Hakeem Nicks is the Giants' rising star

INDIANAPOLIS -- Hakeem Nicks' Hail Mary touchdown reception changed the complexion of the New York Giants' playoff win at Green Bay, and might go down as the defining moment of the Giants' postseason.

That is, unless Nicks makes another circus catch or clutch touchdown in Super Bowl XLVI today against the New England Patriots.

Coaches who have seen Nicks blossom from a bench-riding tight end at Independence High into one of the NFL's most dangerous wide receivers would not rule it out.

"That doesn't happen more than once in a lifetime," John Bunting, the former North Carolina coach who recruited Nicks to Chapel Hill, said of Nicks' catch against the Packers. "It'll probably happen another time with him because he has great focus and he can come down with the ball."

Since cracking Independence's starting lineup during the state playoffs as a junior, Nicks has earned a reputation as a big-game player. From his MVP performance in the state championship game at Independence in 2005, through an incredible performance in the 2008 Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, to his jump-ball grab on the Hail Mary in Green Bay, Nicks has saved some of his best plays for the biggest stages.

That's why anticipating what Nicks might do today against the Patriots' suspect secondary is so tantalizing. And it helps explain why Nicks jumped on a TV reporter's question this week about whether he thought he would catch a lot of balls against New England.

"I think I'm anticipating catching every ball that comes my way," he said.

Rough background

Nicks arrived at Independence after a tough childhood. He lived in Pennsylvania with his grandmother and was briefly in a homeless shelter before moving to Charlotte to live with his father, Robert Nicks Jr., who has a long history of legal trouble, including multiple DWI convictions.

His brother, Robert Nicks III, has three years remaining in a federal sentence after being convicted as a felon in possession of a firearm. Another brother, Jamar Nicks, also was in federal prison on drugs and weapons charges.

But Nicks managed to avoid the trouble that his older brothers found.

"It was just me being active in sports. I stayed away from those things," he said. "We were far apart in ages. So that never really related to me."

Nicks played basketball and football, but had a hard time getting on the field at Independence, which was a training ground for Division I players during the school's seven-year, 109-game winning streak.

With Mohamed Massaquoi, currently with the Cleveland Browns, entrenched at wideout, Nicks began his high school career as a backup tight end.

"He thought he was a tight end and he thought he was a basketball player," said Independence coach Bill Geiler. "That's what he told us."

But after injuries to two receivers before a state semifinal game against Richmond Senior High in 2004, Nicks told Geiler he knew the routes for receivers and volunteered to play.

Nicks caught seven passes in the game, "and after that he didn't come off the field," said Geiler.

An opportunity

Before Nicks' senior season, Geiler left for Porter Ridge and Tommy Knotts returned to Independence after a stint as assistant coach at Duke. Before the season started, Knotts drove Nicks to Chapel Hill to meet with Bunting.

"You don't have much tape on this kid. You haven't seen him play because he's been playing in the shadow of Mohamed Massaquoi and he's been playing a position where we don't even throw him the ball," Bunting recalled Knotts saying. "But I'll tell you what, he's going to get all the balls this year and (schools) are going to be drooling over him."

Bunting agreed to offer Nicks a scholarship on the spot, and Nicks stuck with his commitment to UNC after a senior season in which he caught 93 passes for 1,819 yards and 20 touchdowns - including 10 in the playoffs - and was all-state and the Observer's Offensive Player of the Year.

In a 38-19 win against New Bern in the state championship game, Nicks hauled in eight passes for 205 yards to win MVP honors.

"He tore it up. It was just an incredible season," Bunting said. "He has great hands, but he is such a great runner with the ball once he makes the catch. He is off downfield, and he's strong, elusive and a take-it-to-the-house guy."

"He is just a frenzied runner," Bunting added. "Everybody was starting to get in on him down the eastern seaboard, but we were locked in on Hakeem Nicks."

A Tar Heel great

Nicks did not slow down in Chapel Hill, where he started all 36 games before becoming the first North Carolina underclassman to declare for the NFL draft since Julius Peppers in 2001. Nicks set 14 school records, and his most amazing game might have been his last one in his hometown.

Facing a West Virginia secondary missing two starters, Nicks had three first-half touchdown receptions in a 31-30 loss in the Meineke Bowl. Nicks piled up 217 receiving yards - second most in school history - and pulled off an acrobatic catch that was an instant YouTube hit.

Midway through the third quarter, Nicks reached back for a T.J. Yates pass with his left hand, clutched the ball and transferred it behind his back to his right hand for an 8-yard catch that Nicks called one of his favorites.

"I made a lot of crazy catches" in high school, Nicks said. "In college, I caught one against Duke off my helmet with one hand. Then I caught the one behind my back in the bowl game. And then in the NFL, the Hail Mary is probably the one that stands out the most."

Nicks' huge hands help him pluck passes away from defenders. Nicks' hands measure 10 1/2 inches - 3 inches larger than an average man.

Nicks said Knotts used to comment about his catcher's mitt-like hands. Nicks never thought much about it until he went to Chapel Hill and he couldn't fit into any of the receivers' gloves. The Tar Heels ordered Nicks a pair of four-XL Nike gloves

"I've got big hands. I catch the ball well," he said. "And what I do with the ball in my hands afterward is just what I do."

Catch and run

Nicks' ability to make plays and pick up big-chunk yards after the catch makes him more of a threat. In the first quarter in the divisional playoff against the Packers, Nicks caught a pass over the middle from Eli Manning, bounced off a tackle attempt by safety Charlie Peprah and outran three Green Bay defenders for a 66-yard touchdown.

"He's so smooth that you don't realize that he's really, really fast," said Giants defensive tackle Chris Canty, who went to Charlotte Latin.

Giants running back Brandon Jacobs said that play and others like it are his personal favorites from Nicks' repertoire.

"That's what I like because when you get the ball in his hands, he runs like nobody I've ever seen," Jacobs said. "The jump balls and all that, it shows his will and determination to get better and how hard he works. The balls that Eli puts there and he has to run and get under it to catch it and keep trucking, I like those."

But the dagger that did in the defending Super Bowl-champion Packers was the Hail Mary at Green Bay.

Leading 13-10, an Ahmad Bradshaw run to the Packers' 37 gave the Giants one shot at the end zone with six seconds left before halftime. Nicks lined up left, flanked by Victor Cruz and Devin Thomas, and was surprised no Packer checked him at the line of scrimmage.

Nicks ran straight down the field, got position in front of Peprah and cornerback Charles Woodson, jumped and caught Manning's heave cleanly in the end zone. Nicks said it was the first Hail Mary he has caught at any level.

"We always practice it on Saturday, but we never actually throw it. We just work on landmarks," Nicks said. "Once I was running down the field, I saw how open it was. Then I saw the ball in the air. It was nothing but me, the ball and my head, so I just jumped up to go get it."

Big catch today?

Nicks' 335 receiving yards and four touchdown catches in the playoffs are the most by a Giant. Nicks, who lives in Ballantyne and works out with Massaquoi in the offseason, was joined in Indy this weekend by several members of his family.

He hopes to give his family and fans another highlight-reel catch to talk about.

"I think that's something every receiver dreams about doing," he said.

Hakeem can dream. But as he has proven at every level, he can pull it off, too.

Staff researcher Maria David contributed.