the angle of his feet when breaking in and out of a route to create more separation and eliminate wasted motion.

"If you're to track fundamentals and try to improve the fundamentals of any position, all the way through the football team, the result doesn't change the teaching of where their feet are supposed to be, the depth of the route and all of those things," Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said. "You can make a great catch, turn around and spin out of it and run 60 yards for a touchdown, it's still a minus route. That's the only way you get it right. That's part of our grading stuff."

Lamb enjoys the eye-catching receptions, "Don't get me wrong," he said. But, he is also learning to enjoy the intricacies of route running.

"All the circus catches and everything, that's not playing. Fundamentals [are] everything to me," Lamb said. "I feel like all that other stuff, it'll come [if] the opportunity presents itself, and when it does, it does. I go to practice thinking I'm going to do my job and I'm going to get it done."