Giants practice report, 7/28: Which receivers are taking advantage of opportunities?

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The New York Giants concluded a second straight fully padded practice on Sunday in 90-plus degree temperatures. Here are some of the highlights.

Who is catching the ball?

With Corey Coleman gone for the year, Golden Tate facing a four-game suspension, Alex Wesley on PUP and Sterling Shepard, Brittan Golden and Darius Slayton all sitting out with injuries, that’s a good question. Sunday, a few receivers stepped up.

• Alonzo Russell made a few nice catches, including wrestling a Daniel Jones throw across the middle away from Antonio Hamilton. Russell, a practice squad player for the Giants a season ago, has strung together two or three solid practices. Wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert said Sunday that Russell, who is with his third team and does not yet have a catch in a game has “continued to improve.” Tolbert added, “I like where he’s going.”
• Cody Latimer had an active day, catching all three passes Eli Manning sent in his direction.
• Undrafted free agent Reggie White Jr. outjumped cornerback Corey Ballentine for a 50-50 deep ball from Alex Tanney. White also caught a red zone touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone on an outstanding throw from Kyle Lauletta.
• Undrafted free agent tight end C.J. Conrad had another nice day. The highlight play was a deep ball down the right sideline in which Conrad wrestled the ball away from a pair of defenders. Conrad also caught a red zone touchdown pass from Lauletta.

Tolbert said Saturday there has been “no deflation at all” in his group despite the rash of bad news.

“Actually, the guys have more excitement in the room because those guys who normally hadn’t had the opportunity to have a lot of reps get a lot of reps now. They can showcase their ability. Actually, there’s a little bit more excitement in the room than I would expect there to be because the guys are more excited about the extra reps they’ll be getting,” Tolbert said. “I’m excited equally about coaching those guys. We’ll give some other guys some other reps, who don’t normally get as many reps. Now you get to coach them more, give them more reps, and it makes it exciting.”

Quarterback stuff

• Solid day for Eli Manning. I had him as 8-for-13 with a couple of nice connections to Latimer.
• I charted Daniel Jones as 7-for-13. He had two nice touchdown throws to Bennie Fowler in red zone drills.
• Tanney had the two terrific deep balls to Conrad and White.
• Lauletta might have had his sharpest day. The touchdown throw to White in the back corner was his best throw of camp.

Injury news

Add two more names to the injured list.

Undrafted free agent linebacker Mark McLaurin has a fractured foot, suffered Saturday.

Offensive tackle George Asafo-Adjei is in the concussion protocol.

Also, cornerback Sam Beal has both hamstring and groin injuries, rather than just the groin injury that was reported on Saturday.

• Full injury update

Quotable

— Corey Ballentine on the shooting that led to the death of his good friend, Dwane Simmons. [Full story]

Lineup notes

• Jabrill Peppers had a “maintenance day,” as all he did Sunday was return punts and kicks. Michael Thomas filled in at safety for Peppers.
• Nate Solder took a limited number of reps. Chad Wheeler, Brian Mihalik and undrafted free agent Paul Adams (with the third team) took the majority of left tackle snaps.
• During punt return drills, Peppers and Tate were the only guys catching the ball. At this time of year, there can often be five or six guys rotating. Injuries have left the Giants thin at the return spots. Ballentine and newly-acquired T.J. Jones, along with Peppers and Latimer, handled kickoff returns.

X-Man makes his mark

Third-round pick Oshane Ximines made back-to-back plays while working with the second team.

First, he leaped to bat away a Jones pass. On the next play, Ximines held contain nicely on a reverse, forcing Russell Shepard to turn inside.

More good reads

• Valentine’s Views: Dave Gettleman, Golden Tate’s suspension, more
• 18-game schedule should happen, but there are plenty of questions

Camp visitors

Remaining Training Camp Schedule

The Giants have their first off day of camp on Monday.

Tuesday, July 30 — 2:45 p.m. (Public)
Wednesday, July 31 — 2:45 p.m. (Public)
Thursday, August 1 — 2:45 p.m. (Closed)
Friday, August 2 — 2:45 p.m. (Public)
Saturday, August 3 — 2:45 p.m. (Closed)
Monday, August 5 — 10:45 a.m. (Closed)
Tuesday, August 6 — 10:45 a.m. (Public)
Sunday, August 11 — 10:45 a.m. (Public)
Monday, August 12 — 10:45 a.m. (Public)
Tuesday, August 13 — 10:45 .m. (Public)