Word: pellegrini
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...Pellegrini thinks that four-year layoff from football helped him "because it made me angry enough to want to prove that I could play." He adds that when he went to training camp last year he had two stigmas to overcome: being a free agent and, most of all, coming from the Ivy League...
...Pellegrini need not feel alone, however. The Jets lead the NFL in one category: most players culled from the "golden eight." In addition to Pellegrini, middle linebacker John Woodring hails from Brown and quarterback John Rogan (cut in camp this year) and running back John Nitti come from that football factory in New Haven. Where they received their schooling is not lost on the foursome...
...Pellegrini adds, "The guys are great but in the locker room they all talk about how they played in the Rose Bowl or the Cotton Bowl. We like to joke that the Yale Bowl is the only bowl we got near to." "Some of the players like to tease me by saying I'm a preppy even though I was the farthest thing from a preppy at Harvard. Many others can't believe I went to Harvard." The former Kirkland House resident, however, does not think that playing in the Ivy League with deemphasized programs and no spring practices hurt...
...Pellegrini wants to continue that education and has applied to the business schools of Wharton, Columbia, and NYU so he can start on an MBA program in the off-season. "It's not one of those 'what am I going to do after football' decisions--I have been supporting myself in real estate since 1978, but I want to learn more," he says...
This strong work ethic has propelled Pellegrini into the NFL. His teammates have noticed it. Nitti says that Pellegrini is "one of the hardest workers I've seen in football whether it be in practice or in the weight room." Nitti, however, can't let that comment through without a jab: "Joe's only problem is that he cannot talk right. The first time I heard Joe talk he asked if he should move the ball to the farty-yahd line--the whole team fell over laughing...