Berg Tapped For Pro Tryout With Giants

And then there were three.

Defensive tackle Mike Berg has joined tailback Clifton Dawson and tight end Matt Farbotko among the ranks of senior Harvard football players who have made preliminary deals to continue their careers on NFL rosters.

While Dawson was the only one to receive an actual contract offer, Berg joins Farbotko in being invited to an upcoming mini-camp.

The fact that his suitor—the New York Giants—is also the team he cheered for as a kid is just icing on the cake.

“I was a Giants fan growing up, so that’s exciting,” Berg said. He was also in contact with the Tennessee Titans and the Buffalo Bills through his agent, he said.

“I got a call on Monday morning inviting me to camp, and I decided to go with [New York].”

The home of the Giants, East Rutherford, N.J., is just over 40 miles away from Berg’s home in Stamford, Conn., but it’s another connection with the organization that helped make his tryout with the team a reality.

“Coach [Sean] Ryan, the ex-running backs coach at Harvard, is now the fullbacks coach for the Giants,” Berg explained. “He expressed interest in me at fullback before the draft.”

Ryan, who left the Crimson for New York in February, informed Berg that there probably weren’t enough roster spots to make room for the 6’2, 250-pound D-lineman.

“He said that in terms of numbers, they weren’t going to be able to bring me in,” Berg said. “Coach Coughlin had shown some interest, but it was just a numbers thing.”

“If he was 6’4, they’d probably be looking at him as a defensive tackle,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said.

But with just a single fullback on the roster, Ryan and the Giants reevaluated the situation and decided to give Berg a chance.

“They didn’t draft any fullbacks, and I’m not sure if they signed any, so I think there’s a good shot,” Berg said. “I’m trying to keep my expectations modest, and not get my hopes up.”

Murphy doesn’t downplay the importance of New York having a former Crimson coach who’d had experience watching Berg play.

“I’m sure it doesn’t hurt because any time you have inside intelligence, it has more validity,” Murphy said. “When you’re making those decisions at that level, you must believe in him.”

He added that Berg’s chances of making the roster are legitimate, and that he won’t be “a fish out of water” when he arrives at camp.

“The bottom line is that I think it’s a great opportunity, and I think he can play at that level,” Murphy said. “His inexperience will be a challenge, but if they see what he can do in terms of size and speed and versatility, he’s got a shot.”

Judging from New York’s history, the shot is real. The only Ivy League player taken in this year’s draft—Brown linebacker Zak DeOssie—was chosen by the Giants in the fourth round.

And that other fullback currently on the roster? It’s Jim Finn, a Penn graduate who was “Mr. Irrelevant,” the very last player taken in the draft, in 1999.

“I think I’ll fit in pretty well,” Berg said.

His invitation means that three of the six Harvard players who signed agents will compete in mini-camps within the next two weeks.

“I spoke to them both yesterday,” Berg said of Dawson and Farbotko, who will both compete for roster spots with the Indianapolis Colts. “Clif was pretty excited because he had a couple of options, and he thought this one would be the best fit for him in terms of personnel.

“Matt was excited as well, and happy to be in a camp. He’s kind of in the same boat as me.”

All three players will look to the example set by Harvard’s current NFL pros, Matt Birk ’98 of the Minnesota Vikings, and Isaiah Kacyvenski ’00 and Ryan Fitzpatrick ’05, both of the St. Louis Rams.

“I’ve been trying to contact as many people as I can, get as many opinions as possible,” Berg said. “I want to call Ryan to get his input.”

And though it’s convenient that Berg will get the chance to play for his favorite team, Murphy believes that had New York not called, it wouldn’t have meant the end of the road for Berg.

“I’m confident that if the Giants didn’t give him the opportunity, somebody would have,” Murphy said.

More than anything, though, Berg said he’s eager to get to East Rutherford on May 11 in preparation for the three-day camp, which begins the following day.

“I just want to fast forward through this next week and get to it,” he said. “It should be fun.”

—Staff writer Malcom A. Glenn can be reached at mglenn@fas.harvard.edu