NFL

Alabama coach says linebacker would fit with Giants

HIGH PRAISE:Dont’a Hightower of Alabama might be the Giants’ answer with the 32nd pick in the first round of the NFL Draft. (Getty Images)

To hear Nick Saban tell it, Dont’a Hightower can do just about everything but tape ankles.

The Giants have that chore covered, but they have a glaring vacancy at middle linebacker that scouts say the Alabama prospect would fill quite nicely if Hightower is still available with the 32nd pick in Thursday’s first round of the NFL Draft.

Not only would the defending Super Bowl champions be addressing their hole in the middle with Hightower, but Saban said Big Blue would be helping themselves in numerous other areas, too.

“Inside linebacker, nickel backer, defensive end and odd rusher,” Saban said of Hightower at Alabama’s recent pro day. “He does all those things very well, he is very smart and he has leadership qualities.”

2012 GIANTS SCHEDULE

Middle linebackers who struggle in coverage have seen their roles diminish in the NFL lately with the boom in the passing game, a shift that has lessened the need for big-bodied run stuffers at that position who usually have to come off the field on third down.

Hightower certainly qualifies as a big body, standing 6-foot-2 and 265 pounds, and the 4.68-second 40-yard dash the early draft entry ran at the combine wasn’t exactly a mark in his favor.

Scouts also are concerned about any lingering effects from a devastating knee injury Hightower suffered as a freshman in 2009. He had reconstructive surgery after suffering the dreaded trifecta of a torn ACL, torn MCL and torn meniscus.

But Hightower appears to play faster than his numbers, holds his own in coverage and made Saban an early believer by showing he could also play outside or put a hand on the ground at defensive end and be effective at all of those roles.

“I’m a versatile athlete,” Hightower said at the combine. “I can play both inside and outside and the defensive end in the 4-3, so it ultimately comes down to which teams need what. I feel like I have just as much ability as anyone in the draft at either position.”

Hightower also brings maturity beyond his 22 years and strong leadership skills, so much so that Saban named him captain, as a sophomore, no less, of a defense stocked with NFL draft prospects.

Hightower, who moved to middle linebacker after Rolando McClain departed for the NFL after the 2009 season, didn’t post big individual numbers at Alabama. His best year personally was last season, when he had 11 tackles for lost yardage and four sacks.

But with Hightower fortifying the middle, the Crimson Tide had one of the most suffocating defenses in the country the past two seasons and capped that run with a shutout of equally loaded archrival LSU this year in the BCS title game.

According to Hightower, some of the best competition he had in college — not to mention some of the best preparation for the draft — came in practice. That’s hardly surprising, considering how much Saban’s Crimson Tide have been an NFL talent pipeline.

“We all competed, and that’s another reason why we came to Alabama and the SEC, to compete against some of the best athletes in the country,” Hightower said. “It definitely wasn’t a problem for us getting ready for the draft after what we faced on our own practice field.”