ALBANY — There is a human face that can be attached to the potentially-devastating repeat knee injury to Terrell Thomas even though he has left training camp, hoping for any shred of encouraging news out in California.
“I’m devastated for him,’’ receiver Domenik Hixon said yesterday at the University at Albany. “I know how much he was looking forward to coming back. Hopefully he comes back with some good news. It’s just stressful, real stressful.’’
Hixon doesn’t play the same position as Thomas and, on the field and the depth chart, the possibility that Thomas, a starting cornerback, is done for a second consecutive season has no bearing on him. Yet the bond is real and strong between these two players. Hixon has missed the past two seasons after twice tearing and needing reconstruction on his right anterior cruciate ligament and it was Hixon on Sunday who was working in a one-on-one drill with Thomas when they both slipped and only one of them got up healthy.
If it happened again to Thomas — who tore his ACL for the first time in 2005 and the second time nearly one year ago — it can happen again, for a third time, to Hixon.
“Yeah, I’d lie to you if I said it didn’t,’’ Hixon said, admitting he’s worried about that scenario.
Thomas will be evaluated by Dr. Arthur Ting, the surgeon who performed his two previous ACL reconstructions, holding out the slim hope that despite the ACL injury he suffered this past weekend his right knee is stable enough to avoid another season-ending procedure.
Perhaps Thomas and the Giants can catch a break. An ESPN report stated the doctors who have already examined him believe he in fact does not have a torn ACL and are optimistic he can play this season. The report added Thomas will travel to Florida on Tuesday for a third opinion and have his knee checked out by Dr. James Andrews.
“I’m always going to hope,’’ coach Tom Coughlin said, before adding, ominously, “I have enough information though to counter some of that hope. His knee is going to require some time. It’s not like tomorrow morning you’re going to have him.’’
Coughlin conferred with Thomas before he headed west and the mental strain was obvious.
“He did a great job of masking, I’m sure, his true emotions,’’ Coughlin said. “His emotions, I’m sure, are very fragile at this point in time, but he did not show that with me. He kept a stiff upper lip, didn’t let himself go.’’
It was Coughlin who grew emotional when asking why so many players have incurred repeat ACL tears, pleading with medical research for answers. Hixon is no doctor but he has spent virtually all of his time the past two years rehabbing his two ACL injuries and he, reluctantly, is an expert on the process.
Did he come back too soon the first time? Did Thomas come back too soon?
“What is too soon, what’s too late?’’ Hixon said. “In a perfect world you’d probably want two years recovering and be able to come back, but there’s no time for that. It would be awesome to have a year and a half, two years to really rehab, make sure the ligament’s healed, but in our job you don’t have that luxury.’’
The Giants won a Super Bowl last season without Thomas, but some injuries hit home more than others. This one hit the Giants hard.
“You just feel for the guy,’’ Justin Tuck said. “Forget football. I know he’s … I’ve never seen somebody come in every day and work as hard as he worked to get back. I saw him, and I didn’t really have any words to tell him. We’ll just keep him in our prayers.’’
It is so far, so good for Hixon in his comeback bid, as he hasn’t been limited at all. He said he must put what happened to Thomas out of his mind, however callous that sounds.
“People say, ‘Stay healthy,’ what does that mean?’’ Hixon said. “You work out every day, try to do the right thing recovering. When me and [Thomas] were working out together, you’re coming back, to me, stronger and something like that happens, that’s tough. My heart goes out to him.’’
paul.schwartz@nypost.com