WSJ: For Indianapolis, This Rhodes Leads to Success

[dcpony]

The piece notes Dominic Rhodes' training sessions with former SMU DB Rod Jones.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... lenews_wsj

Notable excerpts
Last January, after Mr. Rhodes realized he didn't want to stop playing football, he contacted Rod Jones, an NFL defensive back for 11 years who now works as a personal trainer in the Dallas area, to begin a program to get himself back into playing shape. Mr. Jones trains several NFL players, including Arizona cornerback Michael Adams and Baltimore offensive lineman Chad Slaughter, and perhaps the most interesting aspect of his background is that he played college football in the mid-1980s at Southern Methodist University.

He had been investigated as part of the infamous booster scandal that led the NCAA to suspend the school's football program in 1987. (He said no SMU booster or alumnus ever offered him money because he wasn't one of "those top, top blue chips.") He does draw on his college experience as a teaching and motivational tool in working with athletes these days, but he doesn't use it as a cautionary tale.

Rather, he said in a phone interview, he points out the unintended benefit of SMU's dirty recruiting practices: A player had to push himself to stand out among so many talented players, especially the ones who had been bought and paid for. During practices, for instance, 300-pound defensive lineman Jerry Ball, who spent 13 years in the NFL, would line up across from a wide receiver and say, I'm about to jam him one-on-one. I'm a cornerback in a lineman's body.

"When you stepped on the field, there was a certain expectancy," Mr. Jones said. "If you get up there with this high-recruit status and you look soft, you'd really get ridiculed. You'd get teased. They expected some top-notch things. You had to perform because everybody back there would knock your head off."

[Junior]

great find

[Junior]

i guess i missed the fact that the colts had picked him up. makes sense to bring in someone who knows the system already when your top three backs are all injured.

glad to know to made it back to the league with the help of a mustang!

[Junior]

rhodes has had some great runs tonight. just converted a 3 & 7.