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Giants sign WR Hakeem Nicks
By Michael Eisen, Giants.com

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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The Giants' draft class will again have perfect attendance for the beginning of training camp.

First-round draft choice Hakeem Nicks today became the last of the nine Giants players selected in the 2009 NFL Draft to sign a contract. He will join the rest of his teammates for the start of camp tomorrow at the University at Albany.

This is the sixth consecutive year the Giants have signed their entire draft class prior to camp. The last No. 1 draft choice to sign when training camp was already underway was defensive tackle William Joseph in 2003. Joseph arrived 12 days late and missed 17 practices.

"Our objective every year is to have these rookies in camp on time," general manager Jerry Reese said. "Training camp is the start of the long haul to get to where we want to be as a team. We all have a lot of hard work ahead of us, and this is the start. It's important for the rookies to be in sync with the rest of the team from the start, because we expect them to contribute to our success. Every year."

Nicks, a record-setting receiver at the University of North Carolina, was the 29th overall selection in this year's draft.

The 6-foot, 200-pound Nicks was the first UNC underclassman to declare for the NFL Draft since defensive end Julius Peppers in 2001. Nicks started all 36 games he played for the Tar Heels and led the team in receptions in each of his three seasons. Nicks set 14 North Carolina school records, including career catches (181), receiving yards (2,840) and touchdown catches (21).

Nicks' 181 receptions topped the old record of 177 by Jarwarski Pollock (2001-05) and rank 13th in Atlantic Coast Conference history. His 2,840 yards receiving broke the previous UNC mark of 2,447 yards by Corey Holliday (1989-93) and placed Nicks 11th on the ACC career-record chart. And his 21 touchdown receptions bettered the former record of 19 by Octavus Barnes (1994-97).

Nicks set another school record with 74 receptions in 2007, topping the previous record of 71 by Pollock in 2003.

In 2008, Nicks caught 68 passes for 1,222 yards and 12 touchdowns and was selected first team All-ACC by the league's coaches, media and the Associated Press. He became the first player in school history to gain more than 1,000 receiving yards in a season and broke the former school record of 990 yards by Sam Aiken in 2003. Nicks' 12 touchdown receptions broke the old mark of nine by Marcus Wall in 1994. He had 10 games with at least 100 receiving yards last season.

Nicks concluded his season with a spectacular performance against West Virginia in the 2009 Meineke Car Care Bowl, where he had eight receptions for a career-high 217 yards and three touchdowns. He became just the third player in school history to post a 200-yard receiving game.

To make room on their roster, the Giants waived defensive back Steve Cargile.