Seau nephew fights to honor his late uncle
Whenever doubt crept in, his famous uncle came to mind. When Ian Seau thought his football career was over, he closed his eyes and remembered the talks he had with Junior Seau, the Hall of Fame linebacker.
Football was rarely a topic of discussion at family reunions. Ian rarely talked X’s and O’s with his uncle. They never watched game film together, though Junior would attend his football and basketball games growing up.
But they did talk about life and the determination needed to get what you want.
“Just keep working,” Junior Seau would often tell his nephew. “Don’t ever give up. If you want something, keep going.”
So as Ian Seau spent last year out of football after getting cut by the Bills in early September, the 6-foot-2, 250-pound defensive end never let go of his dream. He stayed in shape, made money as a personal trainer and waited for his opportunity. It’s what his uncle would’ve suggested.
“I kept that hope alive, and found ways to motivate myself there would be a chance,” said Seau, a native of Oceanside, Calif. “It’s tough, but it’s a good life lesson to learn. No matter what happens, you have to keep going and pushing, and be the best you can be every day.”
Seau is getting a chance this weekend to prove he belongs, taking part in the Giants’ rookie minicamp, hoping to make it past Sunday’s workout. His mentality is simple: Stand out. Make more plays than anyone else. Force the Giants’ hand.
“The fact that they called me, gave me an opportunity, meant the world to me,” he said.
He thinks about his uncle often. Junior shot himself in the chest on May 2, 2012. He was suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, better known as CTE, a degenerative brain disease found in people with a history of severe or repeated injuries to the head. Ian took a break from playing football after his uncle’s death while in junior college.
“I re-evaluated my life and just realized he loved the game of football and he wouldn’t change it,” he said. “I decided to go back to it.”
Ian enjoyed a strong career as a defensive end/outside linebacker at Nevada, notching 10 sacks and 18.5 tackles for losses his senior year. But he wasn’t selected in the 2016 draft. He signed as an undrafted free agent with the Rams, but failed to get through the final cut. The same thing happened a year later with the Bills. “Same book, different chapter,” he said. He hopes the third time is the charm. Seau feels like he is better prepared this time around, after his two previous stints. He believes he’s quicker side-to-side and more knowledgable about the game.
Just to play in an NFL game would mean the world to him. He’s not trying to be his uncle —“those shoes are way too big to fill,” he said — but wants to create his own niche.
“I want to go out there and make a team, make a name for myself, add to his legacy, and add overall to the Seau last name,” he said. “In my head, if I can tell myself in my heart, my soul, I did the best I could, that’s all that matters.”
It isn’t why the Giants drafted Saquon Barkley. They picked the former Penn State star second overall for his explosiveness, his ability to turn negative plays into big gains, his skills as a game-breaking runner and a receiver.
But on his first day as a Giant, the coaching staff was just as impressed by the rookie running back’s ability to block.
“The other thing that you see when you work with him is his awareness, his spatial awareness, his abil- ity to pick out who he has in pass protection,” first-year coach Pat Shurmur said Saturday before the second practice of rookie minicamp. “We purposely tried to have some blitz drills early to try to challenge the running backs, and I felt like he did a good job with that.
“When you talk about the difference between college ball and pro ball, you throw the ball quite a bit and you really depend on blitzers getting picked up.”
The fraud case against Eli Manning and the Giants will begin Monday at the Bergen County Superior Court of New Jersey’s civil division in Hackensack. Collectors Eric Inselberg, Michael Jakab and Sean Godown claim Manning, the Giants and Steiner Sports Memorabilia passed off phony football gear as the real deal. The case was initially filed on Jan. 29, 2014.
Defensive lineman RJ McIntosh, a fifth-round pick, isn’t expected to practice this weekend, due to a medical condition he de- clined to reveal. But the former Miami standout said it is very minor, and won’t impact him taking part in minicamp in June. He was diagnosed with a thyroid condition at the NFL Combine.
McIntosh was given No. 90 — Jason Pierre-Paul’s old number — which he appreciated. The 29-year-old Pierre-Paul, who registered 58.5 in eight seasons with the Giants, was dealt to the Buccaneers in March.
“To me, it’s an honor,” said McIntosh, who wore No. 80 at Miami. “He’s a great player and not that I wasn’t going to work hard, but it’s another chip on my shoulder to have his number.”
How wide open is the battle to be the Giants’ third wide receiver after Beckham and Sterling Shepard? Shurmur couldn’t name a favorite. When asked if there is a No. 3 wide receiver on the current roster, he said: “I don’t know.”
Shurmur mentioned veteran Cody Latimer, who notched career-highs of 19 receptions, 287 yards and two touchdowns for the Broncos last year, and second-year player Travis Rudolph as possibilities.