Giants' John Harbaugh: 'Good football players' want to play special teams

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

Head coach John Harbaugh made clear that special teams carry serious weight ahead of his first training camp with the New York Giants.

Elevating special teams coordinator Chris Horton to assistant head coach was no symbolic gesture. It was a deliberate signal that the unit sits near the center of the team's identity.

Harbaugh said he has never met a good football player who did not want to play special teams. The great ones, he noted, embraced it.

"I think our guys know it's important. I never met a good football player that didn't want to play special teams, that didn't have fun doing it because it's the epitome of football," Harbaugh told Giants.com. "Blocking, tackling, running, hitting, that's what special teams is. So all the great players, the [Brian] Dawkinses, the Ed Reeds, those guys all wanted to play special teams."

Harbaugh sees the same appetite among current Giants players.

"I see that same thing in our guys here. Those guys love it. They enjoy it. It's different," he said. "It's just more free-flowing, and I think most guys enjoy that part of the game and obviously it's the biggest yardage differential of any single play in football.

"I mean at minimum, you've got 40 yards right off the bat on the punt and kickoff, big plays, there's more space, there's an opportunity for a lot of crazy things to happen, so you'd like for those things mostly to go in your favor if you could."

That combination of physicality, opportunity and consequence is why Harbaugh values the unit so highly. By pairing Horton's dual role with a culture that treats special teams as essential rather than secondary, the first-year Giants coach is reinforcing a simple standard: Truly good and dedicated football players want those snaps.

This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: Giants' John Harbaugh: 'Good football players' want to play special teams

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos