Yes, Jon Halapio said, there are times when he forgets Will Hernandez is a rookie. Not off the field, mind you, because it is away from the game where Hernandez acts like what he is, a 23-year-old taking this all in for the first time.
Take tickets, for example. Hernandez, as a novice Giants guard, does not know how the ticket-purchasing process works. And so, a veteran has to explain it to him.
“I go, ‘Oh yeah, he doesn’t know because he’s a rookie,’ ” Halapio said. “Something simple like that.”
It is between the lines, with the pads on and the smile wiped off his face, where the fact Hernandez indeed is a rookie can be blurred.