Ravens running back Justin Forsett proves patience pays

Justin Forsett was at the bottom — maybe the end — of a not particularly notable NFL career last March. The Jacksonville Jaguars had released him after an injury-shortened season. He had no guarantee of another shot – or another yard.

Even then, in a telephone conversation with his former running backs coach at the University of California, Berkeley, Forsett kept faith, stayed ready – and waited.

"He said, 'Hey, something's going to happen. I'm just going to stay focused and keep working out and make sure that when that call does come I'll be ready go.' So that's what he did," said Ron Gould, former Cal-Berkeley assistant, now head coach at the University of California, Davis.

Less than a year later, in his seventh NFL season with five teams, Forsett will carry the rushing load for the Baltimore Ravens when they play at the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday night in the wild-card round of the AFC playoffs.

He got his chance after the Ravens cut former rushing star Ray Rice amid a domestic violence case. Forsett made the most of it by rushing for 1,266 yards in the regular season, a career high.

He's one of the surprise stories of this NFL season. But to Forsett, and those in his inner circle, it's not a surprise but a validation.

"I think it was just getting the opportunity," Forsett said this week in the Ravens' locker room. "I've always worked the same way. You can go back and talk to every coach I played for or every teammate I've ever been with, and they'll probably tell you, … I've been the same player."

That is echoed by those who've watched him through the years. Though he's just 5-8, 197 pounds, they say they knew he could be an every down back in the NFL. They see him as a victim of size stereotyping. They look beyond that to his skills, his work ethic and his unwavering commitment.

"That's the same guy that I saw all four years (at Cal-Berkeley)," Gould said. "It doesn't surprise me at all. When you think about him being a man of great faith and how hard he works. … I knew that he would flourish in the NFL."

Forsett's older brother, said Forsett is the same player he watched growing up as a pee wee star in Mulberry, Fla.

"Ever since he touched the football the first time when he was younger, we saw he had a chance to be special," said Rodney "Ray" Forsett, Jr., basketball coach at Prime Prep Academy, a Dallas school co-founded by Deion Sanders.

"He showed it in high school. He showed it in college. He's showing it now."

When Gould was coaching Forsett and other top running backs at Cal-Berkeley, the coach preached patience when carrying the ball and waiting for a blocking lane to open.

"It's not speed to the hole. It's speed through the hole," Gould said.

Forsett has applied that same approach over a much longer haul in his life.

When he finally got a call from the Ravens and was signed on April 4, he hit the hole running.

Did he consider other teams?

"Other teams?" Forsett said with a smile. "I mean, really. This was the only serious offer I had at the time. There was only one."

One was enough. What took him so long to make his NFL mark is a mix of circumstance and maybe that stereotyping. Why he finally broke through is a testament to attitude and skills not measured in inches and pounds.

The little guy

When Forsett was in high school, his father, a minister, moved the family to Texas.

He was often considered the "little guy" of the bunch. Forsett knows the label.

"I felt like sometimes I'd walk in the door and they'd say, 'OK, he's short, he's 5-9, he's 197 pounds,''' he said. "He's probably a third-down back, a scatback type. So they automatically put you in that category instead of saying, 'OK, let him show me what he can do.'"

At Cal-Berkeley, Forsett was a backup as an underclassman to Marshawn Lynch, current Seattle Seahawks star. As a senior, Forsett ran for 1,546 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Seattle drafted him in the seventh round in 2008. In the next four seasons, including a brief stint with the Indianapolis Colts as a rookie, Forsett showed flashes. He ran for 619 yards in 2009. Seattle let him go after his contract expired in 2012.

In 2012, he backed up Arian Foster with the Houston Texans. "I've been behind some great players," he said.

Last season in Jacksonville, he managed those 31 rushing yards on just six carries before his season ended in early December with a foot injury.

Bernard Pierce opened the season as the Ravens starter. Forsett took over in Week 3.

Forsett's 235 carries this season about double his previous career high of 118 in 2010. Late this season as his yardage dropped, it looked like the workload had caught up with him. But he ran for 119 yards last Sunday against the Cleveland Browns.

Now the question is how he holds up in the playoffs.

"I feel like that's always going to be the case with my stature and the preconceived notion of what I can do and what my body can take," said Forsett. "I have to go out and talk with my pads every weekend.''

Skill set

Forsett's talents aren't limited to football. He has blogged for the Sporting News and the NFL Players Association about football, life and his faith.

When his Ravens run was gaining traction, he wrote on NFLPA.com: "My faith impacts everything; it isn't something I do on the side. … I didn't know if I was ever going to play again. So with this platform that I have, I play for God."

In 2011 while with Seattle, Forsett sang in a video broadcast on YouTube to celebrate his one-year anniversary with his wife, Angela, former All-Pac-10 volleyball player at Cal-Berkeley (and U.S. National team member) and daughter of former NBA player Paul Pressey. They now have a toddler son, Judah.

Forsett wrote the lyrics to the song titled "L.O.V.E." With some Seahawks teammates in cameo roles and a background chorus, he sang, "L.O.V.E., Y.O.U and me. It's love. It's plain to see."

On the football field, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco could see flashes of Forsett's talents from the start.

"I was excited about him just being here in the offseason. You could tell he had the ability to play. You just didn't know what kind of role he was going to play," Flacco said.

"I probably didn't really totally (see it) until he had to be thrown in there and week after week and was really getting after it. … Listen, the guy is a good runner.''

Gould saw it at Cal-Berkeley.

"For a little guy, little in the sense that he's not the big, 225-pound back, he's very strong. He's got great burst," said Gould.

"I think his football IQ is off the charts. I think that kind of separates him because he understands the game from a conceptual standpoint, which allows him to be able to read the plays and really accelerate when he needs to accelerate through the hole."

Forsett averaged a Ravens' record 5.4 yards per rush in regular season (17 runs of 20-plus yards).

In appreciation, Forsett presented his starting offensive linemen and tight end Owen Daniels with 55-inch HD TVs for Christmas.

He didn't show that generosity from the deep pockets of a multi-million contract. He got a one-year deal with the Ravens for $730,000, minimum for a vet of six seasons.

Will Baltimore re-sign Forsett? He's hoping.

"I understand that it's a business," he said. "But this is the place that gave me an opportunity to show what I could do. I would love to stay here."

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Follow Gary Mihoces on Twitter @ByGaryMihoces