Joe McKnight learned on his first day of work that the NFL would be a bit more vigorious than college ball. After leaving his breakfast on the field and hitting the bench with cramps in his leg and calf, McKnight aknowledged he was out of shape and unprepared. Hopefully, there won’t be an encore as McKnight, according to the Times-Picayune, has revamped his workout regimen.

The fourth-round pick, who opted to forgo his senior season at USC, conceded he was not in the best shape this summer, when vomiting, dehydration and cramping in his leg and calf muscles sidelined him during practices and puzzled his coaches.

After his rude awakening to the rigorous NFL practices, McKnight said he is modifying his workout and health regimen, in hopes of making an impact on the Jets’ running game this season, which has a new look since New York acquired LaDainian Tomlinson and traded Thomas Jones to the Chiefs and Leon Washington to the Seahawks

“I went home and worked on my cardio — I did a lot of core training and running to get my wind back, ” McKnight said. “It’s helped me because a lot of papers described me as lazy and not hard-working. I’m still changing that perception of me.”

J.T. Curtis, McKnight’s guardian and high school coach whom he lived with as a junior and senior after Hurricane Katrina, said McKnight’s physical exhaustion at rookie minicamp practices happened because his nerves fire up so easily in new situations.

“I don’t think it was his conditioning as much as his excitement to be there, ” Curtis said. “When Joe gets juiced up, he gets a terribly weak stomach … Joe will be in top condition at training camp. There are no concerns there.”

Local NFL analyst Mike Detillier said rookies arriving with subpar conditioning is not uncommon.

“You find out real quick there’s a difference between workout condition and game condition, ” Detillier said. “If we were three weeks into training camp, I’d say it’s an issue.”

As Detillier pointed out this would be an issue if we were getting into training camp but right now its fine. But it is good to see that Joe is adjusting his habits now so he can move on and start focusing on filling Washington’s shoes and establishing himself as a threat on offense and special teams.

Hat tip to miketaliaferro for passing this along.