Q&A with Oregon Offensive Line Coach Alex Mirabal About Giants Offensive Lineman Shane Lemieux

What exactly are the Giants getting in Oregon offensive lineman Shane Lemieux, their fifth-round draft pick? I reached out to Oregon offensive line coach Alex Mirabal to get some insight into Lemieux’s character, strengths, and weaknesses, and what I got in return was as honest of an assessment as could be expected.

Q: When you first met Shane, what jumped out at you?

A: I first met Shane when he was going into his junior year—that was my first year at Oregon. That whole offensive line group was a veteran group, and even though I've been coaching for a while, I was still the new guy.

So what jumped out at me was that Shane immediately took me in. Sometimes whenever a new coach comes in, there might be some skepticism, some, ‘Okay, I've had two other offensive line coaches, so let’s see what this guy is about.’

Shane took me under his wing and was basically 'Coach I got, you.'

Q: It sounds like Shane is very coachable.

A: He is. One of the things that drives him is he doesn't want to disappoint his coaches. He wants to do well because he's got pride as a man and as a player, but he also wants to do well because he wants his position coach to not look bad in front of others. That means a lot to a coach, having a kid that wants to do well because he wants you to do well.

Not every player's like that. There's a lot of players that are in it for selfish reasons and are like, ‘The hell with the coach.’ That's not Shane. His best trait is that he is loyal as a day, as long, you know, and we grew very attached because of that.

Q: What about his best traits as an offensive lineman?

A: I’m sure people have told you that offensive linemen are supposed to be tough, but Shane is really tough. He started 52 consecutive games at the University of Oregon, and he showed up for every game.

I guarantee you that there were times when he wasn't feeling a hundred percent, but he fought through it because he knew that his team needed him. He never missed practice either, and he did all the individual drills, so he’d be ready for whatever Saturday brought him.

Q: It sounds like he has a chip on his shoulder. Where do you think that comes from?

A: One of the stories I got was that Boise State recruited him, and then (Head) Coach (Chris) Petersen left Boise State and went to the University of Washington. They apparently didn't think he was good enough to play at the University of Washington, so Shane ended up at Oregon with a chip on his shoulder. And I’m sure he's going to have the same chip on his shoulder in the NFL, being a fifth-round pick. Hopefully, he keeps that chip on his shoulder for his career.

Q: There’s been some talk about him potentially playing center for the Giants. What have you seen from him that would give you a reason to believe he’d be a successful NFL center?

A: First of all, the leadership that we talked about before is big. The center's gotta be the leader, and Shane is an alpha in that sense, which is what you’d want from your center. Even though he didn't play center for us, he knows all the (defensive) front identifications and line of scrimmage calls. The language will probably be different, but he'll be able to communicate that once he gets the Giants’ language down.

There’s also his toughness. With your center, you want to make sure that that guy is there every game. When you're missing a tackle or guard, it’s a little easier to plug in a replacement than it is to plug in a center because it affects everybody else.

Q: What about his cross-training at the center position?

A: He did some (training at center) during the season with us at practices. I know he's been training in Phoenix, Arizona with LeCharles Bentley, the former NFL center—Shane’s down there with our center (Jake Hanson), who got drafted by the Packers.

I told Shane after he got drafted, ‘Listen, you can, you can get into guard stance in your sleep, so from now until the time that this quarantine lifts, do not do any drills without a ball in your hand playing center.’ And no pun intended, but I think he'll take to center like a duck to water.

Q: Let’s get a little more technical regarding his skill sets starting with the run game.

A: At the University of Oregon, we ran everything that they do in the NFL—we ran inside zone, a wide zone, pin-and-pull, counter, and power. So as far as that goes, he'll be able to do all of that stuff. But Shane is a power player.

At Oregon, we always emphasize going vertical. Coach (Jason) Garrett (Giants offensive coordinator) and Coach (Marc) Columbo (Giants offensive line coach) were an inside zone, a wide zone team when they were with Dallas. I know they ran a little bit of DUO, which is running power without a puller. We did not run that play, but it's very similar to an inside zone play, so Shane will be great at it.

Q: What about pass protection?

A: I thought he became a really good pass protector the past year and a half--I think he might've given up two sacks the last two years. But he’s got to continue to improve. He wants to be so physical that sometimes he loses a little bit of control in pass protection.

So what he had to do is realize that in pass protection, it's more about making contact. You want to hit singles in pass protection as opposed to when you're in the run game where you want to hit a home run. So he has to train himself to be patient.

When you watch him in the passing game, if he doesn't have work, he's going hunting, and he's going to go clean up a guy off the tackle, for example. He'll be fine with pass protection.

Q: How much experience does he have with handling twists and stunts?

A: To me, anything that causes an offensive line to have to communicate after the snap, which is what happens on defensive line stunts and twist is more difficult because now the offensive line has to communicate after the ball has been snapped.

But we were pretty good with it because that's something that we drill every day in practice. So we did see a lot of twists and games on third down, but we were as a group, and he'll be, he'll be great with that too.

Q: How comfortable does he look working in a three-point stance versus a two-point stance?

A: At Oregon, our guards only played in a three-point stance. Our tackles played in both stances and of course our center was in a three-point stance because he had his hand on the ball.

It's a lot harder to pass protect in a three-point stance than it is in a two-point stance because in a two-point stance, you've eliminated a step from the protection, the process of pulling the hand off the ground.

Now a couple of times in practice, Shane would ask if he could take a couple of reps at left tackle during a one-on-one pass rush, and he’d do fine with that.

Q: As he gets ready for this next level and you get to sit back and watch his development, what are some things you’d like to see Shane build on?

A: Learning to be a pro, learning how to take care of his body, learning how to eat right, and recover. My advice to him, if he asked me, would be, 'Keep your mouth shut, open your eyes, open your ears, and see what the veterans do. How do the veterans take care of their bodies? How do they take notes? When do they come in and watch film?'

He's probably going to have to become a center now. He's going to have to go in and hopefully get with (quarterback) Daniel Jones and, and sit down and watch film together so they can pick up the pressures and the blitzes and all that stuff.