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ExtremeRavens: The Sanctuary

Ravens' McClain pushes full steam ahead


thundercleetz

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McClain and his girlfriend had their first child, a daughter named Alexzondria, in November 2007, late in his rookie season. When he held his little girl for the first time, he had tears in his eyes. Every time he looked at her while he was back home in Alabama, it was hard to focus on working out and preparing for camp. He loved her in more ways than he could ever describe.

 

"She changed my life completely," McClain said. "I know that when I get up in the morning, she's right there. I was putting her first and my workouts second, and when I got to camp, I knew that had caught up with me. But I felt like I had to go through that."

 

It was disappointing, especially for a new coaching staff, to see him come to camp out of shape," Ravens running backs coach Wilbert Montgomery said. "But once he got going and made that commitment, that's when we saw the changes in Le'Ron. It was just down to him and [Rice]. I remember one day, the two of them took almost 200 reps in practice. When I saw, right then and there, that there was no sign of waver, that's when he became a player."

 

"I still get frustrated with him," Montgomery said. "Sometimes it's like talking to a jackass. He's so stubborn about things. You think you've covered everything, and you find out it's not enough. It's never enough. … On a scale of one to 10, I'd say he's at a two right now. He's got a lot of room to improve at this given stage."

McClain isn't shy about putting in the work to get there, which he says is something he learned from his mother, Gwen McClain. She became a single parent with two kids when McClain's father died in a car accident when McClain was 6 months old.

 

"She was really my backbone, my hero," McClain said of his mother, who worked as a housekeeper, cleaning hotel rooms, for most of his life. "Just seeing how hard she worked for me and my older brother, that's one reason why I push myself so much now. I remember plenty of nights when she didn't eat just so we could eat."

 

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This is a great read! McClain definitely sounds like a good guy! Interesting comments by Wilbert Montgomery, bodes well for McClain's potential.

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