Damien Ross

Clinton Portis reveals that before he committed to Miami he asked Edgerrin James if he was leaving for the NFL, and says that’s when Edge taught him to seek competition instead of opportunity “When I committed to the U, it was from a piece of advice that Edge gave me. We were standing on the field, and I said, ‘You leaving? Are you leaving if I come?’ He said, ‘Man, it shouldn’t matter whether I leave or if I stay.’” “‘You should want the competition. You don’t want anything given to you.’ And that advice has taken me so far because of the running back rooms I’ve been in. You talk about Willis, Frankie G, Najeh Davenport, James Jackson, and then when I got to Denver, you’ve got Terrell Davis, Mike Anderson, Olandis Gary.” “I never sat in a room like, ‘Oh shit, this dude is going to beat me out.’ Homeboy, you go out there and practice and show them what you’re capable of. On Sunday, when I go out there and bust his lunch pail, that’s going to change all of that.” “I remember my first practice in Denver. Terrell was there, and they said, ‘First team, ones come up.’ We had 12 people in the huddle and everybody, Rod Smith, Shannon Sharpe, they’re laughing, ‘Bro, get out of here. Get out of this huddle.’” “I said, ‘Man, they said ones. They said ones come up.’ There ain’t no two or no three. I’m a one. That was the confidence. There was no beef with Terrell. The competition is what made me thrive.”