Talking to incoming college football players was not a skill in which Griff had any experience, he realized, as his number 1 running back approached the football team booth, signed his name on the roster, and entered his nickname of choice. "Gerry"

Another thing that weighed heavy on Griff's mind was that it was his job to assign jersey numbers to each player. Running backs would be 20-49. Lower numbers in the range were assigned to better players, but when he was playing for the Raiders, the running backs had 30's numbers. Marcus Allen was number 32. Since numbers were not required on practice jerseys, Griff hadn't assigned any numbers yet. Were there unlucky numbers if you were a Chinese running back? "Practice jerseys aren't numbered," he explained as he handed Gerry his practice uniform.

"It would be good to avoid the number 4 in my jersey number", Gerry commented.

Griff looked at the booths, tents, and the people arriving on President's Lawn. What he really wanted to know was how fast Gerry could run an obstacle course. He handed his running back a football. Gerry set down the practice uniform and without saying a word began to run the obstacle course on President's Lawn; moving amazingly fast, negotiating the obstacles -- including a student with a coffee cart -- as if they did not exist.