"On most days this off-season, Ryan Grant would emerge through the familiar Packers tunnel onto Lambeau Field, turn left and take off, starting at the aisle between Sections 131 and 133.

He sprinted every step - not skipping two at a time - running up and then down each and every aisle. Past the seats where the bikini girls brave the elements, past where the adoring await with open arms for the Lambeau Leap, past the press box and rows of critics, around to the scoreboard that so badly needs him and by the famous retired numbers of Hutson, Starr, Nitschke and White.

Forty-five minutes later, he was done, heart pumping and head cleared of everything except the upcoming 2009 season.

In hushed honesty, yes, Grant will admit he feels underrated. He was the ninth-ranked running back in the NFL last year. But the 6-foot-1, 222-pound third-year veteran accepts that his 1,203 rushing yards last season, along with all the other statistical achievements by the Green Bay offense, were washed under the tide of a 6-10 season.

And so Grant pounded out his frustration on the steps of Lambeau Field with two specific purposes.

One was therapeutic.

The other was to improve his burst.

"I needed to work on a lot of explosion this year," said Grant, 26. "Because the explosion between the first 7 yards to 10 yards in our offense is what makes the big plays."

Last year Grant was limited to runs that topped out at 12, 9, 8, 5 yards in some games and the mid-teens in other games. His yards-per-carry average dipped from 5.1 in 2007 to 3.9. To get that average back up, he needed to improve his launch.

Stadium steps are good for that, and when Grant didn't run Lambeau he ran at home, either at Rutgers' stadium or his high school stadium at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J.

"The explosion it takes of getting up the hill, that helps," said Grant. "You know what else helps on those steps? You have to get your knees up. You're not going to get up that step if you don't get your knees up. You'll trip."

Grant also worked with sleds, of course, and drill work. A trainer would set out a line of cones and number each one, symbolizing a defender ready to tackle. Grant would take the handoff and run one way. When the trainer called out a number, Grant had to cut to that cone, forcing his body to stop, make a cut, and switch direction.

"The reaction would be at the same speed as if a game," said Grant.

Running backs coach Edgar Bennett also had films to study of running backs from Steven Jackson, who gained 1,528 yards with St. Louis in 2006, to Green Bay's Ahman Green, who had 1,883 yards in 2003."