File under the category of man bites dog. Or alligator — because this wasn’t your every-day complaint. After rookie third-round pick Demario Davis pulled a hamstring in conditioning tests just before Jets training camp, coach Rex Ryan noted the young linebacker was running too hard.
Running too hard? Want to send film of that guy to every major league baseball player who has ever hit a pop-up? You don’t hear coaches say a guy was running too hard.
“I get that all the time,” said Davis, a 6-2, 239-pounder out of Arkansas State whose attitude and leadership skills Ryan has already compared to those of the Ravens’ Ray Lewis.
“I don’t feed into all that. I just try to be the best I can be,” said Davis as he exchanged high-fives with fans after the Jets Family Night practice last night.
“Even though he’s one of my idols, a guy I look up to, I appreciate that but he was saying that about my character and I think it speaks well of me. I want to be an example on and off the field.
“Right now, I just want to contribute any way I can to help our team get to our goal which is the Super Bowl.”
Davis has impressed not just with his attitude, with his conditioning test all-out approach, but with his play in the sub package starting defense, both inside and outside and on and off the line. He has also done well on special teams in the Jets’ first two preseason games after missing the first week of training camp with his hamstring issue.
“Doing really well,” Ryan said. “The thing that jumps out is how he’s playing special teams as well.
“Really works at his craft. This guy is going to be a good one, there is no doubt. Very coachable.”
Which leads back to the attitude and all-out stuff. Ryan told how in a special teams drill, Davis did not exactly take the gold medal.
“But he wants to be great,” Ryan said.
So Davis huddled up with the staff after hours in an effort to improve his craft.
“And then the next day, he came out and looked terrific,” Ryan said. “So he applies what you teach him in the classroom and takes it to the field to try to get better. And this guy, I think, is going to be a tremendous player for us.”
Davis is settling for steady improvement. He said some wise men told him to improve “not by pounds but by inches” which might fall into the apples versus oranges category, but Davis gets the point.
“I’m getting better every day,” he said. “Just a little bit, get better every day. Every day you’re going to get better or get worse and I feel like I’m getting better every day.
“I’m just being ready to contribute whenever and wherever the coaches need me.”