by Tom Kowalski
Friday May 30, 2008, 1:22 AM
ALLEN PARK — As Kevin Jones prepared to run a couple of 40-yard dashes – uphill – on Thursday, the former Detroit Lions running back yelled "Colletto" before dropping into his three-point stance.
It's not surprising that Jones is using Jim Colletto, Detroit's offensive coordinator, as motivation. After all, Jones believes Colletto was one of the driving influences in Jones being released by the team in March.
While Jones is eager to prove Colletto – and the Lions – wrong, the surprising thing is the speed at which he seems to be doing it. Just five months removed from ACL surgery on his right knee, Jones is running with explosion and can also do a series of lateral exercises.
"I know the NFL will be shocked," said Dr. D.S. Ping, who is spearheading Jones' rehab work. "He can go into (training) camp right now. All he needs is football conditioning. They told him it'd be a year and he's ready now."
Jones suffered the injury against the Kansas City Chiefs on Dec. 23 and had surgery a week later. He was told at the time that it would probably take a complete year for him to fully recover. With that information and the fact that Jones was scheduled to make $2.4 million in salary, the Lions decided to release Jones.
The Lions released Jones and defensive end Kalimba Edwards on March 13 and coach Rod Marinelli said in a statement: "While there are always a number of factors that go into this type of decision, we do believe these moves bring clarity to our roster and also eliminate some uncertainty heading into the draft that would have otherwise existed."
Jones, who came back early from Lisfranc surgery on his left foot last season, said he was disappointed in Marinelli's decision.
"I don't know if it's animosity. I'll see them again someday on the field and I'll take it out then," Jones said.
Despite his rapid progress, Jones said that he isn't likely to take part in any contact drills until late in training camp. That's coming on advice from Dr. James Andrews, the surgeon who performed the knee reconstruction.
About his situation with the Lions, Jones said he doesn't think of it terms of whether he was treating fairly or not.
"Fair? I'm not going to whine about it being unfair or anything like that," he said. "I'm not whining, my focus isn't on them, it's on getting back and getting with a team and getting a chance to start my career over. I'm young – I'm 25 – and I've still got a lot of games left."
| Kevin Jones' road to recovery |
Kevin Jones can be a great running back but when you are injured EVERY year you are not playing the whole year and then you have recovery. How many more times will he be able to bounce back from an injury?
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