Fullback Hynoski makes powerful impression
New York Giants fullback Henry Hynoski runs with the ball during NFL football training camp. Credit: AP
Henry Hynoski had a decision to make. He was being called in to run a play with the first offensive group in Saturday night's practice, but his helmet was being worked on by an equipment staffer at the time.
What did he do? What any true fullback would, of course. He tried to get into the play without his helmet.
Hynoski was stopped from doing so, but his instinct to want to be in for the full-contact snap, to not want to miss even one rep, is what is drawing the attention of the Giants.
While undrafted players around the league are scrambling to pick up any reps they can, Hynoski has been getting regular work with the first offensive unit, taking calls from Eli Manning, blocking for Brandon Jacobs and butting heads with Chris Canty.
"That's the pure fullback in the pure fullback position," Tom Coughlin said of his only rookie to be getting first-team reps on either side of the ball in training camp. "Hopefully, he'll be the physical presence that we need."
The Giants haven't had a "pure fullback" in some time, or at least not a healthy one. Madison Hedgecock was hampered by a chronic back problem last year, and when Hedgecock was on IR, Bear Pascoe filled in admirably. But this summer, with the loss of Kevin Boss in free agency, Pascoe is needed back at his natural tight end position. It means Hynoski has a great shot at being the Giants' starting fullback on opening day.
"You always need a thumper out there," Hynoski said. "That's why they brought me in here, to be a battering ram and catch some passes out of the backfield. I'm excited for the opportunity to do that."
Hynoski, who is 6-1 and 265 pounds, has always been a fullback. Even when he ran for more than 7,000 yards in high school, he was a fullback playing in a wing-T offense. When he was recruited by colleges, he knew his touches would decrease even if his contact was about to increase.
"To be a fullback, you have to love the game, you have to love hitting people," he said. "That's what I do. I really don't care about the publicity. I don't need a thank you. I just love playing football and I just like hitting people."
He's also been working with Charles Way, the team's director of player development, who was a bruising fullback for the Giants in his playing days. In fact, when he was playing at Pitt, Hynoski said he would watch teaching tapes of NFL games, and Way often would be included in them.
"The fullback position is mainly heart and desire," Way said. "You can fix technique. After the fifth or sixth time you're running a lead iso on a 270-pound mike linebacker, what's inside you to say, 'OK, I can do it an eighth time'? The fact that he loves the game just as much as I love the game has made me look at him totally different from how I may have looked at a lot of the other fullbacks that have come through our system."
Because the college game has gone to a spread system for the most part, fullbacks are coming into the league a little less refined than they used to be. But the real way to gauge a fullback is not on his angles or his leverage.
"The technique issues, that can be corrected," Way said. "What's inside the man can't. You can't fix that if you don't have it . . . The one thing I do see in him is a desire to play the position."
More Giants
