ASHBURN, Va. -- Clinton Portis says he's a changed man.

Clinton Portis says he now lives in the present.

Clinton Portis says he's going to worry only about himself, discuss only himself.

"I'm going to keep Clinton Portis out of trouble," the Washington Redskins running back vowed last week. "I'm going to keep Clinton Portis focused. I'm going to keep Clinton Portis on top of his game. ... I don't know how anybody feels. I don't know what anybody's thinking. I don't know what anyone's going through. The only thing I know is what's going on in Clinton Portis' life."

Told about his star's remarks, Redskins coach Joe Gibbs said he couldn't remember Clinton Portis ever talking himself into trouble. Gibbs wasn't at this summer's Beach Blitz in Virginia Beach, when Portis told a television station he supported Atlanta quarterback Michael Vick's right to engage in dogfighting, sparking a national backlash that lasted a couple of weeks.

Redskins officials say Portis was bewildered by the firestorm his comments drew from one vocal segment of the public. The remarks were made at the end of a long, playful exchange with teammate Chris Samuels. He'd done nothing but express an opinion, one born out of his rural southern roots. There, he later explained, dogfighting was common.

He thought he was being set up, spied on by hidden cameras, the day a woman sat beside him in an airport, opened her dog carrier and began feeding her pet. It all turned out to be ironically innocent. But it also served to give Portis, who doesn't own a dog and isn't into pets, a glimpse of a different perspective.

But that's the past and, as Portis said, he's so intent on the here and now that he wouldn't be able to answer a question about something that happened a week ago. He is coming off the worst of five often-spectacular NFL seasons, a 523-yard effort sabotaged by a shoulder injury in the preseason opener and, later, a broken hand. On Nov. 14, the Redskins ended his season by placing him on injured reserve, leaving him trying to reestablish himself as one of the league's elite backs.

He has also struggled with tendinitis in his right knee throughout the summer and has missed the past two days of training camp. He has a plan once he returns to better health.

"For three of my five years, I think I played that way," Portis said.

"I think it took until I felt comfortable, until I felt I'd arrived at elite status ... that I was a superstar, that I relaxed. Then I get hurt and all of a sudden, you feel like everything you've done is forgotten about. Now, I'm stepping out like a rookie. I have to prove that I'm still the dangerous [number] 26."

He'll be accorded every opportunity, though Ladell Betts ran for 1,154 yards last season. Portis is the starter, and while Betts probably will play more than the usual backup, Portis' breakaway ability gives him the edge with associate head coach/offense Al Saunders.

Portis mystified Saunders a year ago by removing himself from games, eliminating some of Saunders' play-calling options.

"We settled our differences," Portis said. "We never really sat down and said what each other had to say. I just have to buy into his system. ... I have to adjust. Ladell came in and was successful in this scheme. He found a way to adjust to it. I have to do the same."

Last year, Portis said, he was "burnt out" on football. Gibbs' declaration that the players remain and work out at Redskins Park set up the game as a year-round endeavor that drained Portis' enthusiasm.

"I was really tired of football," he said. "The excitement, the attitude towards football, wasn't there. ... I never really had football in me last year."

Now things are different. The time spent away from the game gave him a chance to recharge his batteries and reassess his priorities.

"I had the opportunity to go back, to miss football, to look at my mistakes, where I went wrong," he said. "Being away from the team is something you miss. You get the opportunity to find yourself."

The first place he is looking is inside Gibbs' system. Portis said he's tired of being an "outcast," tired of speaking up on behalf of the team. He is "weak from battling for everyone else," he said without elaborating.

"You've got to pick your own poison and pick your own battles," he added. "Now, I've got to battle for myself."

That doesn't mean that the playful Portis has been buried for good. Asked how he would improve training camp, Portis joked that he'd turn it into a "resort," the better for players to start the season healthy, the better for them to win.

"I've always thought long-term and where I wanted to be at the end of the year," he said.

"Now, it's week by week. I want to go out and find a way for us to be successful."