Jets' Keller catching up on workouts

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Dustin Keller has grown accustomed to beating linebackers and bullying defensive backs.

That's nothing.

But working out on his own?

"It's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life," the Jets tight end said Saturday after an appearance at a Dick's Sporting Goods opening in Westchester. "My hat's off to everybody who's ever worked out on their own. It's impossible."

Especially when the fourth-year pro attempts to peel himself out of bed at the crack of dawn, only to hit the mental snooze button.

"I try to wake up in the morning at 6 a.m. to go work out," Keller said, "and I'm like, 'Ah, I'll go at 8 . . . Ah, I'll go at noon . . . Nah, I'll do it tomorrow.' "

But working out on his own now is a necessary evil because of the NFL lockout. So to get back into a routine and prepare for the 2011 season -- if there is one -- Keller packed up his car Saturday and said he would drive down to Tampa, hitting the interstate for the roughly 1,200- mile trek to Florida's Gulf Coast to hook up with Jason Riley, his personal trainer for the past four years.

Keller wasn't about to hop a plane and have his things shipped, opting to be more frugal. He knows it might've cost him a small fortune to have all the equipment he's taking packaged up and sent, given that he'll be "down there putting in some good work as long as we're jobless." With no end to the labor stalemate in sight, that could be for a while, making it extremely important for Keller to put his body through some rigorous training.

"In NFL workouts, they push you hard but not really to your limit," Keller said. "When you're in college, that's when your strength coach is pushing you to your limit; you're giving it everything you've got. At the NFL level, they don't do that because they are afraid of the possibility of you getting injured.

"So the good thing about going down there is I'm going to be pushed to the limit and I'm going to be in the best shape possible -- even better than if we did have our offseason here."

Of course, there may be another reason Keller will give Riley all he's got.

"When you actually have to write that check," he said, "it makes you want to make every penny worth it."

Keller could be even more of a key to the Jets' offense, given that they likely won't be able to keep their receiving corps intact. Santonio Holmes, Braylon Edwards and Brad Smith are free agents, and Holmes is thought to be the priority among them.

For now, they all consider themselves Jets, and they might even attend a workout in New Jersey that Mark Sanchez is trying to schedule in addition to his "Jets West" camp in Southern California.

But it will be interesting to see how things shake out with the receivers and what it might mean for Keller, who believes he could be poised for a Pro Bowl-type season.

"I think so, I think so," he said. "It all depends on what direction we go offensively. Obviously, this past year we had so many weapons that Mark was just out there like, 'Pick your poison.' The first four or five games, he was going my way a lot. Next four or five, it was Braylon, then Santonio, and it was all over the place.

"That's a great problem to have, and we'll see. We'll see how this plays out. The ball could be going my way more, less, who knows?

"But whatever it is, I'll be ready."