New Giants linebacker Jameel McClain took a timeout during training camp for some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.
Q: What is your on-field mentality?
A: Serious but fun … physical but focused.
Q: Do you play mean, angry?
A: I play with pain. I don’t know if I can describe it as angry or I can describe it as mean, but I just play with pain. I’ve experienced so much pain, so much … so much hurt, so many setbacks, in so many areas of life, in childhood, in this game of football. So I play with so much pain that it could come across however people want to see it. I’m respectful but … I know what the bottom is, you know what I mean? I know what it’s like to sit, and be told that you can’t have something, you know what I mean? I know what it’s like for someone to tell you they know you when they don’t know anything about you. So I play with all of that pain, all of the time. I run because I know, running is what I can do, you know what I mean? I can go bombs-over-Baghdad every chance I can. Why not go hard? We all gotta go at some point.
Q: You’re driven by your childhood past, right?
A: I’m driven by my childhood, I’m driven by my current standards, I’m driven by my supporters and I’m driven by my naysayers. I’m just driven. I can draw inspiration off of this carpet. If I walked in and tripped, I’m like, “Get this carpet. This carpet ain’t gonna trip me again (laugh).”
Q: The Salvation Army shelter when you were 8, what was the low point?
A: I think the lowest point of that childhood was when I [understood] that I just didn’t have my own. I didn’t have my own bed, you know what I mean? I couldn’t get new clothes. Even if my mom could afford it, we weren’t allowed to buy new clothes. So what I had was what I had, and what I had wasn’t a lot, given my situation. The lowest point is when I just understood that I just had less, like a lot less than everyone else, and I had to make do with it.
Q: How long were you in the shelter?
A: I’m just gonna say a year, to round it up. I’m always bad with the time, but it felt like a long time, but I don’t know exactly how long it was.
Q: What gave you hope?
A: I wanted something more. I wanted more than what I had. I wanted more than what was being given to me. And I knew I could get it. People told me I couldn’t go to college just ’cause either they just thought I wasn’t good enough of a student, or it just wasn’t gonna be my situation, ’cause [there were] times where I missed school because of my living situation. So college [Syracuse] at that point, it was pretty far from a thought process. For most kids when they’re young, it’s probably far.
Q: You found football at what age?
A: I found football when I was a freshman in high school. Started taking it serious my sophomore year.
Q: Until that point, how did you get through it?
A: I enjoyed doing a lot of things. Like I was into acting, I had a Performing Arts scholarship. I played probably about four instruments. I boxed, I played basketball, I just did everything, I touched everything. And then, after that point, that was when boxing became big in my life. Boxing is still one of my biggest passions.
Q: You still box?
A: I still do box. I go to the UFC gym up here … just to stay sharp.
Q: Was it kind of a release for you?
A: It would seem to be a release, but it was just something that was so competitive, and growing up in North Philly, boxing was the thing.
Q: Prior to taking up boxing, did you get into street fights?
A: I didn’t go out looking for fights, but I didn’t back down. In my neighborhood, it’s just something that you run into sometimes.
Q: How rough was North Philly?
A: North Philly was a pretty rough neighborhood. It still is a pretty rough neighborhood.
Q: How did you survive?
A: The way everybody else survives, they adapt. They adapt to the environment. They find ways, they find things that they should do, and things that they shouldn’t do. I’ve seen people do things that either put ’em under the ground or put ’em in jail for a long time. I learned from the good and I learned from the bad. And unfortunately early on, I seen a lot of bad. And then, later on, I seen a lot of good. I’ve learned to be able to take from the bad and know that I don’t need to do those things to get ahead.
Q: You moved in with your brother, Andrew Jackson, and your uncle, Greg, in high school.
A: My uncle gave me the biggest hope that any man could ever have. My mother’s situation was tricky. She’s an amazing woman. She did what she could do.
Q: How did your uncle give you hope?
A: My brothers and them were about 16, so I had to be about 13, 12. So, he got them jobs at the Social Security office, and this job was paying these dudes like $600 a week, or every two weeks, which was a lot of money to me, and a lot of money to them. I wanted that job so bad, because I wanted that money because I wanted to be able to get myself some stuff. So he was like, “Yo, you cannot get this job if you get in trouble. No government job’s gonna have you if you get into trouble.” (Snaps fingers). I was just out of everything, I was away from everything. I was as squeaky clean as I possibly can be, and I tell him always until this day, it was the thing that most motivated me.
Q: Did you get the job?
A: No, I ended up playing football. I wanted the job at 16, but football was such a big focus in my life, I didn’t have no time to do it in the summertime, it was a summertime job.
Q: Describe Holding the Lombardi Trophy following Ravens’ win over 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII.
A: Amazing. Amazing. It was the best feeling ever. People that know me know I don’t show like a lot of emotions, like really excited. As the camera was going by and they were bringing it through, I had this big smile on my face. Just to be next to it was a lot, but to touch it and to hold it … it’s a high that I’ll always chase.
Q: Describe the “Wooooo” thing you started when you break the huddle in practice.
A: The Ric Flair. It was something that I’ve done before, you know. Why did I bring it here? It’s a part of me , and it adds some excitement, man, it adds some flair. It’s different than the basic, “Ready, break,” you know what I mean? And it’s a mixture of things that I’ll do throughout the year.
Q: What else would you do?
A: Man, I can’t give you the secret. I can’t give it to you before I give it to my teammates! (smile).
Q: What’s the difference between Ravens coach John Harbaugh and Giants coach Tom Coughlin?
