RG3

Robert Griffin III exploded onto the NFL’s radar during his senior year at Baylor University, when his extraordinary season as quarterback earned him the 2011 Heisman Trophy. It was no surprise then when the Washington Redskins selected Griffin as the 2nd overall pick of the 2012 draft, hoping the young star would lead their storied franchise to a championship. Today, with the 2012-13 playoffs just around the corner, the Redskins still have a chance to compete for a ring—due in great part to the stellar performance of their rookie quarterback. RGIII (as Griffin is known) has quickly become one of America’s most recognizable and liked athletes: he’s a top fantasy pick, his teammates recently voted him captain (a tremendous, unheard of honor for a rookie), and there are even rumblings of an MVP title throughout the league. Here now is an in-depth, unbiased account of Griffin’s rookie season from the Washington Post reporter who has followed him closely since the first day of training.

Dave Sheinin has been covering baseball and writing features and enterprise stories for The Washington Post since 1999, and has spent the past year focused on Robert Griffin III’s rookie year as quarterback for the Washington Redskins. His work has been recognized with awards six times by the Associated Press Sports Editors, and in 2010 he received a first-place National Headliner Award for sportswriting for his season-long coverage of Stephen Strasburg’s rookie year. A graduate of Vanderbilt University, where he studied English and music and trained as an opera singer, Sheinin lives in Maryland with his wife and two daughters.

“Sometimes there is a life in sports you want to know about before a career plays itself out. Robert Griffin III has had one of those lives, as interesting as the way he plays football.”—Mike Lupica

“Robert Griffin III is the most exciting athlete to come to Washington in 20 years. And there's nobody better to write about him than Dave Sheinin. Dave Sheinin writes like Robert Griffin plays.”—Tony Kornheiser