Sports

What Daniel Jones’ ex-mates have to say about Giants’ new QB

If you care to learn about the essence of the man and the quarterback, you talk to his Duke teammates, who will gladly tell you why they loved Daniel Jones, and why the Giants will, too:

He is tough

LB/roomate Ben Humphreys: “[WR] T.J. Rahming was in the slot. He ran a little post. He’s wide open down the seam and Daniel knows he’s gonna take a beating. And he takes one right in the chin, and drops a perfect ball over T.J.’s shoulder for a touchdown. He’ll take any hit to get his guys the ball.”

LB Kevin Gehsmann: “I hate to say on my team that some kids were giving up at the end of the Clemson game, but Daniel was the exact opposite of that, battling for every frickin’ yard even when we were down 35 points against the best D-line in the country or maybe that college football’s ever seen.”





Center Clark Bulleit: “I’ve never once seen him slide to avoid a tackle. He always puts his shoulder down, and he always takes a hit and tries to get those two or 3 extra yards, which you don’t see in quarterbacks very often.”

Gehsmann and Bulleit designed a 3-D printed brace anatomically fit to offer comfort and protection from the impact of any blow to Jones’ broken collarbone, and he returned three games later.

Humphreys: “I don’t know any of the other quarterbacks that got drafted, but I think Daniel Jones might be the only one that was gonna play with that injury at that time. … He felt like our team needed him.”

He’s a silent killer

Humphreys: “I think people mistake his quietness as a weakness. But I think the people that know him best know that it’s a quiet confidence, No. 1, and his even-keeled demeanor is a strength of his. And to be honest, on the field, he’s a silent killer. And I think he is the epitome of what we say around Duke is ‘Never too high, never too low.’ ”





Work ethic

Bulleit: “I was supposed to play golf with him three days ago, and he decided to sit at home the entire day and study the Giants’ playbook.”

A friend

Humphreys: “He’s on the phone 24/7 the last six weeks or so. And I had a major knee surgery about six weeks ago. And the one guy who was there bringing me food, was there picking me up and dropping me off, and doing everything that he needed to do to make sure I was comfortable, was Daniel. He goes out of his way for people to make their lives easier.”

Bulleit: “When my grandfather died sophomore year, he actually came out, smoked a cigar with me and just spent like the whole afternoon with me after that.”





Guard Zach Harmon: “I texted him right around the fifth pick just to tell him I loved him, he deserves everything that’s coming and the best of luck. You can only imagine a player like that going in the first round, their phones are probably blowing up with notifications. Two minutes later he responds to me with a really nice long heartfelt message. New York’s getting a really great player and a really great teammate.”

He’s funny

Humphreys: “We were at our house the other day, and he got sent like a box of 500 Skittles and he comes downstairs, he starts throwing bags at people. He gets sent all this different stuff, and to him it’s the more the merrier for his friends.





“And he will quote ‘Kicking & Screaming’ out of nowhere. If you try to watch that movie with him, it’s impossible ’cause he knows every line.”

He hosted cookouts for his offensive line

Bulleit: “Whenever he takes a sack or gets hit really hard, he doesn’t blame his offensive linemen, he just gets up, he doesn’t say a word, and he just continues to play the game.”

He’s humble

Bulleit: “The fame I don’t think will ever get to Daniel’s head. He refuses to wear Duke football stuff around campus because he doesn’t want anybody to recognize him or treat him any differently. He was at the same party with Zion [Williamson], and all these girls were taking pictures of Zion, and we were trying to get girls to take pictures with Daniel before the draft, and none of them knew who he was. He is not gonna get obsessed with the limelight. He wants to stay to himself and get to work, and he’ll be the hardest worker that the Giants have ever seen.”

He’ll make it easier on Eli

Harmon: “I don’t want to speak for Eli [Manning] or Daniel Jones, but I think having that relationship will make the process more streamlined and smoother when it does come to move Daniel into that position.”

Gehsmann: “That passing of the torch, I think, will be done by two great dudes. That’ll come in a very natural and respectful way.”

Boo who?

Gehsmann: “Put him at Ohio State and he might be the Heisman Trophy winner.”

Harmon: “You put NFL caliber players around him, he’s going to excel. Giants fans are passionate, I’m just going to tell ’em right now, in a couple of years, in three years, they’ll be thanking [GM Dave] Gettleman.”





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