Giants grab confident Nebraska LB Dillard

It took three days and four rounds, but the Giants finally drafted a linebacker.

They selected Phillip Dillard from Nebraska with the 115th overall pick Saturday morning, filling what many observers believed to be the team's biggest need.

With Antonio Pierce off the team and a handful of unproven possibilities already on the roster to take his place, Dillard will be given every opportunity to win the job.

And he plans on being a pain in the neck to the coaching staff.

"I'm going to be in there with the coaches, be in his ears, and I will probably be on his nerves," Dillard said. "I want to know everything. I want to know the ins and outs of everybody that we play."

Dillard lost his starting job and didn't even suit up for the first two games of Nebraska's 2009 season. He eventually found his way back onto the field and became a starter at weak-side linebacker (although he played in the middle on the sub packages Nebraska spent most of the season playing). He had 83 tackles, two shy of the team lead despite missing those two games, and three sacks.

He's also a football video buff who called all of the schemes and checks on the defense.

"That is just something that I love to do," he said. "I love to lead and have that on my shoulders, the quarterback of the defense."

The perception is that Dillard's production was more a by-product of the dominant defensive line that kept blockers off him and was highlighted by No. 2 overall pick Ndamukong Suh. But Dillard and some others at Nebraska disputed that.

"Coach Bo [Pelini] and coach Carl [Pelini] told some of the scouts that if I wasn't behind him that he wouldn't have made a couple of plays because they had to game-plan for me, too," Dillard said of his symbiotic relationship with Suh.

He laughed when it was suggested that he was bad-mouthing Suh.

"That man is a monster," he said. "He deserves all of the credit. I just help out, I just help out."

The Giants hope he'll be able to pitch in just as much for them.