Prince is Giants' gift that keeps giving

If the Giants' first-round pick in this year's draft turns out to be the shutdown cornerback many expect him to be, they can thank a current member of the Jets' coaching staff for it.

Bill Callahan, now the assistant head coach and offensive line guru for the Jets, was the one who recruited Prince Amukamara to Nebraska and also the one who first decided the promising running back would fit best in the defensive backfield.

"He was a great athlete coming out of high school," Callahan told Newsday. "He could play anything. He was amazing. Hell of a basketball player. And in football, he could do anything with the ball. He could play anything. We gave thought to playing him at receiver. He had an abundance of talent."

So why move him to cornerback?

"I think there was a need at the time," Callahan said.

Funny that the Giants didn't draft Amukamara as a "need" pick, but rather a high-value one who fell to them with the 19th selection last month. They're hoping he will add to an impressive secondary that has two Pro Bowl-caliber players at safety in Antrel Rolle and Kenny Phillips, two established starters at corner in Corey Webster and Terrell Thomas, and another former first-round pick in Aaron Ross whose place in the rotation appears to be in flux.

It wasn't something that Amukamara was excited about, switching from an offensive superstar in high school to a college defender.

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"I definitely wasn't open to it," Amukamara said. "I definitely wanted to transfer right away. I thought running back was my position to play. But . . . I just stuck it out at cornerback and it has been working out good so far."

Callahan said he doesn't recall any conversations with Amukamara about his position dissatisfaction, but then again, Callahan was busy being run out of Lincoln at the time. He was replaced by Bo Pelini the following year, Amukamara's sophomore season, and the young player still wanted to transfer.

"I just encouraged him at that time that getting on the field and playing was the most important thing," said Zach Threadgill, his coach at Apollo High School in Glendale, Ariz. "Coach Pelini is a defensive-minded guy who has coached at a very high level and coached some very talented players in the defensive backfield and he obviously knows what he's talking about. To just have faith and trust his coaches because they were looking out for what was best for him."

Amukamara was the Arizona High School Player of the Year as a senior, scoring 24 touchdowns and rushing for 2,106 yards that season as a running back and getting another six touchdowns as a receiver.

"He was such a threat at this level, when he had the ball in his hands, he was just so dangerous and could score at any time," Threadgill said. "He was the best high school football player I've ever seen."

It's not as though Amukamara had never played defense. He was a two-way starter in high school. In fact, Threadgill remembered his first varsity game as a sophomore. Amukamara returned an interception 101 yards for a touchdown.

Many schools were recruiting him as an athlete, including Nebraska, which is where he ended up.

"Tremendous, tremendous athletic ability," Callahan recalled. "When they're young like that, you can put them anywhere. When they're playing in college, when they're freshmen, you can look at them in a lot of different positions because their growth potential is so vast. This was a guy who I felt could play DB, he could play running back, he could play wide receiver. He just had a lot of ability to play all of those positions. He was rare. An athlete like that gives you that type of flexibility as a coach."

Amukamara eventually decided to stick it out at Nebraska and became a full-time cornerback. Well, full-time until he's able to come up with an interception.

"You just have to switch your mentality from offense to defense," Amukamara said. "On defense, you are more of the attacker. Even though I still like the feeling of the ball in my hands, that just makes me want to have the knack of getting after the ball that much more."