Julius Jones

On his TV viewing

I'm a sucker for reality TV. I'll sit on the couch with the clicker in my hand and watch reality shows. I started with The Real World, and now I watch just about anything with people playing real roles. I like that football show about Hoover High [Two-A-Days], and I love Laguna Beach. I am so embarrassed I told you that.

On surviving a Bill Parcells NFL training camp

One day feels like three. A week feels like a month. You're sore. It never goes away. You're always sore.

On the day-to-day razzing he takes from Parcells

It's not just me. It's all the backs. Like, if he doesn't think we're hitting it up in the hole hard enough on a running drill, he says stuff like, "Take off the high heels.... You got three-inch heels today or five? ... What color lipstick you wearing?" He keeps it interesting.

On being in Parcells's doghouse as a rookie in 2004

We're playing a [preseason] game, and I feel a pop in my ribs. I've got a burning sensation. I can't breathe. Literally. So I come out. He says, "What are you doing?" I say, "Can't breathe, Coach." He says, "Get back in there." I go back, make a block, and it's killing me. But I knew what he was doing. He was testing me. Like the time he said to me, "I'm going to send you home. I don't care how high we picked you." He didn't send me home, but I got the message: Work harder.

On his year's suspension from Notre Dame for academic reasons

That slapped me in the face. When that happens, you can say one of two things: "Screw Notre Dame. I hate this place" or, "It's my fault. I'm gonna fix it." That's what I did. I went to Arizona to live with my brother [ Thomas Jones, then a Cardinals running back, now with the Bears], and I took two courses each semester [at Arizona State]. That year made me a man. I had to grow up.