ONE GIANT PLAYMAKER

May/12/08 08:10 AM Filed in: Kenny Phillips
KennyPhillips
Kenny Phillips is sure he can handle what is required of him as a first-round draft pick of the Giantst.

He knows he must purchase doughnuts for the veterans during the season.

"I can do doughnuts," Phillips said.

He knows he will be asked (more like told) to sing the Miami fight song or some other ditty on the first day of training camp.

"I think if I sound pretty good, they might not ask me to do it anymore," Phillips reasoned.

He grimaced when informed he will be expected to take the defensive backs out to an expensive dinner. Then he brightened a bit when reminded that dinner will come only after he signs his first NFL contract.

Of all the rookies at Giants Stadium for the two-day mini-camp, none looked the part quite like Phillips. He stood out in a crowd at a statuesque 6-foot-2, he has an athletic grace about him and, even if there was no name or uniform number on his back Phillips easily would be recognizable as the top pick among this collection of rookies and first-year players.

In his second practice session in this camp, Phillips showed how it's done at free safety as a high pass from Willie Copeland glanced off the fingertips of tight end Jawad Nesheiwat. The ball was headed downward, inches away from hitting the turf, when Phillips used his long strides to smoothly cradle his arms under the descending ball for an interception.

"I like the way he moves," Tom Coughlin said.

Those moves could land Phillips in the starting job vacated by the free-agent defection of Gibril Wilsont to the Raiders. There's not exactly a logjam out in front for Phillips to crash through. Veteran Sammy Knight was signed this offseason, but he's far more suited to the strong side. Returning starter James Butlert and second-year man Michael Johnson return with more experience than Phillips, but far less pedigree. Butler wasn't drafted out of Georgia Tech, and Johnson last year was a seventh-round pick out of Arizona.

(nypost.com)