Schmitz was modest and polite on his call, during which he said the NFL center he most admires is Tampa Bay’s Ryan Jensen – who is anything but polite in uniform.
“He’s one of the nastiest people on the field and just the way he plays, his mentality, you know that he’s going to bring it every play,” Schmitz said. “He’s a tremendous leader, also.”
Would Schmitz describe himself as nasty?
“Yes, that’s the biggest thing I would say,” he said. “The nasty, tough, grit factor, definitely.”
The mean streak is a big reason the Giants were so eager to acquire him.
“You see it on film,” coach Brian Daboll said. “We did a FaceTime with him, the whole group (in the draft room), and he basically wanted to put his helmet and shoulder pads on that instant, standing with his parents. He loves the game of football and just another good offensive lineman to work with.”
“Yeah, you see it on film,” Schoen said. “Not when you’re sitting across from him, but when you turn on the film, you see it.”
Schmitz stands along among the Giants’ first three selections in the 2023 draft as the only one in which they Giants stood pat before selecting. They traded up in the first round to take Maryland cornerback Deonte Banks and in the third to select Tennessee wide receiver Jalin Hyatt.
Schmitz will contend for the starting center job as a rookie because the Giants have no obvious returning frontrunner for the job. Jon Feliciano, who started 17 games last season, and Nick Gates, who started the other two, both departed as free agents, the former to San Francisco and the latter to Washington. The other contenders include veterans Ben Bredeson, Jack Anderson, Shane Lemieux and recently signed J.C. Hassenauer.
“(We’ll) throw them all out there,” coach Daboll said. “We haven’t had practice yet. We have selected some new players and some free agents, and we’ll start phase two (of the offseason program) on Monday, which is a little bit different from phase one. But (you) can’t get out in front of each other until we get to phase three and that’s really a teaching type of camp, if you will.”
Schmitz was an all-conference player for – ironically – the Vikings of Homewood-Floosmoor High School in Illinois. He then spent six years in Minneapolis, one as a redshirt and five on the field. Schmitz wasn’t about to confess if he became a fan of the NFL Vikings during his time there. Asked who he rooted for in the playoff game, Schmitz said, “You know, I was at the game just watching football, that’s all…
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