ALBANY, N.Y. -- Domenik Hixon is just happy to be back at work.

"It's a blessing -- enjoying it, man. I was like enjoying the meetings and doing all of that. I couldn't wait to come to training camp, believe it or not," said Hixon, entering his fifth season with the Giants.

It's certainly believable, considering what the wide receiver has gone through the past two years. In June 2010, Hixon was fielding a punt on the turf in the first practice at the Giants' new stadium when he slipped and tore his right anterior cruciate ligament.

He returned in 2011 but suffered the same injury while making a one-handed, juggling catch in the end zone against the St. Louis Rams in the second game of the season.

Hixon isn't just enjoying the atmosphere of training camp -- he's also trying to earn the vacated third wide receiver spot with Mario Manningham now in San Francisco.

Hixon made an excellent catch in practice Thursday, grabbing a high pass over Prince Amukamara near the end zone. He came down hard on the play but said he was fine.

"It felt good," Hixon said. "After, I did a little roll and kind of just sat there and smiled to myself and was like, 'It's all right.'"

Head coach Tom Coughlin said he was worried when Hixon went down.

"You know he's going to try to make the play," Coughlin said. "This guy is something else. He has no fear, he just went up for the ball and he got it. (But) if I had scripted it, I wouldn't have done it that way."