Over the past three weeks, I read RG3: The Promise by Dave Sheinin. The book describes the journey that the Washington Redskins quarterback, Robert Griffin III, took to get to the NFL. RG3, as he is more commonly referred to, faced adversity throughout his path to the NFL, specifically when his days at Baylor University were coming to a close. The book gives particular details about RG3’s teammates’, friends’ and family’s thoughts and impressions of him. It gives an in-depth insight of RG3’s life and how he was raised to live.

I personally enjoyed the book. I thought Sheinin did a fantastic job of really giving an idea of what RG3 is like both on and off the field. He included important quotes from RG3’s teammates, friends and family that added to this. One of these quotes was very impactful to me. “Very humble,” added tight end Niles Paul, recalling those early days. “Very willing to prove himself. He didn’t come in talking. He didn’t say a word. He came in like a regular free agent, a regular draft pick, trying to prove himself.” This quote tells how RG3 acted when he first arrived in Washington. Despite being the second overall pick in the NFL draft, he came in competing for a starting job like a free agent would. Almost everyone knew that RG3 would be the starting quarterback for the Redskins that year, but he didn’t let that affect his mindset and work ethic.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. My favorite part was the description of RG3’s personal life. As Sheinin described, he isn’t the type of person that goes out in public just to attract a lot of attention. He is the kind of person that is content with spending his free time at home. When he moved to Washington, he moved into a middle class neighborhood. As soon as his neighbors figured out RG3 lived next to them, they started to do special things for him. They would tie balloons to his mailbox after a win and leave things on his doorstep for him to sign (and he would sign every single one of them). He also occasionally would go out and throw football with the kids in the neighborhood. I think this says a lot about his character and how he just wants to live life as a normal person.

The only dislike I had about the book was that it sometimes wasn’t in chronological order. Every once in a while, it would jump around and not go in order. This occurred at the beginning of chapters and it would usually get back on track so it wasn’t a big deal. The book was still easy to read, but I would’ve preferred it to be in chronological order for the entire story. Other than this, I liked everything in the book.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes sports, RG3 or people of good character. Personally, I was attracted towards this book because I am a big sports fan. I know think that RG3 is a person of high character and class. Every time I sat down to read this book, I found myself liking RG3 more because of the things that he did. I think that someone who wants to become a better person could learn a lot from this book. RG3’s story can relate to just about anyone who wants to read about it.

The main personal connection that I made when reading this book was to be humble. It doesn’t matter how many things you have or whether someone is better than you. You just have to live your life without listening to what your critics say about you. RG3 teaches readers to do this through his own actions, words and mindset. This is evident through the quotes from people who know him. They had nothing but good things to say about him. Overall, I thought this book was a really good read and I would recommend it to anyone who needs something interesting to read.