Duff Turns Out to Be a Nice Surprise for Giants : Pro football: Taken in the sixth round, the defensive end from Foothill High is a pass-rush specialist.

For the last three years, Jamal Duff quizzed his older brother, John, about what it was like to play in the NFL.

“Who’s the best defensive end?” Jamal would ask. “What’s it like to play tight end? How good are the Raiders?”

Duff, a former standout at Foothill High, now is answering some of those questions himself.

A sixth-round selection by the New York Giants, the defensive end has turned heads with his exceptional quickness and worked his way into the rotation as a pass-rush specialist.

He still seeks advice from John, who spent the last two seasons as a tight end and defensive end with the Raiders. Taken by Jacksonville in the expansion draft, John is sitting out the season because of an injury.

“John tells me what’s real,” Jamal said. “I look up to him, and I take any advice he gives me, because he knows what I’m going through.”

Before he’s done, Jamal might be telling the best football stories in his family.

When he walked into the Giants’ training camp last summer, Duff didn’t bring many expectations with him. Unheralded at San Diego State, he was the 204th pick in April’s draft. He was the 29th defensive lineman selected.

But Duff, 6 feet 7 and 270 pounds, has been a pleasant surprise in the Giants’ dismal 3-6 season.

He has seven tackles, 10 quarterback pressures and two sacks, usually going against the opposing team’s best offensive tackle on pass downs.

Of the seven draft picks on the Giants’ roster, he has earned more playing time than any except running back Tyrone Wheatley, a first-round selection.

While that doesn’t say much for the Giants’ 1995 draft, it does say a lot for Duff’s persistence.

“The thing I saw in Jamal was a statue--great, great arms and body,” said Earl Leggett, the Giants’ defensive line coach who discovered Duff. “He still needs work. He’s a rookie all the way, and makes a lot of mistakes. But we’re playing him a lot because we know he has a chance to make it.”

Duff’s best game was in a nationally televised, 24-15 victory over Washington two weeks ago.

His first-quarter hit forced quarterback Gus Frerotte to throw into the hands of Giant defensive back Phillippi Sparks. Later, Duff batted a Frerotte pass into the hands of defensive lineman Michael Strahan, who returned it 62 yards to the Redskin two-yard line.

“Jamal can earn a living in the NFL, even though a lot of people didn’t think he could,” said Ken Delgado, San Diego State’s defensive line coach.

“I only coached Jamal his senior year here, but I wish we had him for a couple years. We could have made him a higher pick.”

Duff’s size and play remind Leggett, who coached 11 seasons with the Raiders, of two of his former players--Greg Townsend and Sean Jones.

“He’s a cross between those two,” Leggett said. “He has Greg’s speed and Sean’s long arms and statue-like body.”

As a high school star at Foothill, Duff was a lean, teen version of Too Tall Jones--long arms, narrow waist and a chest that looked like it was carved from a block of marble.

USC, Ohio State, Washington and Arizona recruited him as a defensive end, figuring he would add weight and play there.

But Duff had a linebacker’s mentality, and signed with San Diego State because recruiters told him he could play the position.

He earned the starting middle linebacker job as a freshman, but injured his thigh early in the season and sat out as a medical redshirt.

In the next four seasons, he played outside linebacker, left end, then right end. He played for four coaches and three defensive coordinators.

His last position coach was Delgado, who joined the staff when Ted Tollner replaced Al Luginbill as the Aztecs’ coach before Duff’s senior year.

“When I showed up here, Jamal was 228 pounds and in limbo,” Delgado said. “Where do you play him at that size? Inside or outside?

“He added 25 pounds before his senior year, and we put him onto the line.”

Rapid weight gain by football players often raises eyebrows, but Duff and Delgado insist it was a slow, tedious process. He adds pounds the old-fashioned way: He eats, and eats and eats, then lifts and lifts and lifts.

Duff changed more than his diet. He adjusted his attitude and dedication to football as well.

“His toughness was questioned, and he couldn’t play the run at all,” Delgado said. “He had that mentality before I got here, and that’s not a Jamal Duff problem, that’s a coaching staff problem.”

NFL scouts took notice of Duff during his senior season. They liked his height and quickness but thought he needed to add weight.

Minnesota Coach Dennis Green worked him out. The Dallas Cowboys showed some interest. But Leggett was the one who wanted him on draft day, persuading Giants’ Coach Dan Reeves to take him with a late-round pick.

“I had hoped for the best on draft day,” Duff said, “but expected the worst.”

Duff took a more direct route to the NFL than his brother. A former star at Tustin High, Saddleback College and New Mexico, John signed as a free agent with Dallas in 1989 but was cut in the exhibition season.

He didn’t play in 1990, then spent two seasons in the World League before signing as a free agent with the Raiders in 1993. During his two seasons with the Raiders, John convinced his brother that Jamal would someday join him in the league.

Sunday, he will watch Jamal go against his former team, the Raiders.

“He told me I was big, even taller than most of the people at my position,” Jamal said. “He saw me play in college, and was sure I could make the jump to the NFL.”

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The File on Duff

* Born: March 11, 1972, in Ohio. Height: 6-7. Weight: 270. Drafted: Sixth round in 1995 (204th overall) by New York Giants.

CAREER NOTES

* 1995: Reserve defensive end for the Giants, used mainly in passing downs.

* 1994: Started at left end for San Diego State. Recorded 35 tackles (18 solo) with 7 1/2 sacks for minus 71 yards.

* 1993: Started at strongside defensive end. All-WAC honorable mention. Thirty-nine tackles (16 solo) with four sacks.

* 1992: Started at weakside defensive end. All-WAC second-team.

* 1991: Reserve strongside linebacker, finished with 21 tackles (12 solo) and a sack.

* 1990: Started at middle linebacker as a freshman, injured thigh early in season and granted medical redshirt and extra year of eligibility.

* 1989: SuperPrep magazine All-Far West selection as a senior at Foothill High.

Source: New York Giants