San Francisco 49ers running back Jerick McKinnon tweeted out to Jerry Rice on Monday night, asking the Hall of Fame receiver about the famous hill that he used to run during his rigorous training regiment with the team.
"[What's] up with this hill work?" McKinnon asked Rice via Twitter.
@JerryRice whats up with this hill work ?
— Jerick Mckinnon (@JetMckinnon1) February 19, 2019
Jerick, in case you are reading, "The Hill" refers to a four-mile trail at Edgewood Park and Natural Preserve in Redwood City, California. It's where Rice, along with teammate Roger Craig and several other players, used to do endurance work.
McKinnon's willingness to take on "The Hill" is a sign that his rehab from a torn ACL is going well. The running back suffered the injury on September 1 and had surgery 10 days later to repair the damage.
"That hill was pretty much the fourth quarter for me," Rice once told Daniel Brown, now of The Athletic. "It taught me how to be able to endure -- in pain -- and still perform at a very high level. You have to challenge yourself. And that's what I did in the off-season."
Rice still runs "The Hill" to this day,
"It was the toughest thing I ever did in my life," Craig said. "I threw up a couple of times going up this trail. I was a football player. I'd never run that far."
McKinnon is expected to be healthy for the start of the 2019 season and figures to be a big part of head coach Kyle Shanahan's offense. Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who suffered a torn ACL just weeks after McKinnon, also figures to be ready to go for the upcoming season.
H/t to Patrick Tulini for the find.
