Up so high, among the clouds, Ted Ginn Sr. did not talk much.

His head was filled with his own thoughts.

Amid the privacy and comforts of the private jet the Giants provided from Pittsburgh — the site of last month’s NFL draft — to New Jersey, Ginn could not take his eyes off Arvell Reese and his family. Parents and siblings. Ginn could see the joy in their faces. The previous evening, the Giants made Reese the No. 5 overall pick, and he was headed to his new football home, signifying a triumph for a 20-year old linebacker.

This ascension was never guaranteed. Far from it.