It's amazing what a difference a year can make.

At this time last year, Robert Griffin III was entering his junior season of eligibility at Baylor University, chasing his dreams as an NFL quarterback.

Fourteen-hundred miles away, the Redskins entered training camp with an unresolved quarterback position and an eye toward the future.

Fast-forward to 2012, and both parties have found what they they were looking for in one another. 

In Griffin III, the Redskins have a dynamic athlete ready to turn the franchise around. In Washington, Griffin III has found his professional home, and a city ready to win.

"I'm very proud to be a part of this franchise, and I definitely look at it as a blessing," Griffin III said during this afternoon's press conference.  "The fans are definitely starved for success, but I think the players in the locker room are starved for success as well.  They want to show people what they're made of."

Griffin III downplayed media suggestion that he was the new face of the franchise, joking: "There's really no true face of the franchise, because if we all just had faces, we'd all be dead.

"There's got to be heart, there's got to be legs, some arms, and that's those guys inside," he said of his teammates.  "I guess you can say I'm the mask.  Those guys are the real ones that make up the body of the team."

While Griffin III accepts the leadership that comes with the quarterback position, he understands the balance of being a young player on the team.

"Right now the speech duties are going to London Fletcher," he said with a smile.  "I'm not going to try to trump him on those.

"If I ever had to just sit back and tell those guys anything, it's you want to be certified.  There's a word that comes after [certified], that I'm not going to say into the mic.  But we've got make sure everyone on this team is certified.

"If you're the baddest guy in your group, then you've got a problem," he explained.  "You don't need to be hanging out with guys that aren't as certified as you are.  You have to be certified, and that lets everybody know that you're going to take care of business."

Griffin III has frequently been compared to such dynamic quarterbacks as Steve Young, Michael Vick and Cam Newton.  While he acknowledges the similarities, Griffin III said that his focus is on the end result: winning.

"I don't really pay attention to [Newton].  I was never a stats guy--don't believe in them," he said.  "Success for us is winning football games.  I don't set individual goals, so everything I do is based on the team.

"For winning."

What a difference a year makes.

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