The Post’s Steve Serby chatted with the Giants’ starting halfback who has amassed 273 yards at 5.1 yards per carry since taking over for the injured Brandon Jacobs:
Q: What was it like growing up in South Central L.A.?
A: It was rough, man, it was rough. Lots of life experiences. I was in the L.A. riots. Seeing different things go on in society that I wouldn’t wish anybody to go through. I wasn’t able to go outside and play like other people in different neighborhoods. It was just different.
Q: How old were you?
A: Like 11 or 12.
Q: Tell me what you remember seeing.
A: Fires … people getting beat … just everything … it was pretty horrendous.
Q: You were on the street?
A: No. My dad took us an hour outside the city to a family member’s house and let it calm down for a week or two. Then we went back.
Q: Did you know anybody that was hurt or killed?
A: No. But I knew some people who looted and got in trouble … neighbors and friends.
Q: Did you have or see any near-death experiences?
A: I’ve seen a lot in my time … I’ve seen a lot. I don’t like to really talk about it, but I’ve seen a lot.
Q: Did you see anybody get killed?
A: I can’t say.
Q: You didn’t play football at Fresno State in 2001 and 2002.
A: I was so burned out and tired of football so I sat out that year (2002) and worked. Toward the end of that year, I wanted to get back into it. I was missing the game that I’d been playing since I was 7.
Q: That led you to Ottawa, Kansas?
A: Small school, it’s smaller than small schools (chuckles). It had about 700 students. They’re an NAIA school so we didn’t have scholarships. We had financial aid. It was good to go there just to experience the humbleness.
Q: Was that culture shock for you?
A: Very, very much.
Q: What was the town like?
A: Rural … white pretty much. It was something that you would see in a movie. I called it a New Age Mayberry. It was different from what I was used to as far as the beach and the mountains and all that. Go to Kansas, everything’s flat.
Q: How many blacks there?
A: Like 20. The football team and the basketball team, pretty much.
Q: The best game you had there?
A: Playoff game. I had close to 350 (yards) rushing and four touchdowns.
Q: You jumped over the line of scrimmage against Hillsboro to score a 3-yard touchdown?
A: There was no opening, and I couldn’t get to the outside ’cause the D-ends were crashing, so I just went over the top and kept going and going and going and going.
Q: They called you Superman after that?
A: Yeah (chuckles).
Q: Why was Bo Jackson your guy growing up?
A: He exemplified what a running back is … speed, power, vision … he was exciting to watch. That’s why I try to replicate my game after him.
Q: Did you go to Raiders games?
A: All the time. L.A. Coliseum.
Q: How’d you get tickets?
A: Back then, they weren’t that expensive. We’d sit all the way up at the top, so that was like 20, 25 bucks. My Pops would take me, or my grandfather, or uncles.
Q: Why did your grandparents mean so much to you?
A: My (late) grandmother (Geraldine) had eight kids, and she raised them all by herself. She was a role model.
Q: Herm Edwards was your first NFL coach.
A: When I got drafted (7th round, 2004), he called me. “Get ready to play some football!” he said. “I know you came from a small school.” He said he came from a small school so he’s gonna give me a chance to show what I can do. He gave me that chance and now I’m pretty much showing him and everybody else in the NFL what I could do.
Q: What did you learn from watching Curtis Martin?
A: Professional … paid great attention in meetings … he knew the game.
Q: Biggest lesson you learned watching Tiki Barber?
A: Just being a professional … being accountable to myself and my teammates. He’s like a big brother to me. No matter what’s going on in the media, what’s going on with him, he’s still my guy.
Q: Do you still speak to him?
A: Almost every other day. He texts me all the time, like, “What are you doing?” I’m like, “Man, I’m about to go to meetings.” He’s like, “Oh, I’m still in bed, I’ll talk to you later.”
Q: One of your pregame superstitions is sleep?
A: I love to just take my mind off the game, close my eyes, put a towel over my head and go to sleep for like 20, 30 minutes.
Q: And when you wake up?
A: I still get butterflies, man. Every game is like my first game.
Q: FBI agent one day?
A: I went to school for criminology.
Q: You like cooking?
A: Love it.
Q: Your specialty?
A: Anything and everything.
Q: You like pets?
A: Dogs, birds … I don’t do the snakes.
Q: Were you upset about Michael Vick?
A: He should have used better judgment, but he’s suffering the consequences now.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln.
Q: Why Gandhi?
A: I like to pick people’s minds.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “Coming to America.”
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington or Brad Pitt.
Q: Favorite actress?
A: Julia Roberts.
Q: Favorite singer?
A: Maxwell.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: Lasagna.