A: They’re both amazing coaches. Coach Coughlin — like the pedigree of everything that he does, the standard that he holds everybody up to — it’s unique, and it’s amazing to have that experience from — I don’t want to say quote-unquote a legend, because he’s still in the game, and he’s still doing phenomenal things — but Coach Coughlin is Coach Coughlin, and I knew about Coach Coughlin before I even got a chance to meet Coach Harbaugh, so my perspective for the two is different. But coming up with Coach Harbaugh, I saw different progressions of Coach Harbaugh. I saw a new coach, and then I saw a coach that matured and was just comfortable with his team, and knew how to deal with his team, knew what they liked. They’re two great coaches, two very stern coaches, two old-school coaches.
Q: Do you have a favorite quote from Coach Coughlin yet?
A: “Don’t tell me, show me.” That’s what he told me when I sat in the office when they recruited me to get here. “Don’t tell me, show me.” I was like, “Coach, that’s what I live my life by. It’s perfect for me.”
Q: That sold you on the Giants?
A: That sold me. “Don’t tell me, show me.”
Q: That’s all it took?
A: I’m a cheap date (laugh).
Q: That aside, why did you pick the New York Giants?
A: Obviously, a prestigious organization. I mean like the things that are done here, first class through and through. The fan base is phenomenal, so that’s amazing. It’s close to home. The defensive scheme is something that I’m extremely comfortable with, and I was extremely comfortable with the coaches and how they understood me as a player. Sometimes when you meet people, it’s hard for them not to put you in a box. But when I met with these coaches, I just felt like they understood that I really wasn’t a box person. It was something that [Jets coach and former Ravens defensive coordinator] Rex Ryan understood. I just wasn’t a box person. I do good in one spot … but you could get so much more out of me doing so many other things.
Q: What’s your best Rex Ryan story?
A: Rex is such a passionate guy. But one time in training camp, we were trying to get something done, and Rex got super-emotional over it. And I just remember just wanting to run through a brick wall right after I seen Rex cry and get emotional. I seen him get emotional over this one thing — I don’t want to say exactly what the thing was — but he got real emotional over it. He was defending someone, that’s what made it so honorable to me.
Q: A teammate?
A: A teammate, or a coach, one or the other, I’ll leave that for your imagination. I just remember at that point being like, “I’ll run through a brick wall for this guy!” I love that. I love someone that represents something more than theirself.
Q: Describe Ray Lewis.
A: Wise, passionate and giving.
Q: Favorite anecdote?
A: All of Ray’s speeches were amazing. But not just his speeches, but just the way he handled himself. Like Ray Lewis carried a gallon of water in every day, which nobody even really paid attention to. A gallon of water, but it was like purified water, or something like that, like the pH water where you need a specific machine, and I learned about it later. Like the small details that Ray focused on that a lot of people didn’t. Or when we would walk into the Wednesday morning meeting to go over reviews on teams, and everybody would be just catching up. Ray would come in with four or five pages of notes. I would study film when I was in college, but I never took the defensive player out of the equation. Ray told me to take the defensive player out, and just watch the offense. ’Cause sometimes when you watch it, you could just be like, “Man, that’s a bad move he did,” or “He shouldn’t have stepped that way.” It’s not about him, it’s about what they’re doing.
Q: Do you talk smack?
A: I won’t even say I talk smack. I just talk a lot.
Q: What will the personality of this defense be?
A: It’s gonna be fast, physical and in your face.
Q: Hobbies?
A: My main hobby now is gonna be theater, ’cause I love theater, so now that I’m here, I get to go see Broadway whenever I want (smile).
Q: Have you seen any plays yet?
A: Absolutely! I’ve seen “Motown,” I’ve seen “Lion King,” I’ve seen “Spider-Man,” I’m trying to see “Aladdin.” And then I love music, so now I get to see all of the live music in the New Jersey-New York area. My time off will be music and theater. My girlfriend is already prepared (smile).
Q: You were aware of the linebacker tradition here, right?
A: Absolutely.
Q: Tell me what you know about it.
A: I know it’s a healthy flock of Hall of Fame linebackers from here. I know the Giants defense as a physical defense. I know Giants defense as in your face. I remember when the Giants were racking up so many sacks, like no one could count. I know the LTs, obviously, the Armsteads and the Harry Carsons and everybody that the Giants have had come through here, so I do know the strong tradition, and I do know the standard. And coming from Baltimore, I know what it is to uphold a standard, or to live by a standard. The only option is this, or nothing else, and that’s what the Giants represent, and that was another reason for coming here.
Q: What do you think of running backs Rashad Jennings and Andre Williams?
A: Good backs. Rashad has great vision, and he can run you over, and obviously everyone’s seen, he had the burst to take it all of the way. Andre, he’s elusive, but he’s powerful. He already has good vision for a rookie, so only imagine with more time. I’ve seen Andre make spin moves like inches away from someone, just perfect vision, like the lineman shot through and he made a perfect spin to send him out through the back of the A gap.
Q: Jason Pierre-Paul?
A: He reminds me of Terrell Suggs. They’re both two dominant players that are so loose, but when they come to the field (snaps fingers), they’re so locked in, like they’re so serious. It’s like they have a switch.
Q: David Wilson’s retirement touched you. You almost lost football after a spinal cord contusion in December 2012.
A: It was something that I understood all too familiar. Like I understood exactly what Dave was coming into. I understood how Dave handled it, because he prepared himself for the possibility. It’s something you gotta confront when it’s right in front of you like that.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: I would invite my close friends from childhood: Andre Odom, Larry Turner and Brandon Peaker.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “Gladiator,” “Big Fish,” “Dark Knight Rises.”
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Russell Crowe.
Q: Favorite actress?
A: Anne Hathaway.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: I make great salmon.
Q: How did you get involved in cooking?
A: I learned how to cook growing up.