New York Post, Tuesday, August 6, 2019nypost.comBy GREG JOYCE
Will Hernandez arrive d
at theUniversity of Texas-
El Pa so asa 17 -y ear-old and
left five years later as an
NFL draft pick.
“I basically grew up
there,” the Giants left
guard said.
So when Hernandez
heard the news about the
mass shooting
at a Walmart in
El Paso onSat-
urday, which
left at least 22
people dead
and many more
injured, it came
as a shock and
hittoo closeto
home.
“That city is
really impor-
tant to me,”
Hernandezsaid
Monday after
practice. “I love
the people in El
Pa so. It ga ve me so much.
It pu t me on thepa th that
led meto the NFL. ElPaso’s
very dearto myheart.I felt
that even being here.”
Hernandezsaid he imme-
diately reached out to his
close friendswho still live
there wh en he learned
about theshooting,need-
ingto make sure they were
all safe, and they were. He
plans on staying intouch
with them in thecoming
da ys and seeing if there is
anything he can doto help
out.
For now, Hernandez is
left thinkingof them from
afar, thoughhe believes the
city willcome throughit
together.
“I know the peopleof
El Paso,Iknow the kind
of character they have,”Hernandezsaid. “They’re
strong people.They’re not
thetype to just let some-
thing like that completely
tear them down.They’re
strong people andI know
they’llrally andget through
this. They’ll ge t stronger
from this.”
Hernandezsaid
UTEP isa bigpart
of El Paso and
helpsgive the city
a small-town feel-
ing. Everybody,
he said,comesto
watch the Miners
play on Saturdays
in thefall, which
only addsto the
connection hefeels
to thecommunity.
“This is just
something that
doesn’t matter
why it happened,”
said Hernandez,who is of
Mexican-American heri-
tage. “The intentions or
whatever, honestlyIcould
care less.The thing thatI
do care about is all those
families that were affected
and the people that were
affectedby this.That’s wh at
I really care about and how
much people are hurting.”³B.J. Hillwas excused
from practice for the birth
ofhis son. ... Michael
Thomas and Zak
DeOssiewe re ex cusedto
tend to NFL Players Asso-
ciation duties.... The Giants
cut offensive lineman and
college shot putterAustin
Droogsma, who was try-
ingto make the practice
squad, andsignedOGMal-
colmBunche.El Paso shooting
hits home for
OL Hernandez
intoagymor a facility andcoaches
walk upto you andsay, ‘In real life
they are even bigger thanwhat you
see onTV.’ It’s pretty amazingto see
those things in person.”
What is not so amazing isfinding
threadsfor those things.Fitt ing Bar-
kley’s musculus quadricepsfemoris
with clothing that provide the style
andfeel he craves is,well, challeng-
ing.
“Especially wh en itco mesto like
high-endfa shion, designerbrands,
it’s too narrow,” Barkley said. “So
there arealot thingsIcan’twear.I
can’twear some stuff Odellwears.
For me, Amiri jeans is like something
that justfits me perfectly. Or Keiser
Clark, their jeans justfit me perfect.
Bu t if I ha d to put on like Balenciagas,
sometimes thosepa nts just don’tfit
me well, unless it’s like the trackpants
and the loose-fitting ones, but it’s
hard to find ones that fit slim andgive
me a good look.”
Custom-made clothingwould
soothe this search, but Barkley, other
thanfewtailored suits, is having little
of it.
“Nah, I’ll just shop around andfind
the rightpants that fit me,” he said.
nnnn
T
HERE are musclesfor showing
and musclesfor going. Barkley
has it all,which iswhy he gained
1,307 rushingyards, caught91 passes
for 721 yards and scoreda combined
15 touchdowns as the NFL’s Offensive
Rookieof the Ye ar.
There is onewordBarkley usesto
explain why he crafted his quads into
suchweaponry.
“Power,” he said. “WhenI mean
power, I don’t mean running people
over. Powerful beingwhen you hit
me , you fe el the density andyo u
canfeel ’em and itkeeps me mov-
ing.Why I’m ableto squat so much,
why I’m ableto do the things I do,
why I’m ableto makeajump-cut
then make another jump-cut ove r
somebody else. All those things
come with flexibility, balance, core
stability, mobility in all thepl aces
you needto be, especially hips,to be
ableto bend and move that way, but
the power comes fromyour quads
andyour hamstrings andyour legs
and that’s what you have to have as a
runningback.”
Barkley, standing 6-foot,wantedto
challenge himself andget downto
224 pounds after playing asa rookie
at 233. His body-fat indexof slightly
more than4 perce nt, though,actually
made losingweighttoo dangerous
and he arrived this summerat 232.
“Theco mbinat ionof size, speed,
quickness,explosiveness,” Flaherty
said, “is about as rareas itgets when
it comesto the human body.”
Ye s, Saquon Barkley is indeed
human.A different-looking human.
[email protected]GoldenTate will be in
Manhattan onTuesday
to appeal hisfour-game
suspensionfor violating
the NFL’s performance-
enhancing substance
policy. Tate said ina
statement last month he
believes he hasa strong
case, insisting hete stedpositive becauseof a pre-
scription he briefly took
after seeinga specialist
for fertility planning.
“He may have to leave
practicealittle early, but
it’s kindof an important
thing that he needsto go
do,” head coachPat Shur-
mursaid. — GregJoyceTate appeal hearing today
WILL
HERNANDEZ
Spentfive years
at UTEP.GIANTSNOTES
Continued fromPage4
JUMPDAY:Saquon Barkley
tore through— and over —
NFL defenseslast season
to win theOffensiveRookie
of theYear award. He’s still
just asstrong, and after
offseason workouts, maybe
even stronger.
AP; N.Y. Post: CharlesWenzelberg