Giant defensive tackle hopes to stick with the Giants

Former Eskimo fighting for NFL job

He’s a mountain of a man with an equally giant-sized opportunity on the go.

Jake Ceresna spent the 2018 season crashing pockets across the CFL.

Now, the six-foot-five, 295-pound defensive tackle is taking those destructive talents to the NFL’S New York Giants.

“I’m definitely excited for the opportunity,” Ceresna said while catching up with the Newstimes, based in his home state of Connecticut, as Giants camp kicked off last week. “The nerves are always running when something like this happens. I just want to make sure I play at my best and give it everything I have.”

It’s the same formula that saw the 25-year-old native of New Fairfield, Conn., post career highs of 32 tackles, eight sacks and a forced fumble last year, his second in the CFL, after being traded from the Ottawa Redblacks in a three-way deal involving fan favourite Odell Willis.

The Eskimos ended up releasing Ceresna in the off-season following a tryout with the

Giants in December that resulted in him signing a reserve/future contract.

“After I had a good season in the CFL, I was expecting to get a few NFL workout invites, but I wasn’t getting any calls,” Ceresna said. “Finally, the Giants reached out to me to work out.

“I went to the facility and gave it everything I had. I told myself, ‘No regrets.’”

After all, not a lot of players come out of NCAA Division 3 schools to crack NFL rosters.

The 2018 NFL season opened with only a dozen of them out of the 1,696 players in the league.

While Ceresna spent his freshman season playing with Southern Connecticut in Division 2, he transferred to Division 3 Cortland State, where he earned 14.5 sacks and 142 tackles in his final three seasons, which culminated in a deal with the New York Jets in 2016.

Unfortunately, just two weeks into training camp, a high ankle sprain saw him released ahead of the regular season.