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Updated 9:30 AM; Today 5:14 AM
Giants
draft pick George Asafo-Adjei survived hardships early in life and hopes he can
now put his family in a better life.
Solidifying
the interior of the offensive line and adding quality depth was a top priority
for the Giants this offseason.
However,
the organization didn’t take one of general manager Dave Gettleman’s “Hog Mollies” until Round 7.
The
Giants chose George Asafo-Adjei in the
seventh-round out of Kentucky with the hopes that he could provide depth at
tackle or guard. Asafo-Adjei,
6-foot-5 and 306 pounds, is already impressing his position coach this spring.
“He
picked up the offense much quicker than I thought he was going to,” Giants
offensive line coach Hal Hunter said last month. “When you
compare our offense to their offense, we have a lot more volume to it with a
lot of the things that we were doing.”
Expectations are
obviously tempered for Asafo-Adjei’s role as a rookie, after he was chosen No.
232 overall back in April. But, Hunter believes that the former Wildcat, who had offers out of high
school from Alabama and other top Power 5 schools, benefited tremendously from
practice battles each day against No. 7 overall pick EDGE rusher Josh Allen.
“You
watch him on tape and see that he has a lot of athleticism and power,” Hunter
said. “He has a lot of toughness and played in the best football conference in
the country.”
As much as the SEC can
prepare any player for the NFL, there are still improvements that need to be
made for any rookie. Asafo-Adjei is no different.
However, Hunter thinks there’s a strong foundation to build on and
that Asafo-Adjei is a quick study, which is critical for any rookie to get on
the field.
“We have some technical work to do,” Hunter
admitted. “He is a rookie and you have to tell him to do something once and he
goes on and does it right the next time. We need to continue to work with him
technically to get him up to speed but you have to like everything about him.”
