ATLANTA -- Flopped across his dorm room bed at training camp, with SportsCenter on as background noise while he attempted to assimilate all the hieroglyphics of the San Francisco defensive playbook, 49ers first-round corner Mike Rumph was immediately stirred from his semi-reverie by a television report.

The reaction, when Rumph recognized the name of former University of Miami teammate Jeremy Shockey, and realized the first-round tight end had made headlines by refusing to sing at the annual rookie hazing, and initiating an ugly altercation with New York Giants linebacker Brandon Short?

Truth be told, Rumph had to all but fight back a wide yawn, so unsurprising was the news.

	Shockey has captured headlines throughout the preseason.

"One thing about Jeremy," said Rumph, himself a first-round choice, "he might seem a little backwards at times. But you are not going to force him to do anything he doesn't want to do, OK? He is one tough sucker and, if you take Jeremy on, you better be ready for him."

Three games into the Giants' preseason schedule, the rest of the NFL might not be ready for Jeremy Shockey. For sure, the Falcons secondary, which saw him in an exhibition game Saturday, wasn't quite prepared for him, trying to cover Shockey with a safety even in the slot, and losing the gambit.

That is apt to be, if Shockey's preseason performances are any indication of what is to come, a pretty regular occurrence on Sunday afternoons this fall. The 14th player chosen overall in the first round, and ballyhooed by some of the league's top scouts as the best tight end prospect since Tony Gonzalez entered the NFL in 1997, Shockey has quickly established himself as one of the prime contenders for rookie of the year honors.

No one who did their predraft homework, and who watched Shockey on video or attended his on-campus workout, is stunned by how immediately the big tight end has fit in at the NFL level. Projected into the lineup from the second the Giants selected him -- after a savvy move up the board of just one spot by New York general manager Ernie Accorsi -- he has made at least one big play in every preseason contest.

He drew national attention in the Hall of Fame game for a 48-yard catch and run, where he plowed through three would-be Houston Texans defenders, and left bodies strewn in his wake. On Saturday, in the first quarter, Shockey flexed into the short slot on the right side, and Falcons free safety Keith Lyle locked up on him in single coverage. Shockey easily beat Lyle deep up the right seam, adjusted slightly to the Kerry Collins aerial, and laid out for a 26-yard catch to the one-yard line. On the next play, he scored, separating in the back of the end zone after a Collins play-action fake. Lyle exited the field shaking his head. It is a gesture that should become pretty commonplace this year from safeties trying to check Shockey, a kid heralded as the second coming of Mark Bavaro, but a far better athlete than the former Giants star ever was during his 10-year career, with six of those seasons spent in New York.

"It's a real honor (to be compared to Bavaro)," said Shockey, who met the former Giants star earlier this summer. "But you aren't going to help your own situation by trying to be somebody else. I just want to play as good as I can and, hopefully, make my own reputation."

That should not take long.

In the 11 seasons since Bavaro departed, the Giants starting tight ends have averaged just 25.8 receptions, 265.2 yards and 1.9 touchdowns per year. The irrepressible Shockey could readily post numbers better than those in the first half of the 2002 campaign. Only three times in 11 years have the Giants tight ends put up more than 30 catches, just once did the starter manage to have more than 33 receptions. Over the last seven seasons, the starting tight ends had an aggregate eight touchdowns. Just once did the No. 1 tight end have more than two scores in a season.

Seemingly struck from the same mold that produced Gonzalez, who is felt to represent the prototype of the tight end for the new millennium, Shockey is oblivious to the litany of numbers. He is also immune, it appears, to the kind of adjustment period through which most rookies must battle.

Coming off a 2001 season in which Collins struggled mightily, Accorsi knew he had to provide his quarterback a weapon in the middle of the field, and Shockey was earmarked early in the spring as the Giants' target in the first round. In fact, in virtually every published "mock draft" and most of the scenarios played out in NFL "war rooms," everyone listed Shockey as the likely New York choice. Accorsi, who as a matter of policy does not talk about draft prospects, did nothing to quash the rumors that Shockey was his man. Even if he had, it wouldn't have mattered, since the marriage of the tight end and the Giants was a perfect dovetailing of supply and demand.

	“	You can stand up (to the veterans in camp) with your mouth, or show them with your play, prove to them you belong. The way that he's going, (there) aren't too many people here or anyplace else who will want to fool with Shockey, believe me. ”
		— WR Amani Toomer, on rookie TE Jeremy Shockey

The New York passing game ranked No. 8 statistically in the league last year, but that is a deceptive number, as Collins had no one dependable to work between the hashes. Giants tight ends combined for 14 catches and the need for an intermediate range receiver was dire.

So enter Shockey.

There was, with apologies to former Colorado tight end and fellow No. 1 draft choice Daniel Graham, one great tight end in the 2002 draft. And the Giants were prepared to do just about anything it took to get him.

Said longtime NFL assistant Dan Henning, now offensive coordinator of the Carolina Panthers: "Oh, man, what a (prospect). Of all the tight ends in this year's draft, you put Shockey up here (hand above his head) and the rest of the crop down here (hand at his waist). That's how much better I thought he was than everyone else. He can be very, very special, I'm telling you."

There was a time when it appeared no one thought Shockey was even a marginal prospect, let alone special, and the former high school wideout had to make himself a player. A native of Ada, Okla. (population: 16,000), Shockey played six different positions in high school and, at just 6-feet-2 and 190 pounds, did not rate high on recruiting lists. His dream was to play at Oklahoma, but the Sooners switched coaching staffs, didn't pursue him very hard, and Shockey found himself being wooed "by a whole bunch of schools where I didn't want to go anyway."

He opted instead for Northeast Oklahoma A&M, a junior college, showed up on campus having gained nearly three inches and 35 pounds, and began to flash superior athletic skills. "All of a sudden," said Northeast coach Dale Patterson, "you couldn't keep the big schools away."

While he acknowledges that Miami was "a few light-years" removed from Oklahoma, and that his country music penchant wasn't the optimum meld for the urban hip-hop of the city or the techno dance music of South Beach, Shockey signed with the Hurricanes for one reason: He knew the 'Canes put people into the NFL, and that his goal of a professional career was enhanced immeasurably by heading south.

"That place just attracts scouts," Shockey said. "You never have to worry about getting lost in the crowd."

With his undeniable skills, Shockey could be in some Chinese province and working in a rice paddy, and scouts might still have found him. At least, it seems, the Giants scouts would have. Collins refers to him as "the missing piece," and talks about what having such a huge and dependable target in the middle of the field will mean for him.

As for Shockey, well, he doesn't talk much at all about himself. There is still lots of media wariness in the country kid, who figures to soon be one of the most recognizable personalities in the world's most important city. The irony is not lost on Shockey, but he said he just assumed his deeds on the field will hasten the adjustment period.

His teammates agree with that assessment.

"You can stand up (to the veterans in camp) with your mouth, or show them with your play, prove to them you belong," said Giants wide receiver Amani Toomer. "The way that he's going, (there) aren't too many people here or anyplace else who will want to fool with Shockey, believe me."

Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.