John Michael Schmitz Jr. seeks center stage with Giants

John Michael Schmitz Jr. was wearing the stains of practice. His gray uniform pants had some red patches of blood on the right thigh — the logo for NFL toughness.

His blood or someone else’s?

“Could be both,” the rookie center said with a smile when he met the media Friday inside the Giants’ fieldhouse.

Life along an NFL offensive line isn’t for the faint of heart, but the Giants have a tough new player who has a chance to be at the center of it all.

They drafted the 6-4, 320-pound Schmitz in the second round, making him the 57th overall pick. The 2022 AP first-team All-American at Minnesota has been running with the Giants’ first team lately in training camp.

Still, there are many more practices and the coming preseason games for him to show that he indeed should be the one snapping the ball toward Daniel Jones’ hands in Week 1.

“He’s a pro as a young player,” coach Brian Daboll said. “He meets a lot of extra time with Daniel. I think he’s improved each day, but he’s in the category with all the rookies — a long way to go.”

Schmitz isn’t penciling himself in as the starter for opening night against the Cowboys on Sept. 10 at MetLife Stadium. Ben Bredeson also has seen time at center as well as at guard.

“Right now, my main focus is to continue to get better each and every day and gain that trust with that O-line room and that offense to just prove that I can be out there and I can make the calls,” Schmitz said.

There certainly is a difference between being a college center and being a center at this level, even just in camp.

“I’m going against some of the best D-line there is,” Schmitz said.

So trying to block an interior lineman such as 6-4, 340-pound Dexter Lawrence II should help his development.

“Dex is a great player, All-Pro last year,” Schmitz said. “It’s a great opportunity to go against him every day in practice, continue to perfect my craft, learn from him, and at the end of the day get better.”

Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka thinks it’s beneficial for Schmitz to be facing defensive coordinator Wink Martindale’s pressure-heavy unit these days.

“You see those looks, there’s a lot going on, so you’re able to process it quicker and quicker and quicker at full speed [during the season],” Kafka said.

After growing up on Chicago’s South Side and playing left tackle his final two seasons in high school, Schmitz committed to play for P.J. Fleck at Western Michigan, but Fleck left for Minnesota. Schmitz followed him to the Big Ten without even making a campus visit.

He redshirted his first season and ended up spending six years with the program, so he already is 24. He made 25 starts at center in his final two seasons and started 35 times overall.

Smart guy? He earned academic All-Big Ten recognition his last five seasons. He also became the fifth Minnesota player to receive All-American and academic All-American honors. He owns a degree in sport management.

Schmitz’s persona is a good guy away from the football field, a nasty guy on it.

Just how does that transformation work?

“When you strap up [the helmets] and the pads come on, it’s kind of just a click, a click of just something,” Schmitz said. “It kind of just comes natural now. I don’t know how to say it.”

You can surely say some blood on his pants isn’t going to faze him.

Neal injured

Right tackle Evan Neal went into concussion protocol after leaving Friday’s practice because of the injury.