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http://www2.jsonline.com/packer/sbxxxii/news/jerv82097.stm
Packer Plus Online
Compelling story: Jervey writes new chapter
By Jeff Potrykus
Packer Plus writer
Aug. 20, 1997
Green Bay -- From the day he was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 1995, Travis Jervey has provided a veritable library of engrossing anecdotes.
There were his routine struggles to adhere to the rigid lifestyle and code of conduct during his college days at The Citadel. There was a near-purchase of a lion cub, with the help of then-teammate/roommate LeShon Johnson, in '95. (Packer coach Mike Holmgren still chuckles at the notion of one of his players opening a mini-zoo!)
There was Jervey's success in the NFL's Fastest Man Competition in 1996 and again earlier this year. And then there were the stories of Jervey celebrating Green Bay's Super Bowl victory by checking out the sights of Costa Rica and Guatemala -- from his surfboard.
"Everybody has their fun thing," Jervey said of his off-season travels. "As much as Michael Jordan plays basketball, his favorite might be golf. Mine is surfin'. There are times when football compares but at the same time, surfin' is all fun. A lot of this is business.
"As far as things I love, I love it (surfing) more than anything."
This year, his third with the Packers and 25th on the planet, Jervey has vowed to take his football as seriously as he does his surfing. With Edgar Bennett lost for the season with a torn Achilles' tendon, Jervey hopes to earn playing time as the No. 2 tailback behind Dorsey Levens.
"I have gotten a little more serious, because I know what I want to do," Jervey said. "And obviously I want to carry the ball and I want to play. I have a little more fire in me this season."
That fire was lit before Bennett went down in the exhibition opener on July 26. Jervey says it was burning brightly when training camp opened.
"I feel confident coming out here," he said. "The first year I didn't feel it. Last year, I thought I had it but I didn't. And then I was experiencing fumbling problems. I just said, be the best special teams player I can be. This year, I want to be both."
Yet any hunter knows that a leopard cannot shed its spots. So, is it possible for Jervey to shed his?
Holmgren isn't too sure. This week he was asked if he had seen a maturation in Jervey. After a lengthy pause, he responded.
"I was just stunned by the word 'maturation,' " Holmgren said with a laugh. "He doesn't buy lions anymore. If that's what you mean, that's maturing.
"He's getting better. He is a superb special teams player . . . But he is from another planet."
That's debatable. However, what is a certainty is the fondness and appreciation running backs coach Harry Sydney has developed for Jervey's skills and personality.
Quite frankly, Sydney doesn't want Jervey to change.
"I see a more focused player. I see he is taking his job more serious," Sydney acknowledged. "But I also think there are rare breeds that come along. And I mean this in all the right ways . . . but you can't always tame everything. Travis is Travis.
"You can't take away what he is. You try to harness and steer it in the right direction and try to keep him focused. But part of who he is is all of that.
"It's like that child that you raise and he has all these different tools. On the one side he might be crazy and goofy. The other side he may be very serious. But all of it makes him up. To understand that you understand him.
Can anyone understand Jervey?
"But that's part of Travis," Sydney countered. "Travis is like a living legend. First of all, if you look at him he is not supposed to be what he is. Not to knock . . . but how many white guys do you know are built like he is built, can run a 4.2, can jump out of the gym?
"But he is flexible and can hang with anybody. All the guys on the team love him. He is not caught up with who he is. He is just Travis."
For the record, Jervey is listed at 6 feet and 222 pounds. He has run the 40-yard dash in 4.3 seconds. He can squat 600 pounds and bench-press 225 pounds 26 times.
In a league replete with athletes, Jervey is the complete athlete.
"To see him do some of the drills that I do for quickness, you'd be amazed at this guy," Sydney said. "Because he does it and he doesn't even know he is doing it. If you ask him how he did it, he couldn't explain how he did it. He just does it.
"For me, it is great coaching a guy like that because he has unlimited potential. And now he is starting to realize what that potential can be."
To this point in his career, however, Jervey has been able to flash that tremendous ability exclusively on special teams, where he is a demon on Green Bay's coverage units. His performances as a running back have been far more uneven.
A fullback in a wishbone offense in college, Jervey rushed just 211 times for 1,490 yards at The Citadel. In his three seasons, he caught one -- that's correct -- one pass.
"The thing is, everything I've had to do here I pretty much had to be taught because of my background," Jervey acknowledged. "It's taken me longer to learn but at the same time I feel good now. I get a wake-up call every now and then if I screw up. But at the same time I know what I'm doing."
Sydney concurs.
"We try to work on the little things and make you better because at this level you have all the tools," he said. "Hopefully I am doing some of those things because every year I have seen him mature and progress."
