Corey Ballentine did not fly back home from Dallas with the Giants Sunday night after their 35-17 season-opening loss to the Cowboys.
Instead, the rookie cornerback returned home to Topeka, Kan., to testify Monday at the preliminary hearing for an 18-year old man accused of shooting Ballentine and killing his best friend and former Washburn University college teammate.
Ballentine is one of 13 people who were called to testify at Shawnee County District Court, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.
The incident took place in the early morning April 28, hours after the Giants made Ballentine a sixth-round pick in the draft. Ballentine and his friend, Dwane Simmons, 23, were leaving a party when a car pulled up and soon after, shots were fired. Ballentine was wounded in the buttocks and Simmons was killed.
Francisco Alejandro Mendez, 18, of Topeka is accused of firing the shots.
Ballentine made his NFL debut on Sunday, playing nine snaps on defense and returning two kickoffs for a total of 46 yards.
A day later, coach Pat Shurmur said he did not second-guess himself for giving Saquon Barkley only 15 touches (11 rushing attempts, four pass receptions).
“We only had four possessions in the first half, and one was a two-minute drive, so it really was three possessions,’’ Shurmur said, “and I think in our first 17 plays he touched the ball six times. Obviously, we want more plays, more possessions. You don’t go into it thinking he isn’t going to touch the ball, that’s just how that first half played out.’’
Eli Manning has enough on his plate dealing with his offense, but he did offer some words of support for a defense that endured a terrible opener.
“When you have some new guys and some young guys, you have to learn,’’ Manning said. “You have to learn what teams are going to do, you have to come along and make plays. I don’t know exactly what happened, it’s not about the defense, it’s both sides doing their job.’’
The Giants filled their final spot on the roster by signing OLB Tuzar Skipper off waivers. Skipper was released by the Steelers on Saturday after he initially made their 53-man roster following a strong summer. Undrafted out of Toledo, Skipper had five sacks in the preseason and the Steelers were hoping he would clear waivers so they could sign him to their practice squad. Skipper had 8.5 sacks in 2018 for Toledo.+
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