ALBANY — The audition before the audition is almost over for Rueben Randle.
In two days, the Giants, having gone through two weeks of training camp at that point, will open up their preseason schedule in Jacksonville. It will be the first professional game for Giants rookies, and even Randle is intrigued by how he will fare.
“I am curious,” the rookie receiver said yesterday.
Randle was the ninth wideout taken in April’s NFL Draft, going to the Giants with the last pick of the second round (63rd overall). Randle, in many ways, is the Giants’ equivalent of another Rueben — Ruben Tejada of the Mets.
The Mets let Jose Reyes depart in free agency and replaced him with a young substitute (Tejada). The Giants let Mario Manningham depart in free agency, and Randle — who wears Manningham’s old No. 82 — is among the possible replacements.
“I think he’s going to be a playmaker,”
fellow wideout Hakeem Nicks said. “I see flashes of great things.”
Randle is competing with another youngster (last year’s third-rounder,
Jerrel Jernigan) and a veteran (Domenik Hixon) for the third wideout spot behind Nicks and Victor Cruz. Though Nicks and Cruz are examples of the Giants’ recent success with finding receivers — Nicks, Cruz, Manningham and Steve Smith all have emerged since 2007 — the team also has seen Sinorice Moss go bust and Ramses Barden do nothing.
The question now is, which lineage will Randle follow?
“All I know is that [Randle] needs to develop,” wide receivers coach Kevin M. Gilbride said last week. “He’s shown some flashes of great things in training camp so far but also is very inconsistent with his knowledge of our offense and how we’re trying to execute our offense.”
The 6-foot-4, 210-pound Randle was an All-SEC pick last year at LSU. His production was solid but unspectacular (53 catches, 917 yards, eight TDs last season), although LSU only threw for 152.5 yards per game, 109th among the 120 major colleges. Of those 152.5 yards, Randle averaged 65.5.
“Rueben has been a guy that’s caught the ball consistently all through camp,” head coach Tom Coughlin said yesterday. “Very smooth. Gotten himself open. Caught the football. I wouldn’t think there’d be any reason not to expect him to continue to do that [on Friday]. But we’ll see how [he and first-rounder David Wilson] do when they compete against someone else other than our own people.”
Last year, there were seven wideouts taken in the first two rounds, and they averaged 46 catches, 686 yards and four touchdowns as rookies. In 2006, just four receivers were taken in the first two rounds (including Moss and Santonio Holmes), and they averaged just 37 grabs, 408 yards and two scores.
“I have noticed [rookie wideouts are producing more than they used to],” said Randle, who may see some time as a punt returner. “I think that’s due to guys willing or wanting to improve and want to get out there on the field. I think that’s all what’s inside of you.”
Randle will end up with plenty of comparisons — to Manningham, Jernigan and even Jets wideout Stephen Hill, who was drafted 20 spots ahead of Randle. Those comparisons can begin after Randle makes his debut on Friday in Jacksonville.
mark.hale@nypost.com