ALBANY – Playing on special teams in the NFL suits only certain players – guys with enough quickness to chase down a kickoff return and enough agility to swat away a punt.

Or, as David Tyree says, ‘It’s something you’ve gotta have balls for.’

Tyree ought to know. The former Syracuse wide receiver secured a spot on the New York Giants’ roster this summer, based mostly on his special-teams prowess.

The Giants selected Tyree in the sixth round of April’s NFL Draft, and during training camp at the University at Albany, he impressed head coach Jim Fassel with his performance on punts and kickoffs.

‘He’s got a defensive mentality,’ Fassel said. ‘He’s got the athletic ability to beat a guy and the toughness and mentality to make a tackle.’

While Tyree was the Orangemen’s second-leading receiver last season, he shined on special teams, recording 20 tackles (18 unassisted) and blocking a kick. When the Giants drafted him, Tyree stood little chance of cracking a receiver rotation that included Amani Toomer, Ike Hilliard, Tim Carter and Daryl Jones.

So he relied again on special teams, a role he calls ‘natural.’

‘You’ve got to have the heart for it,’ he said through his trademark chipped-tooth smile. ‘A lot of guys don’t take special teams that seriously.’

Tyree started to at Syracuse, realizing that in the Orangemen’s system, he couldn’t maximize his talent solely as a receiver. He honed his skills working with special teams coach Chris White, whose unit took pride in – and wore T-shirts boasting about – maintaining Tyree’s aforementioned anatomical fortitude.

The work paid off again this summer, when Fassel told him before the Giants’ Aug. 7 scrimmage against the New England Patriots, ‘You’re going to make this team. I can’t cut you, because you’re too good a special teams player.’

‘He takes good angles and anticipates things real well,’ Giants special teams coach Bruce Read said. ‘He’s got a real burning desire to make tackles.’

That fire burned hotter when Tyree heard from experts before the draft that he couldn’t make an NFL roster as a receiver. But, now, with Ron Dixon nursing an injured right knee – and doing so in Fassel’s dog house after missing a team meeting – Tyree has a better shot to take snaps as a backup receiver.

Meanwhile, he still chats regularly with former Syracuse teammates Keeon Walker and Maurice McClain.

And he continues to live in his family’s house in Montclair, N.J., where, as his hometown’s first NFL Draft pick in about 10 years, he’s a quasi-celebrity. He doesn’t plan on moving out anytime soon either.

‘[The Giants] brought me back home, man,’ he said.

Back home this fall hanging out in Montclair on his off days with his new team. And back home with his natural, helmet-cracking job on the Giants’ special teams.

Both spots, it seems, suit Tyree perfectly.

Published on August 27, 2003 at 12:00 pm