ALBANY – At the start of Giants training camp, defensive coordinator Tim Lewis offered up a fairly detailed wish-list of what he wanted to see in the month ahead. Asked, specifically, if Corey Webster in his second season was ready to emerge as a top-flight cornerback, Lewis’ response was immediate and succinct.
“He better be,” Lewis said. “He’s tall, he’s fast, he’s explosive, he’s quick, instinctive. When we rank defensive backs, there’s a list of criteria we’re looking for and he’s got all of those.”
Camp closed yesterday and there’s no doubt Webster this summer has shown every one of those attributes. The player of camp? Perhaps. If awards were handed out to signify the occasion, Webster might win in several categories: most consistent (he rarely had a bad day); most durable (he did not miss a practice); most improved (he barely resembled the tentative player he was as a rookie).
By all accounts, Webster turned the corner and is ready to establish himself as a marquee member of the defensive backfield, a place where the Giants in 2005 struggled mightily.
“I’m more comfortable at the position right now, so you’re going to see me being very comfortable and being able to make a lot of plays,” Webster said.
As a second-round pick out of a pro-style LSU program, Webster last year served as the Giants’ nickel back until late in the season, when he supplanted Curtis Deloatch and started two games, including the NFC wild-card playoff loss to Carolina. Clearly, the ability was there, but Webster played like a rookie, not trusting his athletic talent, too preoccupied with his technique and too deferential to opposing receivers.
“When you stop and you think about Corey and the program he came from, he came from a big-time program,” said David Merritt, one of the Giants’ defensive backfield coaches. “You’d love to see him come in here and do the things he did in college, but as every rookie, you line up across these guys and he was tentative.”
Prior to the offseason, Webster asked for and received a DVD of every play from his rookie year, knowing the viewing often would be unpleasant.
“For a young player to want to see himself and see the mistakes he made, that’s awesome,” Merritt said.
From the moment training camp began, Webster looked to be a different player. There is no extra baggage in his game, no strut or attitude and little talk on the field, not much in common with some of his cornerback brethren. His practices, with rare exceptions, were crisp and confident, making plays on Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer with far greater frequency than the year before.
“You’re talking night and day last year to this year,” Merritt said. “Hopefully the switch has already been turned on.”
It was natural for Webster to sit back in his first season.
“Not being familiar with the defense, that’s a big thing,” he said. “Sometimes last year I was very tentative, you’re very lax on the field because you don’t want to make a mistake. Now this year, just knowing the defense, you can go out there and make a lot of plays. There’s a lot of things you look at it and say I could have been a little closer, I could have been a little tighter. You got to learn it yourself, everyone goes through it differently, you got to live and learn it yourself.”
