Eli Apple is vowing to mend his ways after being given a second chance by the New York Giants.

The 22-year-old cornerback who was the 10th pick in the 2016 draft on Monday promised to be a better player Preston Brown Jersey , a better person, and a better teammate as the Giants start a rebuilding process under new coach Pat Shurmur after a 3-13 season.

It was a year Apple would like to forget, both on and off the field. He started only seven games, was inactive for four and was suspended for the final game of the schedule after getting into an argument with the coaching staff. The Ohio State product also got in a beef with Landon Collins that ended with the star safety calling him a cancer.

It was ugly and highlighted a year in which Apple dealt with a crisis at home: His mother had brain surgery.

"Was I embarrassed? Of course," Apple said after the Giants held a two-hour practice at the first of their 10 organized team activities. "Nobody wants to go out the way I went out. I mean, it was all over the place, so of course.

Many wondered whether the Giants would want Apple back after his second season, one that many had forecast would provide a great leap forward for him.

What changed, though, was the Giants shaking up things after last season. Dave Gettleman was hired to replace Jerry Reese as general manager and Shurmur replaced interim coach Steve Spagnuolo, who had taken over when Ben McAdoo was fired in early December.

One of the first things Gettleman did was tell him everyone was starting with a clean slate.

"I'm just going to fine tune everything, come in with a different attitude and just be positive out there on the field Zach Miller Jersey , and just do everything that I can to make myself better as a player, and everybody else better as a team," Apple said.

There is no doubt Apple needs to improve. He finished with 49 tackles and two fumble recoveries last season. He did not have an interception and has only one in two seasons.

The Giants showed some faith in him by releasing veteran Dominque Rodgers-Cromartie in the offseason.

Apple said he's trying to mature and improve how he communicates with coaches and teammates. He said he has patched up his relationship with Collins.

Despite all the problems, Apple said his confidence was not shaken. He admits being blindsided by all the attention he got. His goal this season is to work hard, be positive and try to be on an even keel.

"Maybe I got a little too confident a little bit in thinking I was going to make a big step," he said. "It's about just taking it day by day and continuing to be patient, and just know my time's going to come."

For now, Apple has an idea who he is.

"I think I'm a 22 year-old guy, just ready to get to work and continue to work hard and just build on that," he said.

NOTES: Shurmur threw out the first pitch at the Mets game with Arizona on Sunday. It was short and wide toward the visitors dugout. It was not as bad as the 50 Cent mode , but it was not good.

"Yeah, well Bruce Ellington Jersey , I was wasting a pitch" Shurmur quipped, adding he has a new appreciation for baseball while insisting he did not have a case of jitters. "That's what I was doing, like some good pitchers might.

"There are certain things that you try to not redo." ... First-round draft pick and new father Saquon Barkley showed some deft moves off the field when asked about combining football and family life.

"It actually kind of sucks a little bit - well that came off wrong at first," he said. "It kind of sucks because I'm not with my daughter as much as I would love to be because obviously training camp, rookie minicamp, OTAs and then I had to go to L.A. for the Rookie Premiere. But I get to see her this weekend, so that is going to be great to be able to hold her again."

A man convicted in the shooting death of retired New Orleans Saints star Will Smith has appealed the conviction and 25-year-sentence arising from a confrontation after a 2016 traffic collision.

Cardell Hayes was convicted of manslaughter in December 2016 in Smith’s death and of attempted manslaughter because Smith’s wife, Raquel, was shot in both legs during the encounter in April of that year.

But Hayes’ attorney Paul Barker wrote in an appeal filed Thursday that the judge who tried Hayes should have granted a new trial because a witness who contacted Barker the day after Hayes’ conviction said he had heard two guns at the time of the shooting, buttressing Hayes’ claim that he had fired in self-defense.

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Prosecutors on Friday rejected the arguments as ”falsehoods.”

Hayes’ lawyers had argued at trial that he only fired because the retired NFL player was drunk and violent and had grabbed a gun following their collision. No one else testified Smith ever held a gun. A loaded .9-mm semi-automatic handgun was found loaded but unused on the front seat of Smith’s car.

Barker’s appeal Thursday also contended the trial judge, Camille Buras, should have allowed testimony about Smith’s 2010 arrest on a domestic abuse charge. That would have shown he could be violent when drunk Trey Hopkins Jersey , Barker wrote. Barker also wrote in the filing that other errors included allowing victim impact testimony before the trial’s sentencing phase, and by ”suggestively” re-reading jury instructions.

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said in a statement Friday that prosecutors had proved Hayes’ guilt and that Buras managed ”this difficult trial fairly and impeccably.”

”The falsehoods within this appeal make only one thing clear: That Cardell Hayes has yet to accept the consequences of his rash decision to open fire on an innocent couple,” the emailed statement said. It added that Hayes’ latest arguments make clear he ”has yet to begin the rehabilitation necessary to one day return as a responsible and law-abiding member of our community.”

Smith, a 34-year-old father of three, was a defensive leader on the Saints team that lifted spirits in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. He helped carry the team to a winning season in 2006 and a Super Bowl victory four years later. His death in a dispute over traffic was shocking, even for a city with a high rate of homicides.

In his filing Thursday, Barker said a new witness, Michael Burnside, emailed him the last day of the trial, when he was not checking email because he was ”preoccupied with closing arguments and jury deliberations.” The email said Burnside had heard two guns at the time Smith was shot. Reached the next day, Burnside said he had heard four ”baps” consistent with a small-caliber gun before a ”boom” consistent with a larger-caliber weapon like Hayes’.

”Mr. Burnside states that the first ”boom” of the larger caliber weapon overlapped the last ”bap” of the smaller caliber weapon,” Barker wrote. That backs up Hayes’ testimony that Smith fired at him first Bill Bates Jersey , he said.

Barker also said the judge didn’t let trial lawyer John Fuller question retired Saints running back Deuce McAllister, the first prosecution witness, about Smith’s ”arrest for abusing Raquel Smith while out at a bar in Lafayette.”

Smith was arrested outside a bar, accused of pulling his wife down the street by her hair. He was indicted in 2011 on misdemeanor charges of domestic abuse battery and public intoxication. Lafayette Parish prosecutors dropped the charges in 2012 after Smith completed community service and participated in counseling.

McAlister had testified about Smith’s good character, opening the way to rebuttal testimony which the judge didn’t allow, Barker wrote.

”The state elicited pages of testimony from Deuce McAllister detailing the good moral qualities of the victim, the tremendous impact on the victim’s family, and the impact on the New Orleans Saints franchise,” he wrote.

He said that ”went beyond the proper scope of examination,” causing prejudice against Hayes and violating his right to a fair trial.

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