Football 24/7
Written by Gartrell Johnson, Thursday July 02 2009
It's finally starting to sink in that I'm an NFL player now that I've gotten to be around all the guys.
By far the biggest shock so far has been how fast everything goes. You hear about it leading up to the draft that the NFL is so much faster, but you can't really understand it until you see it every day. The speed of the guys is insane. If you make one false move during a play you are going to get beat.
The one guy whose speed is just ridiculous is Darren Sproles. I have never seen a guy with his speed and energy. He goes 100 mph all the time. Being able to match his energy level on every play is what I strive for. He's extremely passionate about the game too.
Right now I'm just trying to learn where to be and what to do on every single play. We have a pretty healthy playbook but not everything has been installed yet. When I saw our playbook I was excited to get out there and just get after it. I love football, I live it 24/7 so I was ready to go on day one.
The best way to make sure that I hit all my marks is by repetition. That's one of the reasons I'm looking forward to my first training camp. I want my coaches and teammates to see that they drafted a hard working guy who brings it every play of every practice. I will do whatever I can to help us win games. I have no problem doing the little things that win ball games.
Last year at Colorado State I had a chance to showcase my receiving skills out of the backfield too. I've always had pretty good hands and I think I will be able to help the team out with my catching abilities as well as my running and blocking.
Camp starts July 26th and I can't wait to put on the pads and go do it. It's going to be interesting to be in the locker room with all the guys. Should be a lot of fun. Me and the other rookies have bonded and they're all cool guys. Hopefully the veterans take it easy on us with the hazing stuff. Hopefully nobody gets taped to the goal post or any of that.
It's going to be all football all the time come the end of July. No distractions, no nothing. I can't wait to get my chance to really go at it.
Gartrell Johnson is a rookie running back with the San Diego Chargers. His blog for www.playerpress.com runs at www.gartrelljohnson33.com. Follow him on Twitter as gartrelljohnson.
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