05/02 — It's the most wonderful time of the year ... well, if you're a football coach, it's at least one of them.

Here's how poetically head coach Eric Mangini waxed at his afternoon news conference about the Jets rookie minicamp that opened with two practices today:

"All the hard work we put in as an organization into the draft, so many people working on it throughout the whole off-season — really throughout the whole year — meeting as many players as we met, picking them, bringing them in, bringing in the undrafted players and the tryout players, getting them all on the field and getting them working on football again — it's always an exciting time."

Mangini and his staff, which also includes some new faces in green-and-white gear such as assistant HC Bill Callahan, secondary coach Jerome Henderson and special teams boss Kevin O'Dea, seemed to enjoy the early stages of the process of getting the rooks up to speed so that they can mesh with the veterans down the road, first at a June full-squad camp, then for training camp.

The head coach was asked a lot about the Jets' first-rounders, LB/DE Vernon Gholston and TE Dustin Keller, and to be sure the spotlight will be on those two often in the coming months. But today the accent was equally on the small-school guys and the lesser-chance guys. The Jets have brought in 10 undrafted free agents and 34 tryout players for this minicamp to go along with their six draft picks.

And while they all can't make the 2008 Jets roster, as Mangini reminded them already is that all 50 players "have made it into this room," the second-floor Weeb Ewbank Hall auditorium, and thus each has an opportunity to become an NFL player.

One of those who received much attention was RB Danny Woodhead from Division II Chadron State in Nebraska.

"I remember looking at Danny's stats — we have all the running backs in our system, their heights, weights, speed, all ranked not only college-wise but against other running backs over time," Mangini explained. "Going over the stats and seeing 101 rushing touchdowns, 109 total touchdowns, 8,000 yards, a 7-yard average, that piqued my interest."

Needless to say, neither the Jets nor the 31 other teams weren't piqued enough to draft Woodhead, and the experts will say it's because of his level of competition and his level of height — 5'7½".

The coach downplayed the Division II angle. "When you have that kind of production, I think that's hard to do whatever level you're at," he said.

And he also had a positive spin on Woodhead's size.

"Yeah, he's a little smaller than Gholston," Mangini laughed, then segueing to a certain Jets MVP with the last name of Washington. "Leon isn't the biggest guy to get off the bus, but he's a pretty effective guy. I've just been around a lot of players who people consider undersized who are incredibly effective."

The coach, a small-school man at heart who we all know played his college ball at Wesleyan, said he wasn't paying attention to the great story that ESPN's cameras were unfolding as Woodhead, the all-time college rushing leader with 7,871 yards in his four Chadron State seasons, was watching the draft unfold back at his Nebraska pad.

But Mangini said, "I can tell you I really am happy he's here. ... I think he's got a great story and it's an excellent opportunity. He was fun to talk to after the draft, his approach to it. ... He wasn't really concerned about the contract, it was just 'Give me the opportunity' and 'When's camp?' Words you love to hear."

With the addition of Woodhead, the Jets' list of players who have rushed for more than 2,000 yards in a season at any level of pro or college ball rises to four players who did it five times. All four did it at less than Division I-A in college and none of the four ever played a regular-season down for the Jets, although Jesse Chatman and Woodhead potentially have the chance to do that this fall. Here is that two-grand foursome:

Eine Kleine Cleatmusik

Brian Mulligan — I like to call him Dr. Bré — was not called upon to blast out any music to distract the rookies during this first day of minicamp. That'll come later. But the sounds of the day included the tapping of cleats as the players headed across the parking lot to the Jets' practice fields.

Rodrick Johnson, the 6'3", 255-pound Oklahoma State LB who is here as one of the tryout candidates, was into the spirit of his cleats. "Click-Clack," he said as he jogged toward the lower grass field.

There's a man in search of an NFL career — and an UnderArmour endorsement to follow.

Saturday Sked

The schedule for Day 2 of the minicamp is a little different from Day 1. Reporters get a 40-minute period to watch practice Saturday morning, then get Coach Mangini at noon (the news conference will again be streamed and archived on newyorkjets.com) and then the players again in the locker room. The rest of the minicamp is closed to the media and players will depart Sunday.