ALBANY, N.Y. -- A day after veteran tight end Martellus Bennett likened himself to a black unicorn, rookie cornerback Jayron Hosley offered a unique comparison for himself: a banana.

“I’m trying to soak it all in. I’m like that green banana trying to stay green and keep learning, you know, I want to get ripe,” said Hosley, a third-round pick out of Virginia Tech “I don’t want to feel like I’m satisfied or complacent.”

Hosley is battling for playing time at cornerback, which could increase with the uncertainty surrounding starter Terrell Thomas’ injured ACL.

“You just have to fill in and do your job, and when it’s your time to step up, step up and do what you got to do,” Hosley said. “We have a lot of talented guys that could step into that position, but you just have to do what you do and hopefully things will work out.”

The 5-foot-10, 178-pound Hosley was a two-year starter for the Hokies before leaving after his junior year. He intercepted 12 passes and had 98 tackles in his last two seasons.

Hosley said he played the nickel cornerback spot “very, very little” in college but is looking forward to getting more repetitions at the position in camp.

“I’m a smaller guy, so I had to show my speed or be more physical to do my job -- that’s just any corner,” he said. “You have to be physical, especially playing the nickel. Playing the nickel, you’re going to face bigger guys in the box, so you have to be physical, you have to have that mentality.”

Hosley also returned punts at Virginia Tech and could be in the mix as a return man. He returned 68 punts in college for 815 yards (12 average) and two touchdowns over his three-year career.

Hosley left practice Monday after suffering lacerations to his knee, but after getting stitches he returned Wednesday.

“I just got a cleat to the knee, nothing major, you know, I’m back going full speed,” Hosley said.