Mark Cannizzaro

Mark Cannizzaro

NFL

Victor Cruz’s journey from wide-eyed rookie to suave mentor

Victor Cruz always has been a forward thinker.

Growing up in Paterson, NJ, and playing college ball at UMass, where he was twice kicked out of school and lost his scholarship, you don’t get to where Cruz has gotten without thinking big and believing.

At age 27, he has won a Super Bowl, has caught 241 passes for 3,626 yards and 23 touchdowns the last three seasons and is in the second year of a five-year, $46 million contract.

But Cruz wants more. A lot more.

That’s why he’s got big plans — on and off the field.

The Giants’ fifth-year salsa-dancing receiver spent part of his offseason in Milan and Paris during their respective men’s fashion weeks honing his eye for fashion so he can become a future giant in that highly competitive industry, following the runway footsteps of some of his professed influences — Givenchy, Alexander Wang, Neil Barrett and Tom Brown.

“You have to realize that life goes on,” Cruz told The Post Sunday before the Giants afternoon practice. “You still have things to accomplish, goals that you want to accomplish, and the offseason is typically when those things happen. That’s why I went to Europe to check out men’s fashion week in Milan as well as in Paris.”

“I want to go as high as it can take me. There are definitely things that I can do, niches I can be a part of. I’m friends with a handful of designers and I want to see if I can collaborate with them and see what happens.”

But first things first: football.

Cruz, who recently became engaged to his high-school girlfriend, Elaina Watley, is five practices into training camp readying for a season that will present him a different kind of challenge than he has faced the last three seasons.

Cruz, left, making a catch as Seattle Seahawks cornerback Jeremy Lane defends on the play during the second half of a game in 2013.AP

His fellow starting receiver on the opposite side, Hakeem Nicks, is gone (signed with the Colts as a free agent), and that leaves Cruz as the only established NFL starter on the Giants roster.

That will put a target between the 8 and the 0 on the back of his uniform, surely drawing a lot more attention from opposing defensive backs who might not view projected starter Rueben Randle as a threat.

With that, too, will come a different kind of leadership responsibility for Cruz, who less than four years ago emerged from nowhere to become a star, but now must become a mentor of sorts to the younger generation of receivers.

That group includes first-round draft pick Odell Beckham Jr., who’s already raising the ire of head coach Tom Coughlin for his inability to stay on the field because of hamstring issues.

Cruz paused at the thought of going from the wide-eyed rookie free agent trying to climb a depth chart that looked as tall as MetLife Stadium to the sage veteran of the group.

“It’s really crazy, and it really happened in just one offseason,” he said. “You’ve just got to accept it. Embrace it. Understand where you came from. This is all a part of the journey.”

The journey of Cruz and the rest of the Giants will be heavily influenced by how the other receivers around him perform — most notably Randle, who’s in his third year.

Getty Images

Cruz said he’s been quietly trying to motivate Randle, whose first two seasons have been inconsistent (60 catches and nine TDs).

“I’ve said little things to him like, ‘Time to lock in this year, coaches are watching you, be a leader on the field,’ little things to motivate him,” Cruz said. “Honestly, other guys have to step up. Rueben Randle, I think this is his time now to step up and fulfill that role, fill that void that was left by Hakeem.”

Cruz’s mission to help the younger players comes from his upbringing as a young Giants receiver, when the likes of Nicks, Steve Smith and Mario Manningham (who’s back this season for a second stint with the team) accepted him when he was a nobody.

Now he wants to pay that forward. That’s why, in the heat of practice Sunday, Cruz was taking time between reps to give a few tips to first-year free-agent receiver Travis Harvey, who’s sixth on the depth chart.

“It’s wanting to continue to connect with my teammates and receivers and not let them think I’m Victor Cruz on my high horse or on a pedestal,” Cruz said. “I don’t want to be that. I want to connect with them. I want to continue that and instill that for as long as I can, for years to come.”