McKnight Works on His Conditioning

by John B on Jun 13, 2010 11:13 AM EDT

After a disastrous rookie minicamp, Joe McKnight wants to get in shape for training camp.

"It was embarrassing," McKnight said. "You don’t want anybody making excuses… I just felt like it was an excuse… This is a job now. You can’t have excuses. So I felt embarrassed and I just took it to heart."

So, he worked on his conditioning, bent on showing everyone the real Joe McKnight when he returned.

"When I came back, (the veterans) were on me, making jokes," McKnight said. "That’s all for the (best). I took it and I’m just trying to make things better now and trying to change everybody’s perception of me."

"I’m just trying to show everybody I’m tough," he added. "We’re out here in New York. It’s a tough place to be in. So I got to show I’m tough too."

That camp will probably be the best thing that ever happened to him. It shows the kind of dedication to his craft he will need to show to be successful as a pro.

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Comments

I think this kid is going to contribute. Especially if he puts on a little weight without losing elusivity.

Running backs coach Anthony Lynn would like the 196-pound McKnight to eventually get to 210 pounds (and get stronger) without sacrificing his quickness or long-range speed.

If he can do that, he will make a seasless transition for LD when he leaves afterthis year. Hopefully he works on getting north and south and doen’t try to be like Reggie and bounce everything for a home-run.

by Crackback on Jun 13, 2010 11:47 AM EDT reply actions

Just curious about you calling Tomlinson LD. Is there a reason? I’ve never heard anyone call him that until a couple weeks ago people in this site started calling him that.

Jets green since 1997

by mousie on Jun 13, 2010 3:27 PM EDT up reply actions

For me, it goes back to when he first came out of college and everybody was calling him LT. Personally, I found it offensive. Lawrence Taylor is the only LT. I refuse to call any other football player LT. Same thing with basketball and MJ. I don’t know why anybody else does it.

by Crackback on Jun 13, 2010 4:34 PM EDT up reply actions

Same goes for me, except I call him LDT :)

by Exystence on Jun 13, 2010 7:18 PM EDT up reply actions

Gotta respect that. Even though I’m a lifelong Giants hater (except when they stole a perfect season from New England) there is only one “LT”.

by nationalist88 on Jun 13, 2010 8:06 PM EDT up reply actions

Honestly, I’ll be shocked if McKnight becomes half the back Leon was. I just think this guy was way overrated coming out of school and the team reached on him because they’re trying to replace Leon. But of course I hope you’re right..

by nationalist88 on Jun 13, 2010 8:14 PM EDT up reply actions

That was my initial feeling about him, but one of my USC-fan buddies told me that he’s a lot more of a one-cut-and-go back than Reggie Bush ever was. It seems to me like he’s a guy with a tremendous amount of talent that’s been served slices of humble pie ever since he got out of high school. If he doesn’t get it by now, then he’ll never get it… but if he does get it, I think he can be just dangerous as Leon was.

And if you think about it, even if McKnight ends up being a carbon-copy of Reggie Bush (though it seems like McKnight’s game is more suited for the pro game than Reggie’s), for a guy we got in the 4th round rather than 2nd pick overall, that’s a pretty friggin’ good deal. We’ll have our own Pierre Thomas/Reggie Bush combo in a year or two, except potentially a lot better.

by Exystence on Jun 14, 2010 8:51 AM EDT up reply actions