Jets' McKnight has breakout potential

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Joe McKnight kept surfing the Internet while down in his native Louisiana during the lockout, seeing those familiar harsh critiques and opinions about him: He wasn't a hard worker. He's overrated. He'll never live down those vomiting episodes. He'll be a bust.

"I am the type of person to get on the computer and read up on stuff people are writing," the Jets' second-year running back said. "People would write some bad stuff. I was like, 'The only way I can get this perception out of their mind is me just getting on the field and showing what I can do.' "

But he couldn't. "With the lockout going on, I was just getting real frustrated with myself, and still thinking about the past, and I'm trying to get it out of my mind," the 5-10, 205-pounder said. "So once we came back to football, everything was lovely. I was feeling good. I want to just get back out here and play, because my main focus is not to come back like I was last year."

McKnight was ridiculed from the outset of his initial pro season, with things spiraling in the wrong direction during rookie minicamp, when he vomited on the field on each of the first two days. He also failed his first conditioning test before the start of last year's training camp.

He also wasn't very good in the preseason, fumbling three times and showing a tentative approach to running between the tackles. Plus, he was publicly embarrassed by the airing of the coaches' criticism on HBO's "Hard Knocks." To top it off, he was inactive for the first three games of the season.

It was a season loaded with peaks and valleys for McKnight, who was the nation's top recruit coming out of John Curtis (La.) High School and was compared to Reggie Bush during his days at USC. Jets running backs coach Anthony Lynn kept riding him hard, even giving him a special gift: a football to carry around.

"He comes in as a rookie, having a lot of success and not knowing nothing, so you couldn't tell him nothing," Lynn said. "But he goes out there in the preseason and puts the ball on the ground three times, so now he wants to carry the ball the right way. The only way to do that is reps and unfortunately, you can't get enough reps out here. You've got to take [the ball] home with you, take it to the classroom with you.

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"So that's what he was doing."

McKnight finished the season strong, racking up 158 yards on 32 carries when he got the start in the regular-season finale against Buffalo. Still, he knew in order to get more playing time in 2011, he had to train vigorously. So he spent countless hours in Kenner, La., at The Duke Academy, a place that offers sports performance training. In fact, McKnight might've trained too hard.

"He worked out so much he lost 15 pounds," Lynn said. "I need him to get that back. But Joe has been one of the bright spots so far."

The Jets have plans to move McKnight all over the field on offense, and he's expected to have a sizable role on special teams. Rex Ryan has raved about McKnight's progress, but all McKnight can think about is changing those negative perceptions.

"It feels good to hear him say that," McKnight said. "But I feel like they brought me in here to be ready right now, and I wasn't ready last year. I'm ready right now and I'm ready to get this thing started, and just keep pushing. The main thing I'm going to start doing is just being consistent day in and day out."