>> the following is an abc 7 sports presentation. >> his name is robert griffin iii, and he has a new home. >> ♪ hold on to me as we go as we roll down this unfamiliar road and although this wave is stringing us along just know you're not alone because i'm gonna make

this pla your home ooh, ooh, ooh ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ooh, o, ooh ah, ah, ah ♪ >> yes, sir, rgiii has a new home, and redskins fans have new hope. >> abc 7 sports presents "the year of rgiii." >> from our rosslyn studios, the man of the hour, across t jumbotrons, rgiii, an entire half-hour dedicated to the redskins superstar. good evening. thank you for joining us.. tonight, the yeaear of rgiii and what a year it has been.

what started out as the big grand, smiling kid at subway has turned into the quarterback leading the redskins to a potential super bowl. first up, seattle sunda but before that it was a long story, rich with a lot of different twists and turns. tim brant has the sto from the beginning. >> the superdome in new orleans. that is where this sean will end. it is also where the professional career of robert griffin iii began. all rgiii di that day inhe big easy was make it look easy, 320 yards and two touchdowns and a resoununding upset win in his first professional game. >> we came out and played big on a big stage and we won. >> week 5 against atlanta the hit occurred around the nfl.

griffin suffered a c concussion and left the gamed. itazed yes. unfazed? you better believe it.t. >> everybody knows i am a tough guy. i promised i would get up from hits like that and i did. >> the resilience iii got up and it was at fedex field the next week that h he turned in his signature play of 2012. >> it was all a blur. the tight end coach said he felt we run byim, it washat fast i don't know. >> everybody kept saying slide slide, slide, and then when we saw he had the ankle everybody was saying, keep goingkeep going! >> i tried to leaeave and they held me down. >> the nfl's brightest star it

stole the show and a big owl but -- stole the show in the big apple the next week. two more losses followed and the redskins were veering off course. leave it to a 22-ar-old rookie to rally his team. >> it does not matr what it is, i will make sure that i continue to help my team win games. >> the redskins' return from the bye to face three nfc east opponents. all he did was turn in a triple play, first at home agast the eagles, and then in dallas, on thanksgiving no less. rgiii made his monday night debut the next week, andnd once again, with a national television audience watchining, rgiii saved his best for last. the redskins won their third straight game and were back in the hunt. >> thank you, tim. of course, once rgiii and the

reredskins got back in the hunt, they made it pay off with four straight wins, the last two at philadphia and lt sunday y at home against dallas. i caught up with rgiii, one on one, to talk about the incredible playoff run. >> what wdoes ts playoff run feel like for you? you're the man everyone is talking about. >> it feels good, but it's not just about getting into the playoffs. everybody is excited and that we won the division, but we want to keep it going, keeit rolling all the way through. the timeme for celebration was over for me right after the game. it is time to move forward. >> coach said this is unprecedented. you have done things he has never seen any quarterback do before, and he has coached a couple of f good ones you migh say. what does that mean to you? >> it means a lot. coach is a guy i watched a lot growing up as a broncos fan.

to be able to play for him and have those things say those thingsit d definitely means a lot more coming from him. your family is in the area, got a chance to catch up with your mom. she said still eat the sweet potato pie and go and see them every now and then. a house where th said nobody recognizes us around here. can you tell us what that is like, what your relationship is like? >> my parents are very down-to- earth. they have not changed, even though my situation has changed. they are still the same. mom still makes potatoie for me. i love having them around. >> everybody looks to you, but who do you get strength from on the team? >> you know, a bunch of guys. other l leaders bowen fletch, ent. and then there are the guys i want to see when i got here, d- hall cooley.

i kn the sacrifices they are making for the team and makes me want to go out there and win games for th. >> they say that numbers never lie, and in this case they tell the story. mostmpressive, rgiii has only thrown five interceptions this season. compare that with tony rahm 0's 19 and the rookie is making an impression in the league. he haslso rushed f for over 800 yards. >> coming up, an exclusive interview with rgiii's mother. >> he said i promise that will never catch me. i>> and tim goes one-on-one with robert's college coach. and next vip's from the sea and beyond

>> ♪ it'as gonna be all right

it's always a good time ♪ >> rgiii's face graced the cover of several magazines, including "sports illustrated" and "espn the magazine," but more telling was ththe public figures, athletes celebrities all weighing in on robert griffin iii and the effect he has had on the washington community. washingtonians and beyond are marveling about what rgiii has done his rookie season. >> he is awesome. the first thing i did was ask for an autographed footballs from him so he has brought back football. >> in fact, the buzz was off the arts as soon as the redskins traded up to get the second overall pick. > i was absolutely ecstatic.

