This Guy is the latest/greatest series of blogs on JohnRichTV.com . This Guy is an excuse for me to highlight an athlete, coach, celebrity, or any person who I think deserves attention. Could be postive attention, could be negative attention, could be both.
The first edition of This Guy features one of my new favorite players in the NFL — Janoris “Jackrabbit” Jenkins of the New York Giants (previously of the St. Louis Rams).
If you’re a fan of college football, you probably remember Jackrabbit from his time at the University of Florida. He was a star corner in the SEC, but he was probably better known for his well documented off the field issues. In 2009, Jenkins was arrested for his role in a fight in a Gainsville bar. Being the beast that he is, the cops needed the help of a taser to bring him down. Essentially, Jackrabbit went Looney Toons and assaulted the head of a man who was trying to steal his gold chain (Wikipedia). Which is a pretty valid reason to beat the shit out of someone if you ask me. However, in 2011, Jenkins was hit with 2 seperate misdemeanor marijuana possession charges within 4 months of each other — he was dismissed from the University of Florida, and played his Senior season at North Alabama.
Now I’m a sucker for a controversial player. So I’ve always been partial to Janoris Jenkins. You gotta appreciate a good comeback story as well. Jenkins went on to get drafted in the 2nd round by the St. Louis Rams in 2012, and was a top corner for them up through last year. But in hindsight, the charges against Janoris Jenkins look like childs play nowadays. So he got into a fight and smoked some weed. The fight he got into was with a full grown man. More than Greg Hardy (wife beater), Aaron Hernandez (people murderer), John Manziel (meth addict), Ray Rice (wife beater), Adrian Peterson (child beater), or Richie Incognito (Johnathan Martin equates to a postmenopausal woman + Ferrari beater) can say. Marijuana is basically legal now anyways. If that happened today, Jackrabbit could simply tweet out “Sorry for Partying”, hop on a Barstool Sports podcast, and everyone would instantly forgive him. To be honest, we would probably all like him even more.
But the reason I bring him up today is because This Guy is out there tossing shade at Redskins cornerback Josh Norman for not matching up with Antonio Brown in week 1 against the Steelers.
“It’s unusual,” said Jenkins, who signed a five-year, $62.5 million free-agent deal this offseason to be Big Blue’s shutdown corner. “At the end of the day you’ve got to think about the game plan they had going in … But I think when you’re paying somebody 70 mil, there shouldn’t be no game plan. The game plan should be, ‘You’re on this guy,’ and that’s what it is.” – New York Daily News
Giants WR Victor Cruz joined in as well
“The selfish football player in me wants to watch the game, wants to see (Norman) travel and follow the best guy around the field,” Cruz told reporters after practice. “Especially if he calls himself — I don’t call him this, he calls himself — the best corner in the league, then you have to cover the best receivers on the other team. Going in, I thought he was going to follow AB all over the place, but he didn’t so it is what it is. He made his choice.” – New York Daily News
These quotes are especially awesome, considering Jenkins role in the Giants week 1 victory over the Cowboys. Jackrabbit played every single snap on defense last week. His primary responsibilty — covering Dez Bryant, who had ONE CATCH for 8 yards. Welcome to #ClampSeason2.0 Dez. Jackrabbit is such a stud.
SIDE NOTE: Why do I keep referring to him as Jackrabbit you ask? I’ll let Jackrabbit explain himself.
Hold up… did he say he used to chase rabbits? Yes he did. Best believe he caught ‘em too. Jenkins went to Pahokee high school, located just north of Miami in an area known as The Muck. There are 3 high schools in The Muck, and each one of them is a talent factory. Jenkins, Santonio Holmes, Anquan Boldin, Fred Taylor, and many more NFL players have come from The Muck. A lot of speed & agility comes out of this area in Florida, and that can partially be attributed to the long standing tradition of chasing rabbits through muddy fields. It really is an awesome story. If you got 8 minutes to spare you can check out the full video here. If not, this bad ass Adidas commercial, starring Janoris Jenkins himself, will give you the jist of it.
The Trix Rabbit would stand no chance vs. Jackrabbit in The Muck.
Gotta love This Guy. He’s the best kinda player to watch too. High risk, high reward type of corner. He’ll blitz from the corner at any given time, and he’ll make some sacks. They’re gonna throw his direction, and he’ll be burned bad for a few touchdowns this year, but he’s also gonna jump some routes so hard it’ll get QB’s pulled from the game. Bet money he’ll have more than one pick 6 this year.
CLAMP SEASON 2.0 IS HERE BABY!
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