Save for one critical area: the ability to hang onto the ball.
Jervey's only regular-season carries as a professional came last season when he gained 106 yards on 26 attempts. However, he fumbled four times, an unacceptable 15.4% of the time.
"A lot of backs coming into the league have trouble with that," Jervey said. "It's obviously different from college. (Opponents) are more experienced in going for the ball and I was learning a lot."
For one, Jervey had to learn that when a running back carries the ball late in the game with his team holding a comfortable lead, as was the case for Jervey a year ago, would-be tacklers target the ball, not the ball carrier.
"Everybody is trying to tackle the ball in the fourth quarter," Sydney said. "He wasn't conscious of everybody going for the ball. He was trying to make plays. That's fine, but you have to know when it's time and when it's not time. That's part of the maturing process."
For another, Jervey had to learn how to better cradle the ball.
"When he would run at times he would put it (ball) out to his side," Sydney said.
Instead, Jervey should have been tucking the ball in tight to his body, so one point touched his hand and the other his elbow.
"Then the ball is protected by the arm, the forearm, the shoulder," Sydney explained. "Out here it's not really protected by much."
To that end, Jervey spent much of the off-season lugging a football around (except for when he was surfing).
"I just have held that thing with me everywhere I go," he said. "There was a couple of years of space where I really wasn't getting hit with the ball. I wasn't carrying the ball in any of the workouts in the off-season.
"I was so worried about how fast can I run a 40 or how much can I lift."
Statistics don't matter, Jervey now realizes, unless the ball comes along for the ride.
And through four exhibition games Jervey has yet to suffer a drop. He has rushed 14 times for 105 yards, an average of 7.5 yards per carry.
"He's matured a lot over the last year or so," said reserve safety Mike Prior, who excels on special teams with Jervey. "He's got a good focus. Instead of narrow-minded on the special teams you've got to be able to see the whole picture."
Holmgren made it clear he would not tolerate a running back who couldn't hold onto the football. Jervey didn't need a reminder that he wasn't performing in an acceptable manner.
"It was real stressful. Any time you do your job where you don't know exactly what you are doing it is going to be pretty stressful," he said. "I just learned from Edgar and coach Sydney. My first year he (Sydney) took me under his wing and really helped carry me along. I think that is where it paid off."
Being called upon to perform and knowing he wasn't ready to fill the role to the best of his ability was like taking a test, Jervey said, that he wasn't prepared for.
Jervey has been tackling challenges for most of his life.
Born in Columbia, S.C., he learned to surf before most children learn to ride a bike.
"That's all we did," he said. "That's why I never ran track. The best season for waves is during football season. So as soon as football was over all I wanted to do was get out there with my buddies. So I never ran track in high school. Never ran in college. It was all because I wanted to get out there and surf."
When Jervey considered where to go to college, his first choice was . . . Hawaii. Not exactly a surprising choice. Jervey, however, wound up a bit closer to home and his parents at The Citadel. His father, Ned, is a graduate of the school.
The surfer dude in Jervey was a misfit at The Citadel, a military academy. But it was there that he gained valuable lessons.
"As much as I didn't like a lot of things about the school," Jervey said, "it taught me to care more about time and being disciplined about things that you just need to do even though you might not agree with. Just like any job."
During his days at The Citadel Jervey spent a healthy portion of his time reading about a topic that has always captivated him -- nutrition.
Not surprisingly, he has a body that many body-builders would envy. In fact, he will appear in the October issue of Muscle & Fitness Magazine, in a story examining the top six conditioned athletes in the NFL. Representatives from the magazine talked with strength coaches from each NFL team and the Packers' Kent Johnston recommended Jervey.
During his travels in South America this past off-season, Jervey shared tips on nutrition and weight-training with any local who would listen.
"They were just really nice. They just wanted to know how to do it," he said. "I'd teach them about nutrition, about body-building. Just basic things about nutrition, what to eat. They don't have a clue."
When a gifted athlete such as Jervey makes more headlines because of his off-field interests and antics, the average fan tends to wonder whether the player has a clue. After all, which personality type is apt to be taken more seriously -- the boring or the buoyant?
The former, of course. Perhaps that is another reason behind Jervey's drive to succeed this season.
"I think that is just part of the maturation process now, being in the league three years now," said Steven Panus, Jervey's New Orleans-based agent. "When he first came into the league he was wide-eyed, everything was new to him. And now he has a lot more experience and he recognizes that it is his time to shine. He is trying to just grab the moment."
Sydney cares not about the means, only about the end.
"My bottom line: I want him to hold onto the ball," Sydney said. "In his right hand. In his left hand. Carry it under his knee. I just want him to hold onto the ball."
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