i met him on a couple of occasis. is incredibly engaging, very intelligent. i look for him to be here the rest of his life, and he is charismatic. >> argie 3's first impression? lasting. -- rgiii's first impression? lasting. >> all the pressure, everything on this young guy, man that game he was ol, calm like, "i belong." >> for the owner's better half, rgiii has made the team whole. >> he is amazing, so smart, at a great leader. and this is just the beginning, this is his first year. we could not be more thrilled. >> still just 22, he is already being linked with some of the all-time greats. >> my fifirst game, sammy baugh

was throwing touchdown passes. he will be the new sammy baugh in a hall of fame, no doubt. >> in texas the intersection n of manning and williams. that is right, manning, take your pick, and doug. >> to ya'll it is robert griffin to star. for us, it is robert. he is a class act, but he has a head on his shoulders. you put athleticism with great intelligence, and then couple that with character, you have such a winning product that i don't think anybody has really seen what he can really do. they might think they have see it, but he will be even better in the future. >> you heard from his high school coach. tim brant caught up with rgiii's

college coach, from baylor university. >> after spending so much time with him what makes him so special? >> from the inside out, he has a great spirit, great soul. what you see is at you get and that is very few and far between these days. >> did you have any idea he would have this kind of impact this early? >> you would like to say yes but when i recruited him, i thought he would be a heisman trophy candidate. i thought he could win it. as i lood over at guys who are great and high school, they're great in college, they are great in the nfl, because you are momoving up the ranks with the same people. >> he is special, when you look back at the year the touchdowns thrown against the interceptions, it is incredible for a ookie. >> as a true freshman, i think he threw t three interceptions 4.

>> congratulations to you and rgiii. >> thank you, appreciate it. >> what about the life and story behind rgi, behind the success, how he was raised? i go one-on-one with

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>>hey say behind every grea man is an equally strongoman and that is the case in the griffin family. i had e opportunity to catch up with jacqueline griffin, a strong woman who sets an example in the community and ther son, who continues t inspi many but mos importantly griffin continues to inspire his family. jacqueline griffin was all but certain that her third child was another girl. after all, girls run in the griffin family. >> they would tell me, this is another girl. i believe, ok, this is a girl. that is fine. i said we will name roberta. >> sure enough, robert griffin iii came into the world, and did not take long for mom to know that person would be a big-time athlete. when did you know your son was exceptionally lentnted? >> i would say as birth -- at

birth, as s his mother. and what came to football, jacqueline griffin put her foot down. >> he said pinkie promise, and you'll never catch me. it is the catch me i will stop playing football. the eighth grade year, the kids were bigger and he was still small, and they caught him. but at t that time he was having so much fun, his grades were really good, i did not have the hard to stop him if >> does he still try to tell you, mom, in the nfl they will not catch me? >> i tell myself that, but it always hard. he is always my son. >> it was not just football robert excelled at. he was also a staon the track and a veryry competitive one at that. how competitive? this picture of robert sulking because he won silver and not gold tellsll. but athletics is just part of

rome -- robert griffin iii's foundation. robert has to be a military parents, how that shaped his upbringing? >> my husbanand i came from a strict family alreadyand we join the military because our family was not able to send us to college. we were determined that we would make sure that the next generation, our kids, would do better than us. >> robert's father and motother both graduated from colleges in texas, and robert followed suit, going to baylor university in waco where he had a stellar career and won the heisman university. robert graduated to the next level and the griffins decided to come with him. bastop, the nation's capital where robert quickly became washington's favorite son. when did it click, wow, this is

another level? >> it has not really clicked to us. we feel like we knew this was coming. we did not know it was coming at this capacity, all at once. >> what does robert come to you for, that advice? >> if that is roughing him up, he will say, ok, dad will tell you the truth. my husband has always been the one who tells him exactly what they need to hear, and then i'm the one who comes back to rob them on the back. it worked out for us. it is a team. >> cowboys desperate chickens, they don't like each other. -- cowboys-redskins, they don't like each other. they leave cowboys stadium, they are chanting rgiii. what does he think about that, what you think about that? >> my husband and i used to pray god use us to change some of these things in the world. i really believe my son will

change the culture, if not the world. >> but he willll be doing that while eating your sweet potato pie, rht? >> yes. i mean, we have not changed to we are. that is how we want people to see us, as a normal family who believes, and we achieved our goals. and we're not fished yet. >> i know that i would like a piecece of mama griffin's sweet potato pies. itas gotten rave reviews. thank you to jacqueline for joining us in the broadcast. next we hear from you, the ns, and what you thinkf the franchise quarterback. (vo) they were married for... 53 years. she was his everything. he can't live alone anymore. but we don't have the room. so, we talked to suntrust... looked at our options... remodeled...

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>> ♪ the sun goes down the stars come out all accounts is here and now my univeverse will never be the same i'm glad you came ♪ >> welcome back. not only at fedex but across the country, rgiii has been well- received by fans. at cleveland, , fans started chanting his name and he never played. at dallas, the arch rival of the redskins, the whole crowd started cheering rgiii. and locally, fans cannot get

enough of the redskins superstar in terms of popularity, ben's chili bowl have smokes may have met t their match>> what does this playoff run -- what is better? >> that is hard to say. >> he is awesome. anand he is better than we thought. and he has a lot of people interested in f football who were not ierested before. >> he is like jordan. he has the j juice a whole package. it is his leadership that makes him compete at a different level. >> and he is selling like hotcakes across town. all things rgiii are all the rage. >> that is my boy. that is my boy. >> his number 10 is far and away the best fashion statement at

fedex field and beyond. rgiii has the best-selling jersey ever, since the nfl start keeping track. as they say, he is money, in more ways than one. >> i have not felt this electricity in our city and some time. >> he just carries himself in a professional manner. we have been waiting for this guy for a long, long time. >> and back to ben's, where the signs behind cash register may have to be amended. if he wins the super bowl, will he have to pay for a half smoke? something tells me that rgiii would have nono problem with the tab if he went to ben's cli bowl. on behalf of the cast and c crews and tim brant, a nky so much for joining us. hopefully more good is to come -- thank you so much for joining us. hopefully more good is to come from rgiii and the redskins.

have a good night. it