Jets rookie running back Shonn Greene has been receiving quite the welcome to professional football training camp. He's taken several hard hits in the first three days of practices at SUNY Cortland, but he's staying strong.
"That's the game of football," Greene said after Sunday's morning practice. "It's a physical contact sport. You know, you have to be able to keep going when something happens. You got to get right back up and do it again."
On Saturday, Greene took a real hard hit from linebacker Bryan Thomas in what head coach Rex Ryan calls Run Over Drills, but he bounced back immediately. Said Ryan: "I think we saw Shonn Greene get welcomed to the NFL by Bryan Thomas."
The hits for Greene kept coming in Sunday's morning blitz pickup drills when linebacker Kenwin Cummings hit him hard and he came up limping. It turned out that he had rolled his ankle, but he was able to walk it off without a problem and continue to practice. Greene's attitude further shows just how mentally and physically tough players need be in order to play the game.
Greene is proving he is able to play with the big guys. Ryan certainly feels that Greene showed toughness by participating in practice after twisting his ankle.
"Some guys would have said, 'I've got to take this practice off' or whatever," Ryan said Sunday. "That's not this kid. He is a tough guy."
"It's a lot quicker out here in training camp," Greene said. "Obviously, when we start to get going into the season and stuff, we want to make sure everything is all right. It's moving a lot faster, the tempo. But I've got work to do and I'm picking up stuff, so it's going good so far."
