COOL AS RICE
Jerry Rice visited Jets training camp on Friday, and even though the future Hall of Famer was only there to address the team, Justin McCareins was pretty sure he could still play.
“I would have loved to watch him play,” McCareins said of the 44-year-old. “Even at his age, I bet he could still school us.”
Rice, who was at Hofstra at Eric Mangini’s behest, couldn’t stick around until the team returned to practice yesterday.
“I tried to get him to practice, run some routes, work with receivers work against the defensive guys,” Mangini said.
Certainly for some players, it’s probably best that Rice had to leave. Still, just hearing him speak seemed to have a serious impact, particularly on the wide receivers.
“I just wanted his autograph,” Laveranues Coles said. “Just to meet somebody that you grew up watching, literally. He was the person you pretended you were when you played catch in the backyard.”
Mangini has brought in other prominent members of the sports world, like UConn basketball coach Jim Calhoun and boxing trainer Teddy Atlas. Though it might make sense that Rice’s talk, which centered primarily on his legendary work ethic, would be more applicable than some of the other things the players have heard, that’s not necessarily the case.
When asked how his own workouts compare to Rice’s, Coles said: “It is nowhere near what he did. Not even close. He’s Jerry Rice. You could try to emulate small things he’s done, but no one else could do what he did. That’s why he’s who he is.”
But Coles, who played against Rice towards the end of Rice’s career, which ended two years ago in Denver, has made enough of impression that Rice asked to meet him.
“I was just excited to shake his hand,” Coles said of the holder of 38 NFL records.
Mangini praised Rice’s entire work ethic.
“He said he always wanted to come into training camp in the best shape of his life and each year he redefined what that was,” Mangini said. “He’d sit on special-teams meeting, not that he would ever play there, but he wanted to show them how important there role was.
“Plus, the guy had over 13 miles of receiving yards.”
It’s 22,895, to be exact. That’s why, no matter what the subject was, the players listened.
“A lot of things he said, you hear from other people,” McCareins said of Rice, who hung around and watched the movie “300” with the Jets, another Mangini selection. “But coming from this guy, he’s the real deal. He’s a great example.”
As for Coles’ autograph request: “He said we would work it out, which is all I needed to hear.”
Mangini hopes he heard a bit more than that.
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While some coaches tolerate fights during training camp, Mangini does not. He singled out free agent TE Joe Kowalewski for the scuffle he started on Thursday afternoon.
“I think in training camp, you have every opportunity to show how tough you are and hitting someone in the helmet where you could break your hand, doesn’t show anything,” Mangini said. “It shows you can’t control your emotions and your frustrations.”
He called out Kowalewski, who had drawn praise as a free agent the Jets had invited before training camp to try out for the team.
“I think you’re always evaluating every aspect of the player and the other night we had a personal foul,” Mangini said. “It’s ridiculous, it’s selfish.”
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Mangini spoke highly of DT Sione Pouha, who missed last year after suffering a right knee injury during training camp that required surgery. “He’s done a lot of good work in the weight room,” Mangini said. “I think that’s translated well onto the practice field.” . . . The Jets signed former Syracuse LB Jerry Mackey, who is a great nephew of NFL Hall of Famer John Mackey.
