To Follow Feagles as the Giants’ Punter

A bodybuilding fanatic, Dodge spent more time idolizing Arnold Schwarzenegger  than Ray Guy while growing up. Now, he weighs a rock-solid 228 pounds, biceps bulging underneath T-shirts that fit snuggly around his arms.

"I don't do it to be a better punter," Dodge said of his bodybuilding. "This is more selfish stuff."

In April, Feagles announced his retirement after a 22-year N.F.L. career, the past seven with the Giants, in which he was the virtuoso of directional punting. Feagles retired as the league's career leader in punts (1,713), punting yards (71,211) and balls downed inside the 20-yard line (554).

No pressure after that, right?

Drafted in the seventh round out of East Carolina, Dodge beat out Jy Bond in minicamp earlier this summer, making him the heir apparent to Feagles. Dodge had a shaky start to training camp, but he has been working with Feagles, who is at camp helping out.

"Obviously, I'm not going to line up and knock out someone on every play, which Kevin Boss is how a lot of these guys gain respect," Dodge said. "I'm going to have to do it working hard and just producing."

Among punters, Dodge has already distinguished himself with his physique.

As a junior in West Carteret High School in his hometown, Morehead City, N.C., Dodge immersed himself in weightlifting after he noticed the effects on his body; he gained 20 pounds by the time he graduated and he was hooked.

His older brother, Nate, a member of the Army National Guard who served in Iraq from 2004-5, helped to push him in the weight room. Nate had learned different targeted workout routines during his tour of duty, exercises with names like ultimate arms and barbaric back.

Nate, 29, said he was never as intense about weight training as his younger brother.

"It might be a rewarding thing for him," Kevin Boss  said in a telephone interview. "It might be a confidence booster. Plus, not too many people are going to mess with you when you're bigger."

Matt Dodge said he works out four to five times a week and sticks to a strict diet, strict not for what he does not eat, but for what he does. He typically has five substantial meals a day.

For breakfast, he has a protein shake, oatmeal and egg whites. For a midmorning snack, he has a chicken breast, which he will also eat as an afternoon snack after having a sandwich for lunch. Dinner usually brings more chicken, perhaps with rice.

The mind-set I have is a bodybuilder mind-set," Dodge said. "I want to be the best punter I can be, but I'll always have that in the back of my mind that I want to lift weights, too."

Safety John Busing was teammates with Matt Turk, one of the bigger punters in the N.F.L., while playing for the Houston Texans last season. At 6 feet 5, Turk is taller than the 6-1 Dodge. Busing said a punter like Dodge is an anomaly.

"He doesn't look like a typical punter, so he may get treated a little differently," Busing said. "But he's still a punter."