DETROIT _ Marvin Jones could have been an Olympic wrestler. After all, his father was an alternate on the 1984 and '88 Greco-Roman Olympic team.
Once, when Jones was about 6 years old, he went to wrestling practice with his father. Marvin Sr. decided to have his son wrestle with another boy. The match, and little Marvin's wrestling career, didn't last long.
"And then I end up swinging on him," Jones said. "I couldn't be held down because then I started throwing blows."
OK, so maybe Jones wasn't cut out for mat burns and cauliflower ear. But the NFL's receiving yardage leader through Week 3 said growing up and wrestling with his dad made him into the tough, aggressive player he is.
"He was very aggressive, so that's probably where I get it from," Jones said. "Every time we played, even now, we wrestle and stuff. That's where I got it from."
So how was it wrestling an Olympic-caliber athlete?
"He would put me in holds, keep me there," Jones said. "I'd just do whatever I can to get out of there.
"I'd probably give him some elbows. I used to try to get his eyes. He wouldn't let go of me."
That aggressiveness also carried over into Jones' basketball career at Etiwanda High in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.
"I would just go straight from football and go to basketball and just be physical," Jones said. "Fouled out a couple times early. I was still in the football mode."
