‘Best days are ahead’ for rookie RB Tyrone Tracy Jr.

Upon Brian Daboll taking over as head coach of the Giants, the team adopted a new mantra for players to exemplify: smart, tough and dependable. Walters has his own version of this at Purdue: always be competitive, always be tough, and always be disciplined. Those three things, Walters said, are an embodiment of Tracy.

“He’s as competitive a guy I’ve been around, no matter what you’re doing,” Walters said. “I talked about his toughness, not only from a physical standpoint but just in life in general. Obviously, his path is a unique one. You get recruited out of high school to play wide receiver, you go to Iowa, it doesn’t work out there. You go to Purdue, you barely get touches your first year there. And then all of a sudden, you get a new staff and change positions. But you stay the course, and that was toughness.

“He attacked those adverse moments with great attitude and effort, and he’s disciplined. That discipline leads to consistency, and when you’re consistent, you get a chance to produce. He was detailed and disciplined with the techniques, with the game plan, with film study, never put the ball on the ground… He was awesome in the locker room. Just the message that he would preach to the rest of the guys was exactly what we needed. I’m grateful for his example moving forward.”

Tracy’s quickest path to playing time this season might be as the third-down back, given his experience as a wide receiver along with the presence of veteran running back Devin Singletary.

“He’s a natural pass-catcher,” said Walters. “He understands how to attack somebody’s leverage and how to use your eyes in a route tree. He’s got a good feel for catching the ball and getting vertical. We definitely utilized him out of the backfield this past year, probably should have done it more.”

But another route to early playing time could be on special teams.

Tracy led Purdue with 16 kickoff returns for 408 yards (25.5 avg.) and one touchdown last season, while also contributing on both kickoff and punt coverage. According to his college coaches, the rookie back could easily carve a role out for himself on special teams this year.

“He has a great feel for finding creases and getting through them when we can’t see it,” Conard said about Tracy’s skillset as a returner. “When you talk about kickoff, you’ve got to be willing to run into the wall, running into that door, and you don’t know if it’s going to be open. You’ve got to be willing to do it, and he has that kind of instinct and feel that you need. And he has the frame. This is the beauty of it. He’s a hybrid. He has the quickness, the change of direction as a slot receiver, but he has the strength of a running back. You need that when you’re on kickoff.”

“He was on our kickoff and our punt coverage unit,” Walters added. “He didn’t come off the field really. He made tackles for us on our kickoff team and definitely made a ton of tackles for us on our punt unit as well. He embraced those roles.”

Tracy’s hard work and dedication, especially this past season, led to the Giants selecting him in the fifth round (No. 166) of this year’s NFL Draft.

But with only 146 career rush attempts to his name, we may not have seen the best of Tyrone Tracy Jr. quite yet.

Combine his competitiveness with his willingness to learn and his physical abilities, and it’s easy to see why Walters believes Tracy has a long NFL career ahead of him.

“Your spot on the roster is not owned, it’s rented, and rent is due every day. That fits right up his alley with his competitive nature,” the Boilermakers head coach said. “He’s just never shook, he’s never rattled, he’s always got a positive outlook, and he’s got a lot of confidence and self-belief in his ability. I think that will translate well. He adds value out of the backfield with the receiver background, also a beast on our special teams, both as a returner and a guy on our coverage unit. I’m looking forward to watching him play for a long time. Like I said, I think his best days are ahead of him because he’s just scratching the surface.”

And while his NFL playing days have yet to even officially begin, Walters already sees a future in broadcasting for Tracy whenever he decides to hang up his cleats.

“He’s super positive all the time,” said Walters. “He’s a very likeable guy because he’s genuine, and he is certified funny. We had the Tyrone Tracy show this year. Definitely when football is done, hopefully a long time from now, he’ll get a career path in broadcasting. He’s one of those kind of guys.”