Joe Judge, Saquon Barkley and team make little Giants fans’ day in Arizona

TUCSON, Ariz. — Eli Reyes, 8, woke up at 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday and begged his mom, Frances, to drive him and his little brother, Aaron, 6, to the University of Arizona’s campus.

The goal? To see Eli’s favorite NFL team and favorite player, Saquon Barkley, before practice.

“He’s been asking me to go to New York and I keep telling him it’s too far,” said Reyes, a Tucson resident. “But then we found out they were coming here and he said, ‘Please, please, can we go?’ He was up at 5:30 today. He said, ‘We can go and park outside the hotel.’”

The Reyes’ arrived at Arizona Stadium at 8 a.m. Three hours later, they found it was well worth the wait.

Giants head coach Joe Judge introduced himself and took pictures with the boys. Judge let the whole family into the team’s practice on Arizona’s Dick Tomey Practice Fields, introducing them to more players and letting them hang around the action.

And Barkley signed Eli’s No. 26 jersey.

Aaron wore a No. 13 Odell Beckham Jr. Giants throwback.

“Amazing,” Frances Reyes said of the Giants’ generosity. “No words.”

The boys’ father is actually a Green Bay Packers fan, but Eli said he’s a Giants fan because of his two favorite players:

“Saquon and Odell,” he said with a smile.

What a random stopover this is for the Giants in Tucson, Ariz., in between games in Miami and Los Angeles. But what a heartwarming sight it was to see Judge, Barkley and the team reward these loyal fans for showing up early and supporting them.

WHY TUCSON?

The only other time the Giants stopped over in Tucson before games was in 1998 when Jim Fassel was the Giants’ head coach and the late Tomey was coaching the Wildcats.

The team lost to the 49ers on the road in San Francisco in Week 13, flew to Tucson and practiced there for the week, then drove to Phoenix and beat the Arizona Cardinals in Week 14.

Judge said the Giants are doing this to benefit their players physically. They want to keep their players in the heat in between warm weather games and cut some miles off the back-to-back road trips.

Some players said staying in the heat helps them get used to breathing under duress in a much different climate than the cold Northeast they’re used to.

Judge, funny enough, didn’t have a straight answer for why the Giants chose the University of Arizona. Wildcats coach Jedd Fisch was Bill Belichick’s quarterbacks coach last season with the New England Patriots, though, so there’s a connection.

Leonard Williams admitted he was skeptical of this trip altogether at first.

“I was a little upset about seeing that we were coming out here … at first,” he said. “But now being out here, it’s a good refresher and a little change of pace. I thought it was weird that we would have to leave home, stay in a hotel all week. It’s actually been a good change of pace.”

The Giants also are paying some Arizona students to help them with their set-up and systems, so there were more people in Giants gear than usual around the team’s practice and certainly around this campus.

BARKLEY BACK ON INJURY REPORT

Barkley (left ankle) is going to play Sunday, but he was limited at Wednesday’s practice after not being on the injury report all last week. That’s the same injury that sidelined him for four games from Weeks 6 through 9 before he returned in Week 11 after the bye.

Barkley seemed to be protecting his ankle in last Sunday’s loss to the Dolphins, including one run when he stepped out of bounds rather than taking a hit to gain an extra yard across the first down marker.

Judge pushed back on questions about Barkley not running hard.

“I’m not going to question this guy’s toughness or competitiveness,” he said.

The coach didn’t think Barkley’s performance was affected by him worrying about getting re-injured.

“I think that’s a question he has to answer. I don’t see him working that way, I don’t see him playing that way,” Judge said.

The coach stressed that Barkley will play on Sunday and that the Giants will continue to try and lean on him. That strategy didn’t work in Miami, but it’s the best option the Giants have.

“In terms of having Saquon on the field, he’s going to be on the field for us,” Judge said. “He’s got to be an impact player for us. We’re going to keep finding ways to get him the ball: handoffs, tosses, screens, passes, whatever it takes. We’re going to find ways to put the ball in his hands and let him make plays.”

Barkley is expected to address the media Thursday or Friday.

GOLLADAY DOES VERY LITTLE

Wide receivers Kenny Golladay (ribs) and Kadarius Toney (oblique) did not practice Wednesday. Neither did corner Adoree Jackson (quad) and quarterback Mike Glennon (concussion). QB Daniel Jones (neck strain), Barkley and wide receiver Sterling Shepard (quad) were limited.

Golladay didn’t do much at all on the sideline. Toney, Jackson and Glennon did some movement work with trainers in uniform. Shepard and Barkley were on the field with their workload dialed down. Shepard hasn’t played since Week 8 in Kansas City. He has played in only five games this season.