RIGHT OFF THE BAT
Softball game moment early sign of Webb leadership
Davis Webb thinks he knows but also knows he cannot know right now, and realizes no one around him knows, either.
This time of year, he can look the part, act the part, display undeniable improvement from Year 1, make all the throws with a right arm that is of NFL quality and get his NFLsized body moving with surprising athleticism. Based on what he says and how he reacts, a case can be made that he is next in line, capable of picking up the ball when Eli Manning is finished tossing it around.
Webb said he believes this is the case. The Giants might be leaning that way, as well. But they cannot know — just as Webb cannot know. There is something about what is seen and done on the practice field and how it all translates into the real thing. Sometimes it does, often it does not.
“Don’t know until you see it for real? There’s no arguing that,’’ Webb told The Post recently. “I believe I’m prepared. It’s night and day from last year, it’s not even close.
“I feel like I’m ready to go, but this is Eli’s team. Eli’s the best quarterback still on this team. Some of the last OTA practices he’s been pretty miraculous, some of the throws and calls he’s made. You can tell why he’s gonna be a first ballot [Hall of Famer], because of the stuff he’s still doing, at 37.’’
Perhaps Webb will one day get the chance to prove it when the lights are on and the stakes are higher than in an organized team activity practice or an NFL preseason affair.
This is, though, the anniversary of the first time Davis Webb provided his Giants teammates with a glimpse into what he might be all about as an athlete and competitor. One year ago, Webb, literally stepping up to the plate, lining a clean single to right field off Cheridan Hawkins, a threetime All-America pitcher at Oregon, at the Landon Collins Celebrity Softball Game.
“It was cool with the reaction, everybody was highfiving me, chest-bumping me,’’ Webb recalled, smiling. “Eli was pretty impressed. I
kind of showed ’em I can hit a little bit, I’m athletic.’’
After last year’s smashing success, Collins — helped along by Giants super fan Joe Ruback, known as License Plate Guy — stages his second softball extravaganza Saturday night at Palisades Credit Union Park in Pomona, featuring an impressive array of current Giants and members of the two most recent Super Bowl teams — with proceeds going to Tom Coughlin’s Jay Fund (don’t be surprised if Coughlin makes an appearance). Webb is eyeing safety Andrew Adams, the winner of last year’s home run-hitting contest, swatting 16 out of the yard.
“I look forward to taking on Mr. Adams and hopefully take his crown,’’ said Webb, a catcher who played varsity baseball as a freshman in high school before dropping the sport. “I don’t know if I’m gonna win, but I got to let him know I’m there, you know?’’w?’’
Adams, who received a baseball scholarship to Furman before opting for football at UConn, did not sound concerned with the 23-year old QB.
“Well, that’s on Webb,’’Webb Adams said, chucklichuckling. “We’ll see what hahappens. I don’t think he’s gonna win it. I got it. Don’t worry about it. They’re all ggunning for me.’’ A year agago, Webb and his fellow roorookies arrived at the basebabaseball field halfway through AdAdams’ home-run barrage. HaHawkins was next on the scschedule, firing windmill pipitches to whoeverever was brbrave enough to step in against her. “The plplayers were all gathered uup in a group, we saw her ththrow one and we were like ‘Ugh,’” Webb said. It wasnwasn’t exactly a paraderade of vvolunteers, especially after Hawkins drilled former running back Bran- don Jacobs with a fastball.
“Everybody’s not really saying anything and I say, ‘I’ll do it. I can do it,’ ” Webb said. “One pitch later, bang! Brandon Jacobs gets drilled. I’m like ‘Give me a helmet.’ But I got a hit. She jammed me up pretty good, but I got it out of the infield.
“I was nervous, but I was the only one that stepped up. I think [Zak] DeOssie went next and he didn’t get a hit.’’
If Webb goes onto a long and distinguished career with the Giants, the first chapter in his memoir can recount the time — the very first time — he showed his new teammates and a crowd of around 2,000 at a Rockland County minor league ballpark that he had what it takes to get it done.