Unflappable Griffin quickly takes to NFL
It’s easy to get a laugh or smile out of Robert Griffin III. Making him blush takes work. And it takes digging, all the way back to 2008, when a Baylor freshman showed up for a team photo having unraveled his braids and washed his hair. His reaction when handed a color copy of that close-up? “Oh, man. That’s bad. That is a really bad picture.” Hear what else the rookie phenom told USA TODAY Sports’ Robert Klemko about that and other topics.
What Don’t would ever take you a tell shower that guy? and take your hair out before team photos. Good job pulling this one out of the archives. What did that Robert have to learn, off the field?
When you’re growing up and you want to be a professional athlete, you don’t realize how much of a business it is. ... You think you can make it and then everything else is just easy. But being a professional for a few months now, it’s shown me that it is more of a business. Is it hard to avoid becoming jaded?
It can be tough. The first experience I had was through training camp. You’ve got 90 guys there with you and by the end of training camp it’s cut down to 53. So that’s a lot of guys without a job. You see guys’ dreams get taken away. You’ve got to be the only rookie to walk into a locker room and set up his action figures. Did you worry about the reaction?
It wasn’t the first thing I did. I didn’t come in, meet the guys, and then throw the action figures up. I went through (organized team activities) and rookie minicamp, and before training camp I just felt like it was time for me to make my locker my own. ... The guys get a laugh out of it, but whenever they look at what’s beneath the action figures, I feel like it has an impact on them. You downplayed your recent concussion, saying you only had temporary memory loss. Regret that?
That’s self-taught. You never want to admit you had a concussion. I know a lot of people say that there’s no such thing as a mild concussion, because the brain is a very special thing. When it comes to the kids who hear those kinds of things, yeah, you don’t want them to think, “Hey, I only have temporary memory loss, I’m fine.” But for me, to make sure that I was OK, it wasn’t a concussion. Is there a mystique around being the quarterback of the Redskins?
I’ve only been the quarterback for a few games, a few months, but it’s definitely something different. It’s something special. We’re in a huge market. Our fans are diehard fans, so it’s special to be a quarterback here.
What do you do when you’re not playing, practicing or studying?
I love music. So I listen to a lot of music just to chill out. Watch TV. But I don’t do too much outside of football during football season, because this is my job and I take it seriously. We know you can throw and run, even throw left-handed. Can you kick?
I’ve never tried to kick, but I can drop-kick. I learned from Doug Flutie. When I was growing up, he played for the (New England) Patriots near the end of his career and he dropkicked an extra point. I saw that and kind of gravitated towards it. So when I was in high school, during every special-teams period, I just drop-kicked for 20 minutes, and I got pretty good at it. Last week you played against New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning. This week it’s Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. You watched these guys in high school. Think about that?
I try not to. It’s cool at the end of the year to look back and say, “Man I got to play against this guy, I got to play against that guy.” But it’s not a starstruck mentality that I take to the game. They’re trying to beat us. What has been your life’s greatest accomplishment?
Making it in the NFL is a huge accomplishment, but I haven’t done that yet. ... Thankfully, I don’t have any kids out of wedlock. And my parents did a great job raising me and my two sisters. We all graduated from high school and we all graduated from college. So, to be a good representative of my family is probably my greatest accomplishment thus far. What’s the toughest challenge you’ve faced?
Probably tearing my (anterior cruciate ligament) in 2009. I was a freshman All-American, and I tore my ACL in the third game. But God has a plan for everything. ... (I) came back stronger from it. I’m faster than I was before I got hurt, stronger than I was before I got hurt and I’m a better player today.
Are you the future of the quarterback position or an anomaly?
I think that would be kind of conceited and cocky to say I’m just that rare. Defensive linemen are getting more and more athletic. Quarterbacks are getting more and more athletic. So you never know, it might end up being a lot of guys like myself that end up playing in the National Football League as quarterbacks or the trend could reset and start with the stationary quarterbacks that stick in the pocket. Do you feel any connection to the lineage of black NFL quarterbacks who came before you?
I’ve talked to Doug Williams, I’ve talked to Warren Moon, I’ve talked to Randall Cunningham. But I try not to classify myself that way. I’m a quarterback, I’m not just a black quarterback.
You’ve been vocal about people voting. Why that issue?
I grew up with the military. Both my parents served. And our soldiers are out there fighting for our right to vote. A lot of the time they’re out there fighting in other countries for that country’s right to vote as well, so it means a lot to me. Did you watch “Monday Night Football” or the final debate?
I actually watched Monday Night
Football, along with some other shows. I didn’t watch the debate. It’s football season. I’ve got a lot of things to focus on rather than the election.