Giants Center John Michael Schmitz Eyes Quantum Leap in Second Season

Schmitz is optimistic that he and the Giants offensive line will be vastly improved this season.

Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

New York Giants center John Michael Schmitz will be the first person to tell you that his rookie year performance wasn’t up to his standards.

In 755 offensive snaps, he allowed five sacks and committed four penalties, not exactly a great rookie season. A shoulder injury didn’t help his game, nor did having different guards lining up to him as frequently as last season.

But don’t expect Schmitz to make excuses. He’s been too busy focusing on improving those parts of his technique that were a problem last year.

"I feel like for me, just watching back the games through this off-season and honing in on the technique and just my play out there,” he said after the team completed its fifth OTA on Thursday. 

“Every day, you can't focus on many different things. You've got to pick one thing you want to improve every day and hone in on that.” 

Schmitz said he’s honed in on his footwork, second-level blocking, maintaining blocks, and improving his leadership this off-season. 

Schmitz has been soaking up the knowledge shared by new offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo. In trying to alleviate some of the pressure from his offensive linemen, Bricillo emphasized that playing any position on the five-man unit is always going to be a work in progress.

"Coach Carm has been a great addition to the O-line room,” Schmitz gushed. “He has a great amount of knowledge of the game and has helped every single one of us out to be better players, and holds us to a high standard every day. We go out there and compete and get better each and every day."

Schmitz said among the things he’s learned from Bricillo so far has been how to identify fronts and handle different situations, the latter still being something that Schmitz, entering his second year, is still learning at this level. 

“He's very knowledgeable and has a great expertise of the game. Got to give him credit for that," Schmitz said of Bricillo.

Schmitz is also excited by the new additions to the offensive line room, particularly veterans Jermaine Eluemunor and Jon Runyan Jr., both of whom project to be the starting guards on this year’s offensive line iteration.

"We made great additions to the O-line room. I'm very excited to have those guys here,” Schmitz said. 

"They help me out. They help me understand certain situations, what to be aware of, and what they see on film. It can be a different view of what I'm seeing because they've had more experience."

While the unit still has a long way to go, Schmitz, as an emerging young leader of that group, is bullish on its direction.

“Very excited for our O-line room. We’re headed in a great direction," he said.

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