ALBANY — During the Giants’ first training camp practice of 2012 on Friday, backup quarterback David Carr tried to hit Rueben Randle with a deep throw. There to pick off the pass was Prince Amukamara.
Amukamara is poised to be a critical piece in the Giants secondary. The second-year cornerback suffered through a miserable, disappointing and injury-plagued rookie season as the Giants’ first-round pick, but fellow cornerback Terrell Thomas believes Amukamara is set to emerge.
“I think he’s ready,” Thomas said yesterday, before revealing he believes Amukamara is fed up with the criticism he has heard.
“He’s a first-round [pick],” Thomas said. “First round’s gotta prove something. Gotta put out some pudding.”
Amukamara’s interception was a good scoop of pudding, and yesterday’s second day was promising — especially in that he avoided what happened to him on his second day of camp last year, when he broke his left foot. The fracture shattered the bulk of his season, as he missed all of camp and preseason as well as the Giants’ first nine games.
“I think [not having training camp] probably hurt me a lot,” Amukamara said. “Just not experiencing, just going up against professional wide receivers. The first couple of weeks, I had some practice and then next thing you know, I’m lined up against DeSean Jackson.”
Amukamara actually intercepted a pass in his first game against Jackson and the Eagles, but that was his season highlight. In Week 15 against the Redskins, he was benched. And he only played in two of the Giants’ four playoff games.
“It was a roller coaster,” Amukamara said of his rookie season.
This season, general manager Jerry Reese, who chose Amukamara with the 19th overall pick in the 2011 draft, has sizeable expectations for his corner.
“I expect Prince to play like a first-round draft pick,” Reese said. “He should challenge for a starting job and play like a first-round draft pick.”
Amukamara is a longshot to start, since the Giants have two established corners in Thomas and Corey Webster. But he’s in the mix for the key third-corner spot with Justin Tryon, Michael Coe and Bruce Johnson.
As long as he can put out some pudding.