Darrelle Revis' mindset of 'being dedicated to the game' results in Hall of Fame career

From his generational talent to his memorable nickname, Darrelle Revis impacted the NFL during his 11-year career.

He became the ultimate lockdown cornerback with the New York Jets, creating "Revis Island." No wide receiver wanted to be stuck there. He set the bar high for elite corners in today's NFL and won a Super Bowl with the New England Patriots.

A spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame was only a matter of time.

In August, Revis will make his way across the stage in Canton as a member of the Hall of Fame's Class of 2023.

Revis was taught to keep his head down and let his game do the talking. Already a soft-spoken individual, he was addicted to competition and always thirsted for knowledge while never settling for anything less than greatness.

“I just had a knack for having a competitive nature and just wanted to not settle for the last season or the last play,” Revis said. “When you have that type of insanity, it could drive you crazy a little bit, but at the same time I was able to balance that during my career and still enjoy having the appreciation to everything that was taking place and just go take it in stride.”

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Darrelle Revis, a kid from Aliquippa ‘looking for coaching’

For years, Aliquippa High School produced generational NFL talents such as Ty Law, Mike Ditka and Tony Dorsett. Revis, who looked up to Law, was next in line. He joins the other three in the Hall.

“It puts a little bit of expectation, very high expectation for you,” Revis said. “That’s how you approach it. It’s a way for me to improve if I could be a Ty Law, Tony Dorsett or Mike Ditka.”

Originally, Revis was into basketball, and according to his former high school football coach, Sherman McBride, he was good at it before he started playing football for Aliquippa High School.

“Darrelle was a great basketball player,” McBride said. "I remember this guy going around dribbling a basketball. Everywhere you saw Darrelle, he had a basketball in his hands. When he first came to Aliquippa, he was actually playing basketball here and came to a football workout. Our head coach told him to give it a try and everything. We knew right then and there that Darrelle always practices his craft. He is always first in line. He is always that guy and always wanted to go places.”

McBride, an assistant coach then, discovered something about Revis that separated him from other players.

“All you have to do is tell Darelle once, and he will absorb whatever you were telling him,” McBride said. “You didn’t have to look for him because Darrelle was first in line. He was looking for coaching.”

McBride shared many memories of Revis as a football and basketball star for Aliquippa. He recalled a time when he led his team to a state championship, scoring five touchdowns in five different ways. The following Tuesday, after only one day of practice because of a snowstorm, Revis dropped 35 points in a basketball game against a rival school. McBride called it a ‘Revis weekend.’

“Darrelle was one of those kids that plays hard in every play,” McBride said. “Just like anybody else, when you play against that one player that you might’ve heard of that was doing the same thing that you will do or people will talk about the things that will take Darrelle’s level another step up. Darelle never played up to his opposition because you can’t get there. You can’t make it like that. Darrelle made sure he didn’t take anyone lightly.”

Revis Island redefined the term shutdown corner

Selected by the Jets in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft out of Pittsburgh, Revis played eight of his 11 seasons with the Jets, becoming a superstar during his initial six-year run with the team.

Revis Island went from a simple nickname to a way of life for all lockdown corners who followed him into the NFL.

Revis, who trademarked the name, couldn’t imagine Revis Island becoming a lifestyle. Still, while it is often imitated, never duplicated, he takes it as a compliment whenever a player uses 'Island' with their last name.

“For young corners in today’s game, to say Revis Island or what their last name is and then put Island next to it, it’s just a testament to your hard work and the thing you strive for to be great,” Revis said. “I think for me, guys have always been an inspiration to me, growing up. You are always doing it for the next generation. Somebody has done it for me, and I think that was the same approach.”

Revis dominated one-on-one coverages. He went against some of the game's all-time great wide receivers. And receivers such as Randy Moss, Andre Johnson, Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens were trapped on Revis Island at some point.

In 2009, Revis held receivers to under 35 yards, according to Pro Football Reference. Revis didn’t specify who was the toughest receiver to cover, but he did mention Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson as the player he feared the most because of his size. Yet Revis held Johnson to only one catch for 13 yards in Week 9 when the Jets played against the Detroit Lions in 2010.

The level of success Revis had went beyond his game on the field. Revis took pride in film study just as much as he focused on his technique.

“Every matchup is different,” Revis said. ”You have to approach every matchup with a different mindset, too, the way you study guys. All of them are great in their own right. They are totally tough to cover. ... That’s just the preparation of film study. My deal is to wear guys down from the first quarter to the fourth quarter. By the third quarter, you’ll be lining up saying ‘I’m tired of this guy.'”

Current New York Jets All-Pro corner Sauce Gardner said he watched and studied the 2010 Jets-Lions game the night before he was drafted. After not allowing a touchdown in his college career at Cincinnati, Gardner entered the NFL expected to be the next Revis and was the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2022.

“He was a great player,” Gardner said of Revis to SNY Network after the 2022 draft. “I was just watching him vs. Calvin Johnson. He was one of the only guys who were able to shut him down. I found myself watching him last night and like now I’m a New York Jet, I feel like it all made sense. It just popped into my brain like I want to watch Revis. It made a lot of sense.”

Even his contemporaries marveled at Revis.

Rondé Barber, Revis’ 2023 Hall of Fame classmate, watched film of Revis and tried to emulate Revis' game when he played cornerback for the Buccaneers.

“You knew the moniker "Revis Island," but watching him doing it from a professional point of view was pretty awesome,” Barber said

Pittsburgh Maulers cornerback Mark Gilbert, Revis’ cousin, said patience is always the key when locking down receivers. Gilbert learned that from training with Revis in high school in North Carolina before playing for Duke.

“When I start training with him, that was the one thing he told me,” Gilbert said. “When he looks at the game today, he feels like a lot of corners get away from the fundamentals and basics.”

‘It’s always tunnel vision'

Revis was a clear-cut favorite to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer when he became eligible.

A four-time first-team All-Pro, Revis finished his career with 496 tackles, 29 interceptions, three touchdowns, 139 passes defended, four forced fumbles and 12 fumble recoveries. He set a Jets record with a 100-yard interception return for a TD vs. Miami in 2011.

The seven-time Pro Bowler reflected on his impact on the league and never envisioned his career leading to football heaven on the first attempt.

“I think as you go through your career and you play the game at a high level, you believe that you are the best, and think you stacked up with the best,” Revis said. “I don’t think I ever thought about being a first-ballot Hall of Famer. I think I had tunnel vision. For me, it’s about, being dedicated to the game.”

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Darrelle Revis set bar high for NFL cornerbacks in Hall of Fame career