Not long after he signed on to represent Hakeem Nicks, agent Peter Schaffer formed an early impression of the person behind the player mainly because of what Nicks did not ask of him.
“I judge the character by what they ask me for and he’s still driving around in the same 2002 Buick he had as a freshman at North Carolina,” Schaffer told The Post. “It was a used car when he went to Carolina and it’s even more used now. This is a great kid. This guy hasn’t borrowed a penny from me, he hasn’t asked for anything, doesn’t want anything, hasn’t spent a penny.”
That relationship obviously got off to a strong start. Now here comes another chance for Nicks to make a positive impression. He arrives today for the start of his first rookie mini-camp with the Giants, the team that selected him with the 29th overall pick in the NFL Draft. The Giants want to believe Nicks has enough physical gifts and mental savvy to make some sort of meaningful contribution as a first-year receiver. This is the official start of that process.
The Giants hope history repeats itself. As a true freshman, Nicks in 2006 at North Carolina started 11 games and led the Tar Heels with 39 receptions for 660 yards — both school records for a freshman.
“He stepped on campus as a freshman and produced,” said Marc Ross, the Giants director of college scouting. “The body type and the hands are probably more polished.”
Nicks gets the chance to show what he’s got in this two-day camp. All nine draft picks are expected to attend, in addition to 45 other players signed as undrafted free agents, one-year holdovers from last season and others invited on a tryout basis. There will be two practices today and two tomorrow and plenty of information thrown at the youngsters to make their heads spin.
It’s never too early for a quarterback battle and the competition for the No. 3 spot behind Eli Manning and David Carr begins in this camp. Rhett Bomar, a fifth-round pick from Sam Houston State who started 11 games for Oklahoma in 2005 before transferring, will battle Andre Woodson, a sixth-round pick last year out of Kentucky. Woodson was not impressive last summer and spent the season on the practice squad.
“We still like Woodson,” GM Jerry Reese said. “I know people will start to write him off right away, but that is not true. Who knows how long David Carr will be here? So there will be a lot of competition at that position. It was too much value at the time for us to pass [Bomar] up.”