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Riotmaker
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: South Burlington, Vermont
Posts: 5,717
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Comeback Kid
Quote:
EAST RUTHERFORD - Michael Jennings has always been a good story.
WR Michael Jennings will look to contribute in 2008 after missing last year with an injury.
The fleet wide receiver – who ran track, but never played football at Florida State – was cut five times by three different teams before joining the Giants’ practice squad in 2004. Jennings is an attention-grabber with a mouth full of gold teeth and a love of old Chevrolets.
But his strongest desire is to be a productive, reliable football player. After an Achilles tendon injury derailed his pursuit of that objective for a year, Jennings is back on track, confident he will make an impact on the 2008 Giants.
“I am feeling great,” Jennings said after a workout this morning at Giants Stadium. “I am back running, so that just feels great. I have been rehabbing. I went down to Jacksonville in some good weather and rehabbing. It just feels good to be back up here at Giants Stadium working out with the team. I need to strengthen my ankle a little bit more, but so far everything I have done has been fast and it is very, very encouraging how I feel.
“My goal is to return punts and be the player in the slot, be that number three wide receiver. Really, my ultimate goal is just to make the team this year and run fast and catch the ball.”
Jennings was well on his way to doing that in 2007, when he performed well in training camp and started the first two preseason games in place of the injured Plaxico Burress.
But in the second game, at Baltimore on Aug. 19, Jennings suffered a ruptured left Achilles tendon while catching an 11-yard pass in a victory at Baltimore. The injury required surgery and forced Jennings to miss the entire 2007 season.
“I ran just a simple out route and I took four steps - one, two, three, and on number four it popped,” Jennings said. “I still caught the ball but it popped on my fourth step. I knew immediately something wasn’t right. At first I thought maybe a linebacker had kicked me or something. But I turned around and there wasn’t anybody on me and I knew then that something was wrong.
“They told me right away I was out for the season. So I went from starting on national TV to being out for the whole year. That is how sometimes life happens like that and it takes a stronger person to go through something and it is all about who can keep going and keep moving along and not looking back on the past and keep smiling. That is Mike Jennings. I was in the best shape of my life, I felt great. It’s just that sometimes in life things happen. That is what kind of happened with me.”
Jennings is used to overcoming obstacles. After his no-football college years, he entered the NFL as a free agent with San Francisco in 2002. The 49ers waived him, as did the New England Patriots and Ravens until he hooked on with the Giants. Jennings spent the entire 2000 season on the Giants’ practice squad.
In 2006, his fourth-quarter, 57-yard punt return for a touchdown in preseason game at Baltimore helped Jennings earn him a roster spot. He played in seven games that season, catching five passes for 49 yards and running for 21 yards on an end-around. Jennings anticipated playing a bigger role last year before his Achilles tendon snapped and he was reduced to being a cheerleader.
He was perfect for that role, because he remained optimistic and enthusiastic despite being dealt an unfortunate hand.
“I really buy into Coach (Tom) Coughlin and what he talks about,” Jennings said. “He always is telling us about having mental toughness and not just on the football field, but just in life. I think I need to have mental toughness in life.
“At times it would get tough because I knew I was physically working so hard that I knew I could have been able to help my team out there on the field, but I was physically unable to help. It was tough sitting back and watching all those games. I had a lot of extra free time.”
He filled much of it by staying busy with his second love – cars. Jennings and Gary Mills – best friends in their hometown of Jacksonville – own Phat Boi Slim Customs, a company that customizes what Jennings calls “old school cars.” Giants players such as Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora, Sam Madison, Plaxico Burress, David Tyree, Guy Whimper and former Giant Kawika Mitchell had or currently have cars worked on by Phat Boi Slim. The cars are shipped to Florida via Auto train.
“I just love cars - especially Chevrolets,” Jennings said. “I just really appreciate that I have teammates who were always interested in my cars. The company is kind of like my career in football. I didn’t play ball in college but I am just a hard worker and I am a hustler. Right now it is really just Phat Boi (Mills) and his uncle and me. We are putting quality work out.”
Jennings today drove to work in his Impala. “It is black, it is clean, it rides smooth, it is real nice, I love it,” he said. In New Jersey, he also has a 1995 Caprice “on 26-inch rims” and a 1995 Silverado “with the Z 71 package with a nine inch lift with 28 inch rims.”
As the spring advances, Jennings will turn his most of his attention away from cars and toward football. The Giants have a crowded wide receiver corps – Burress, Amani Toomer, Steve Smith, Sinorice Moss and Tyree – and they could add another player or two in this month’s NFL Draft. But Jennings is confident he will be on the final roster and contribute to the defending Super Bowl champions.
“I know I was injured last year, but I believe that I can be better this year and do even better than I did last year before I got injured. I am really excited to show and prove to my team and prove to the world that I am ready.”
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http://www.giants.com/news/eisen/sto...story_id=27036
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Comeback Kid
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