UNC's Davis believes in Giants' Hakeem Nicks

A lot of you guys have asked for info on Hakeem Nicks, the New York Giants' No. 1 pick. I will keep an eye out in the coming days for Nicks' highlights, and pass them along.

In the meantime, here is a little something from SB Nation's Redskins' blog, Hogs Haven, about Nicks. HH scored an interview with North Carolina coach Butch Davis. Nicks, of course, played for the Tar Heels last season and Davis had some interesting things to say about him.

HH: The majority of WRs seem to have a hard-time transitioning to the NFL. Why do you think this is and how do you think Hakeem Nicks, who you mentored at UNC, will be his first year for the Giants?

He’s going to do extremely well. He’s a competitor. He’s got a lot of physical gifts and talents. He’s got outstanding hands. He’s a tireless worker. He’ll go out and do everything that the Giants coaching staff is going to ask him to do. The difficulty that the receivers a lot of times in some respect it’s a little bit like the difficulty that defensive linemen face sometimes have making the transition is that there not always challenged in college as much they are going to be challenged in the NFL. In the case of receivers, they may not play against press bump and run … man against really truly quality corners maybe more than two or three times a season. It’s just the quantity and the number of times. Andre Johnson, Reggie Wayne, Santana Moss and a lot the receivers we had at Miami that eventually became just phenomenal players at the next level. It is a little bit tough. We saw with Michael Irvin coming from Miami to Dallas when I was with the Cowboys in years one and two, but the great ones they eventually…they are so hungry they’ll succeed. They’ll work hard enough on their releases and identify the best way to beat certain coverages and they’ll get it.

Davis, of course, knows more football than I ever will. I am going to trust him on this one. It doesn't hurt, though, that Davis' thoughts match what I think I am seeing on the field.

In the early workouts Nicks has caught the few balls thrown his way. He is, to my eyes, having some difficulty getting a free run off the line of scrimmage against the pressing Giants' corners. As he becomes more comfortable being pressed I would think his opportunities will increase.