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FLORHAM PARK Kenny Stills Jersey , N.J. (AP) — Jeremy Bates already knew Sam Darnold was pretty special from working with the No. 3 overall draft pick in the offseason.

Still, the New York Jets offensive coordinator wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the young quarterback on his first day of training camp.

After all, Darnold was three days late because of a contract holdout and Bates figured he would have some catching up to do.

“When he came out on the field, he didn’t even have meetings, and he just went in there and started calling plays and running plays,” Bates recalled Monday.

“A lot of young quarterbacks, it takes a while to learn the plays and spit it out in the huddle. That, a lot of times, takes a whole year for some guys.

“He just came out, no meeting time, and he hit the field running.”

And, Darnold hasn’t stopped.

The 21-year-old rookie has been impressive this summer in a three-man competition with Josh McCown and Teddy Bridgewater. It also appears he’s well on his way to being the Jets’ starter when New York opens the regular season at Detroit on Sept. 10.

“I think he’s progressing extremely fast for a young quarterback to come in here,” Bates said.

While coach Todd Bowles has not announced who will start under center in the team’s third preseason game Friday night against the Giants, it would be shocking if it’s not Darnold.

He has taken the bulk of the snaps in camp since signing his four-year, $30.25 million deal on July 30, and Darnold is working more frequently with the starting unit lately. He was the third quarterback in the preseason opener against Atlanta and was terrific, and got the start at Washington last week in an up-and-down performance.

And, it’s not only the work he’s doing on the field that has Bates excited.

“He’s able to take the classroom knowledge and take it right to the field and execute it Tom Brady Jersey ,” Bates said. “We’re throwing a lot of football at him and he’s able to handle it. Man, he’s owned the playbook. That’s probably the most impressive thing.”

That’s high praise from a coach who has worked his way up in the NFL by working primarily with quarterbacks over the past 15-plus years.

Bates scouted Darnold in the pre-draft process and liked what everyone else did about him leading up to April. There was lots of tape and game film to watch from Darnold’s days at USC, and the Jets’ offensive coordinator sees some of the attributes that made the youngster so coveted in college on the field in practice and the preseason games.

“When things break down, which they do probably 70 percent of the game, he’s able to keep his head downfield,” Bates said. “He’s able to scramble and find the (passing) lanes and he finds an open receiver. Just being able to make plays off schedule is very powerful. He did it in college and he’s still doing it today.”

There have been things Darnold has shown during the past few months, however, that he couldn’t have predicted.

“How easy is the game is for him, both mentally and physically,” Bates said. “We haven’t scaled back offensively. We were giving Sam the same amount of information and the same plays that we were giving Josh and Teddy.”

Darnold has been far from perfect, of course, but his first impression has been overwhelmingly positive.

The fact he brushes off his miscues like a seasoned veteran and rarely makes the same mistake has also endeared him to Bates and the rest of the Jets’ coaches.

“He moves to the next play, for a young kid, unbelievably,” Bates said. “He doesn’t dwell on it. Nothing is too big for him. He’s everything you’re looking for in a young quarterback as far as the ability to go out there and the stage isn’t too big for him. When the lights come on, he gets better.”

NOTES: During a radio interview on WFAN’s “Boomer & Gio Show,” general manager Mike Maccagnan wouldn’t rule out trading either Bridgewater or McCown this summer. “There’s nothing to stop us from keeping three,” he said. “There’s nothing to stop us from keeping two.” With Darnold edging closer to winning the starting job — Maccagnan called him “really sort of unflappable” — it’s believed Bridgewater would garner the most interest from teams looking for an experienced backup or potential starter. … Starting RG Brian Winters and LT Kelvin Beachum returned to team drills after dealing with injuries the past few days. Beachum hadn’t participated in 11-on-11 drills in more than two weeks since hurting his right ankle. He was still spelled at times by Brent Qvale. … RB Isaiah Crowell (concussion) and CB Trumaine Johnson (hamstring) fully practiced.
Shaquille O’Neal called himself ”The Big Baryshnikov” and ”The Big Socrates” in his days in the NBA. Now he can add ”The Big Shakespeare.”

The basketball Hall-of-Famer Delano Hill Jersey , TNT TV analyst, commercial pitchman and onetime rapper is putting poetry on his lengthy resume as part of a new public television series.

He brings his best bard to a dramatic reading of a poem in his episode of the 12-part ”Poetry in America ,” then discusses it with Elisa New, a Harvard English professor who hosts the show.

”I’ve always been into poetry,” O’Neal said in an interview with The Associated Press in a sunlit conference room overlooking the Los Angeles skyline. ”I’ve been writing rhymes all my life.”

”Poetry in America,” distributed by American Public Television and presented by WGBH in Boston, is airing at various times on local public TV stations. Some episodes, including Shaq’s, are already available to stream.

On the show the 46-year-old former All-Star from the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat recites ”Fast Break,” a poem by Edward Hirsch from his 1986 book ”Wild Gratitude.” It describes some very imperfect players who manage to put together a perfect basketball play.

”A hook shot kisses the rim and hangs there, helplessly, but doesn’t drop,” the poem begins, ”and for once our gangly starting center boxes out his man.”

O’Neal, whose 350-pound bulk would never be called ”gangly,” still related to the center in the verse, but said he initially missed the poem’s point.

”The first mistake I made was thinking it was about basketball,” he said. ”I read it real quick I said `fast break Odell Beckham Jr Jersey , shovel passes, sure, this is what I do.”’

He said New, who sat next to O’Neal in the interview and like almost everyone is utterly dwarfed by him, gave him whole new insights that led to a fast friendship.

”When she broke it down intelligently for me, I was very astounded and very amazed,” O’Neal said.

The poem is written for a close friend and playing partner of Hirsch’s who had just died. That’s easy to miss if you skip past the dedication at the top, as most readers do.

”It’s fun that only later as you’re reading, you look back at that dedication,” New said. ”One line can change everything.”

Suddenly it becomes an examination of transcendent moments and human connections.

”It’s about friendship, it’s about caring, it’s about emotions,” O’Neal said. ”I had missed that.”

His latest learning experience took O’Neal’s thoughts back to high school, where he had a 69 percent in English after blowing a test during the basketball playoffs, and needed a 70 to stay eligible for sports.

The teacher allowed him a retest, and suggested a tutor.

”This guy, his name was McDougal, he was a geek Chris Hogan Jersey , he saved my academic life,” O’Neal said. ”Everybody bullied him in school, except me.”

O’Neal said he took the work and ”broke it down, made it seem so simple.”

”I retook the test, got an 80, and we won the state championship,” O’Neal said.

”Now,” he said, ”I always tell kids I’m a geek.”

The professor had another name for him. ”He’s a learner!”

O’Neal partly looked the poet during the interview in a polo shirt and jeans, having traded his basketball sneakers for a pair of slip-on Toms shoes, size 22.

When he wanted them, a company executive told him ”it wouldn’t be worth it to make them in my size unless I bought 500 of them,” O’Neal said. ”I told him to give me 2,000.”

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