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Former Baltimore Ravens star Jamal Lewis was an absolute monster of a running back in his early days in the NFL. Lewis, a first-round pick in the 2000 NFL Draft, was the league’s Offensive Player of the Year in 2003 when he nearly broke Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record.
But Lewis, who is revered as one of the most violent and dynamic runners in league history, didn’t always have the best approach to the game, particularly when it comes to practice. One month with Peyton Manning at Tennessee, however, and that all changed.
Lewis was a superstar for Douglass High School in Atlanta. He enrolled at Tennessee in 1997 as one of the top freshman running backs in the country. At the time, Manning had already established himself as a star, something Lewis hoped to do as well. And the Vols’ star quarterback wasn’t shy about showing Lewis the way.
Jamal Lewis Says That Peyton Manning Showed Him How To Practice At Tennessee
In a recent interview Brian Hightower on his B High ATL show, Lewis explained how Manning forever changed his view of practice and preparation.
“When I first got there, he came to my room … He had like 4-5 sheets of paper and he said ‘look, you want to play … well here go(es) all the protections … because if you’re going to play, you’ve got to be able to protect me,” Lewis explained.
Lewis then talked about how Tennessee offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe told him that he would never play in his offense because of the way he practices.
“He was like ‘tomorrow, come out here and watch No. 16 (Manning) play,'” Lewis said of an interaction with Cutcliffe. “He said ‘watch No. 16 practice.’ And I watched him … every single play was full speed, on 100, and to perfection. After that, I just kind of modeled my practice and my game after that. Where it was like no matter what, in practice I was gonna be 100 percent. Full throttle.”
Lewis said he kept that mentality through the rest of his career. And it’s a big reason why he finds himself in the Baltimore Ravens Ring of Honor.