Brandon Fusco Draft Journal 6- March 28 PDF Print E-mail

Tuesday, 29 March 2011 02:05

C BRANDON FUSCO, SLIPPERY ROCK

JOURNAL 6 – MARCH 28, 2011

Dear Journal,

It was a very long day. I had a private workout with the Giants. I did it with Will Rackley. I thought it went very well. The offensive line coach and his assistant both came. We started at 9:30am. We had an hour board work going over their plays and we had to relay it back to them to see how much we remembered. Around 10:30 or 11 we went on the field and warmed up. It was a very tough workout. It was an hour long of non stop agility and offensive line drills. We did run and pass. It was a very good workout. I learned some new steps. Everything is different from college.

They took us out to lunch at a sports bar afterwards. They took us both out. They paid for our meal and it was awesome. I had a flight so I couldn’t stay too long. My first flight went smooth. From Allentown to Philadelphia I had a layover in Philly. When it was scheduled to depart it got cancelled and I didn’t get home until about 10. I am just going to get in here and get some rest.

My next visit is April 5th with Philadelphia. They are flying me in to visit Coach Reid and a bunch of the coaching staff. On April 10th I will be flying to New York to sit down with the Jets. I am very anxious and I can’t wait to meet those guys too. I am enjoying this process and can’t wait until draft day.

I will talk to you on the 11th.

Brandon Fusco


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Thanks for posting. It's clear that a center must be on organization's minds for the draft in April

I am not surprised at all

Center is a definate draft need.

But we haven't tended to draft offensive line early.

I think we could be looking at a center in the mid/late rounds. Fusco is a good option; another is Tim Barnes (Missouri).

I think we will be ok at center, particularly with O'Hara, Seubert and Koets at the moment, but I can't help thinking back to how uneasy I felt about center in 2004 when we brought in O'Hara. The front office will get the job done (although it may not be as flashy as we would like)

We've got some decent players to play center on our team now, the problem is that two of them are coming off from injury.
If the Giants draft a center early then it will be interesting to see who they cut.

I like Koets and he's stepped into his roles well so I hope it's not him.

Petrus is still raw but think the Giants will develop him some more either at guard or center.

We'll have to see how Seubert bounces back from his injury.

This leaves imo O'Hara as the odd man out.

What do you guys think?

Honestly I think this injury could end O'Hara's career as a Giant. Seuberts is in serious jeopardy as well. They suffered very significant injuries this past season.

I think ideally they would like to solve the problems with the players they have been grooming. They would like Beatty to take over at LT, Diehl at LG, find a Center thats able to compete immediately, Snee at RG, Mckenzie at RT. Next year let McKenzie walk and move Diehl/Andrews to RT and Petrus/Andrews gets bumped up to starting LG.

Center is a big need. Pouncey should be our #1 player on the board. He's NFL ready.

I think Castanzo is a typical Giant player though. He can play LG, RT, or LT for us. He's spent time at the military academy, and is the definition of a blue collar player. I don't think he ranks higher than Pouncey because of need but they may rank him out as the better prospect on their big board.

Stefen Wisniewski is a smart player who could also start right away IMO. We are definitely taking a gamble on him lasting til our 2nd round pick though. If we could come away with a skilled player in the first and Wisniewski in the 2nd we are sitting pretty nice.

Agree. O'Hara is scheduled soon for another operation. Although he has said he will be 100% ready in May, I still wouldn't hold my breath.

I think ideally they would like to solve the problems with the players they have been grooming. They would like Beatty to take over at LT, Diehl at LG, find a Center thats able to compete immediately, Snee at RG, Mckenzie at RT. Next year let McKenzie walk and move Diehl/Andrews to RT and Petrus/Andrews gets bumped up to starting LG.

This sounds pretty spot on to me.

I have a slightly different take

sure O'Hara could be gone, equally he could take a pay cut and be a quality backup.

I think the short term plan is

Diehl to start at LG

Seubert to start at Center with Koets as the primary backup, while we groom a center for the future from this draft.

Play either Beatty or Andrews at LT; if Andrews can be healthy (big question).

I could see our Offensive line shaping up like

RT: McKenzie

RG: Snee, Andrews

C: Seubert, Koets, Rookie

LG: Diehl, Petrus, Boothe

LT: Beatty, rookie


You also have to consider the Giants and Coughlin's strategy with rookies, where they are largley groomed behind veterans.

I could see an OT being groomed for the future (with Beatty that gives us two young OTs; or Diehl is an option at RT.

I like that lineup Pete but only if Beatty is the LT answer but I'm not convinced he'll be ready this year.

Seubert is coming off from a big injury and age isn't on his side. Not sure I would try making a permanent position change due to them factors alone.

Honestly, I think Koets did a surprisingly good job in the 4 games he started last season. I might give him a shot first.
But finding a center is still a must at some point.