Kayvon Thibodeaux Reveals Michael Strahan's Advice to Him

For all the accolades Giants defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux has racked up so far in his college career, he knows the best is still yet to come.

With good reason. Thibodeaux will have Michael Strahan, the Giants Hall of Fame defensive end who was a staple on the 2007 Super Bowl championship and one of the greatest Giants players in franchise history, in his corner as he adjusts to the glaring New York spotlight.

The two initially became connected through mutual friends who were able to arrange a Zoom call between the two pass rushers.

"I would say last year --fall camp, actually. It was when I had the first zoom with him, and then I got to meet him, and you know, now actually seeing him and talking to him and building that relationship, it's been dope," said Thibodeaux, who along with fellow first-round pick Evan Neal met the Giants media Saturday morning at the team's East Rutherford headquarters.

The Giants also did their part to provide Thibodeaux with Strahan by pairing the two up during the rookie's pre-draft visit. The two men were able to sit down to talk about football and life in general, with Strahan passing along the first of many sound pieces of advice he learned during his career.

The most important piece so far?

"Just to keep the main thing, the main thing, and that's been the focus of all that," Thibodeaux said. "Football is gonna be that avenue. Football is gonna be that terminal for everything you wanna do after. So as long as you keep the main thing, the main thing..."

Thibodeaux also knows that it will take more than just people's high expectations for him to truly become great.

"He also shed light on the idea that people thought the same thing about (Strahan's career). Like, 'Man, you must have had this planned out,' you know? But that took him being great to cultivate. It kind of just fell into place."

Thibodeaux, with whom the camera already has a full-bloom love affair given his gregarious personality, didn't shy away from aspirations of wanting to also follow in Strahan's footsteps post-football. But with that a long way off, and for the Los Angeles native, he plans to take the advice Strahan has shared with him to follow the legendary mantra of Frank Sinatra and achieve that greatness his way.

"I feel like I kind of wanna pave my own way," Thibodeaux said. "You know, he's done the great things he's done because of the work he's put in. So I gotta go put in the work myself and build that legacy for myself."

Join the Giants Country Community

Sign up for our FREE digest newsletter
Follow and like us on Facebook
Submit your questions for our mailbag
Listen and subscribe to the daily LockedOn Giants podcast.
Subscribe and like the new LockedOn Giants YouTube Channel
Sign up for our FREE message board forums

Add us as a preferred source on Google