NEW YORK - Reports out of the New York Giants' preseason camp have indicated that Southern Columbia graduate Henry Hynoski is in a dogfight for his job as starting fullback with John Conner.
Some reports say new offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo plans to do away with the fullback position entirely.
But it might not be time for Hyno's legion of fans in this area to fret just yet. A story in Thursday's New York Post indicated that Hynoski may be carried on the roster as a tight end. In fact, both Hynoski and Conner might make the team as kind of a hybrid fullback-tight end-running back.
Hynoski told The News-Item a few weeks ago that he had dropped from 260-plus pounds to 257 in an effort to improve his speed and quickness.
"I'm really asked to do a lot," Hynoski told Post writer Paul Schwartz. "Right now I can play fullback, obviously, running back, and tight end is something I feel I can do also. Getting into some routes, some inline blocking and that type of thing. In this league, the more you can do, the better. It certainly won't hurt if I can expand my role a little bit more."
An earlier story on the training camp battle by Jordan Raanan of nj.com hinted that while Hynoski and Conner might not be used as much as classic fullbacks, of which there are fewer and fewer in the NFL, they may end up catching and carrying the ball more than a fullback of recent NFL vintage does.
"You need a fullback," Hynoski told Ranaan. "If you want to be physical and run the football, you need a fullback. If you want to be committed to the ground game, you need a fullback."
Head coach Tom Coughlin has said he remains committed to the running game, although the Giants struggled last year, finishing 29th in the league in rushing. But Hynoski's absence for all but three games because of injury probably had something to do with that. Coughlin has also said that he thinks of Hynoski more as a running back than a fullback.
According to Ranaan, Coughlin and McAdoo seem to be leaning on keeping Hynoski and/or Conner, but are unsure on where to put them on the field or what their specific duties may be.
"The thing in this offense is we're asked to do so much more than we've done in the past," Hynoski told NJ.com. "We're asked to run the ball, catch the ball more."
Hynoski has only carried the ball five times in three NFL seasons but has caught 23 passes for 133 yards and a touchdown, and has shown ability to gain extra yards after catching the ball. Hynoski had 40 receptions as a fullback at Pitt, and of course ran for 7,165 yards and scored 113 touchdowns as a high school player at Southern Columbia.