Steve Serby
There is a lot to like about Marvin Austin on the football field.
He’s big (6-foot-2, 309 pounds).
He’s nasty in a Keith Hamilton way.
He’s explosive. He likes the way Warren Sapp and John Randle played the game.
There’s a lot to not like about Marvin Austin off the football field.
He was declared ineligible for his senior season because he accepted travel money arranged by an agent. He already had been suspended by head coach Butch Davis for violating team rules (academic infractions) even before the NCAA cracked down on him. He was benched for two games as a sophomore because he didn’t feel compelled to get to class on time.
mdash; a little guy from a little college — in the third round after taking UNC defensive tackle — a big guy with big issues — in the second round." title="MAN OF TROY: The Giants made Troy wide receiver Jerrel Jernigan (above) — a little guy from a little college — in the third round after taking UNC defensive tackle — a big guy with big issues — in the second round." width="300" height="450" src="/rw/nypost/2011/04/30/sports/photos_stories/troy_giants--300x450.jpg" />
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MAN OF TROY: The Giants made Troy wide receiver Jerrel Jernigan (above) — a little guy from a little college — in the third round after taking UNC defensive tackle — a big guy with big issues — in the second round.
The indiscretions of youth? Or best available con man?
“I don’t think I’m a big risk,” Austin said after the Giants made him their second-round pick.
Of course he is a big risk. If he wasn’t a big risk, someone would have honored his first-round talent by taking him in the first round.
Risky business for the Giants.
“I think anybody’s a risk,” coach Tom Coughlin said. “Until they come in and prove exactly what they can do, there’s risk for everybody involved. But we’re in a high-risk business.”
The Giants gushed that they had drafted a choir boy in cornerback Prince Amukamara in the first round. They’re all not choir boys.
The Giants have been lucky to fashion success stories out of Christian Peter — the former Nebraska defensive tackle who was convicted of charges ranging from public urination to third-degree sexual assault, in separate incidents at the school — and Ahmad Bradshaw, a seventh-round roll of the dice whose pre-draft transgressions included an arrest for underage possession of alcohol and resisting arrest, and one for stealing a PlayStation 2 video game system from another student’s unlocked dormitory room. Bradshaw pleaded guilty to misdemeanor petty larceny after prosecutors dropped a felony burglary charge, and was placed on two years’ probation.
“I’m just a good guy who made a bad decision,” Austin said.
NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock called him a steal.
“This guy,” Giants GM Jerry Reese said, “is going to come in here with a chip on his shoulder with something to prove.”
He’s a steal if he proves he’s just a good guy who made a bad decision rather than a bad guy who made a bad decision.
“I learned that every decision you make is an important decision,” Austin said.
He’s a steal if he prevents Big Blue Nation from mourning the potential free-agent departure of Barry Cofield, a good guy who makes good decisions.
He’s a steal if he really means it when he says missing the game he loves was a humbling experience, if he is truly as remorseful as Reese believes he is.
He’s a steal if the reward turns out to be so much greater than the risk that the Giants and their fans do not have to pull their hair out watching the center of their offensive grow another year older. He’s a steal if he proves Director of College Scouting Marc Ross right when he declares the Jints landed a pair of top 15 picks.
The Giants selected a darting 5-foot-9 slot receiver, return man and Wildcat QB, Jerrel Jernigan from Troy, in the third round. Best available.
“It’s great to say, ‘OK, we needed this position, so now we have a card to put up there in that spot,’ but if that player isn’t able to really fulfill that area or that position, then you’re coming back here the next year looking for the same thing again,” Bill Belichick said before Round 2.
“I learned that at the Giants. We had drafted Lawrence Taylor [1981], we had Brad Van Pelt, and I know we took Carl Banks with the [third] pick in the [1984] draft, and that pick was crucified. ‘What a stupid pick. Why would you take Carl Banks? What could you do with him? He’s just going to sit there and watch while the other two guys play.
“Another example of that was when we took Butch Woolfolk [1982] and then followed that up [in Round 2] with Joe Morris. And that was another ‘stupid pick’ of ‘Why take Joe Morris when you had already taken a running back?’ What are you going to do — get two balls out there and give one to each guy?’
“Go with what you believe in.” And, sometimes, cross your fingers.
steve.serby@nypost.com
coach tom coughlin, third degree sexual assault, coach butch davis, ahmad bradshaw, public urination, warren sapp, marvin austin, prince amukamara, risk business, john randle, choir boy, choir boys, mdash, keith hamilton, roll of the dice, pressman, indiscretions, travel money, football field, risky business
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