Shane Lemieux reminds Giants of old school offensive linemen

Shane Lemieux has a very old school offensive lineman approach, which will make the New York Giants and their fans love him.

The New York Giants could have used their fifth round pick, No. 150 overall, on a number of other positions. Instead they chose to continue to build up their offensive line.

They selected Oregon guard Shane Lemieux, a player who harkens back to the days of the Giants’ Super Bowl teams where their offensive line set records for consecutive games played – and played well may we add.

“Every really good club that I have been with, the offensive line has set the tone,”general manager Dave Gettleman said after the draft. “This is a tough kid who plays mad. He’s big, he’s powerful, he’s a pretty good athlete. We’re excited to add him to the mix.”

Lemieux spoke with reporters via video conference on Tuesday and was everything that general manager Dave Gettleman said he was.

The Giants want Lemieux, who strictly played guard at Oregon, to potentially make the switch to center. He said he has been working out at center to make his draft value more attractive. The Giants are buying in.

“Shane’s a guy like Dave said, he plays with nasty,” said Giants head coach Joe Judge. “You turn the Auburn game on and right from the first snap he’s tossing bodies around. You can’t help but watch him. In a lot of cross over tape he jumps out at you as well. He’s a guy that’s going to have interior swing value. We’re going to cross train him guard and center. It’s going to be something he has been working on out at Oregon and we’re going to keep on building with that as well.”

“Obviously every single OL position is going to have different techniques,” said Lemieux. “With center there’s a lot more responsibility to know the offense and the defense and be more sound with what’s going on around you.”

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The Giants already have two solid guards in Will Hernandez and Kevin Zeitler. They also have a center in Spencer Pulley and could possibly bring back Jon Halapio, who is rehabbing from an Achilles injury his suffered late last season.

That won’t matter to Lemieux, who plans on pushing all of them for a spot on the Giants’ offensive line and is pleased the Giants drafted him.

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