Athletes - Clinton Portis

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	Athletes - Clinton Portis

Clinton Earl Portis (born September 1, 1981 in Laurel, Mississippi) is an American football player who currently plays running back for the Washington Redskins of the NFL.

University of Miami

Portis starred at the University of Miami. He became just the second true freshman to start at running back since the 1975 season. In 2001, his junior year, Portis became the full-time starter. By seasons end, Portis rushed for 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns on 220 carries(5.5 yards per carry). By gaining 1,200 yards, he became just the fifth player in school history to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season. He earned first-team All-Big East honors from the league's coaches and third-team All-America honors from the Associated Press. He helped guide the Hurricanes to an undefeated season in 2001 and a national championship in the Rose Bowl.

Drafted by Denver

He was drafted by the Denver Broncos with the 19th pick in the second round (51st overall) of the 2002 NFL Draft. After his first season with the Broncos, Portis was named The NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year by the Associated Press. He rushed for over 1,500 yards in each of his first two seasons with the Broncos. In his second season, he was voted for the 2004 Pro Bowl.

Traded to Washington

The trade

Prior to the 2004 season, the Broncos traded Portis to the Redskins for cornerback Champ Bailey and a second-round draft pick. The Redskins signed Portis to an eight-year contract worth $50.5 million. At that time, there were criticisms regarding the trade, namely that shut-down corners like Bailey were hard to come by and that adding a second-round pick for Portis was too much and one-sided. Critics also said that Portis benefitted largely from Denver's run blocking scheme and he was a product of a great offensive system, not necessarily a great running back. They added that, at 5'11", 212 pounds, he didn't fit the Redskins' type of running back, who historically were larger and more power runners.

2004 season

In the 2004 season, he had to adjust to coach Joe Gibbs' style of running, which consists of mostly power running. Despite taking his first Redskins carry 75 yards for a TD in the season opener against Tampa Bay, it was a pretty rough adjustment for Portis because Denver's running style consisted of stretch runs and runs to the outside. The adjustment was made rougher by a depleted offensive line. He finished 2004 with 1,315 yards for a 3.8 yard rushing average. He had a tougher time finding the end zone, finishing with eight total touchdowns (5 rushing, 2 receiving, and one passing).

2005 season

He bounced back in the 2005 season. Although Gibbs still ran a power style of football, he implemented more outside running plays into the Redskins rushing attack to better suit Portis' style of running. Portis had a much better season, proving that he can run inside as well as to the outside and was a better pass-blocker. Although he didn't get into the end zone until the fifth game of the season, he finished strong and had 12 total touchdowns (11 rushing and one passing). On a 14-yard run against the Philadelphia Eagles on January 1, 2006, he broke the Redskins' record for the most rushing yards in a season (previously held by Stephen Davis)and ended the game with 112 yards. By rushing for 1,516 yards, he became only the third runner in league history to reach 1,500 yards in three of his first four seasons.

Characters

Beginning in late October of 2005, Portis began wearing costumes to his press conferences and acting in character, to simultaneously deflect serious press questions regarding his touchdown slump, and to avoid the cliche interviews that plague professional sports coverage. Portis has stated that his primary motivation was to have fun. His entourage of characters consisted of:

The Mad Scientist
Southeast Jerome
Dr. I Don't Know
Sherriff Gonna Getcha
Dolla Bill
Rev. Gonna Change
Kid Bro Sweets
Inspector 2-2
The Angel of Southeast Jerome
Coach Janky Spanky
Hot Stuff
Psychic Bum-Bum (during an interview on Headline News)
Coconut Jones
Sir Lend-me-a-hand

Miscellaneous

Portis appeared on the cover of NCAA Gamebreakers 2003 game for Playstation 2, while as a member of the University of Miami Hurricanes.
Upon coming to the Redskins in 2004, his jersey number (26) was already taken by Cincinnati Bengals safety Ifeanyi Ohalete
who was with the team at that time. Both he and Portis agreed to pay him $30,000 (in three installments) in order to get his number. When Ohalete was cut by the team during the summer, Portis had thought that he didn't have to pay him the remaining installments. Ohalete still asked for the money and eventually, the dispute was settled with Portis paying him the rest of the money.

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