Corbin gets chance with injuries to Eric Gray and Gary Brightwell
Jashaun Corbin was so excited Monday night that when his phone started blowing up with the news that the New York Giants were poaching him from the Carolina Panthers’ practice squad and adding him to their 53-man roster, he didn’t stop to think about the easiest way to get from Charlotte, N.C. to East Rutherford, N.J.
Grab a flight? Nah.
Corbin threw his belongings in a suitcase, hopped in his car and started the nearly 10-hour drive. Despite the fact that he needed a hotel stay in Virginia along the way since he wasn’t going to drive through the night.
Corbin enjoyed the ride.
“It was a pretty drive with all the fall leaves,” he said. “We don’t get that in Florida. It was cool to see that.”
Really, though, Corbin was not out on a leaf-peeping tour. He was in a hurry to get back to the place he really wanted to be all along.
The 23-year-old former undrafted free agent spent last season on the Giants’ practice squad after a solid preseason. He had a similarly sold preseason, carrying 16 times for 51 yards (3.2 yards per carry) and catching six passes for 30 yards this time around, but with the Giants having drafted running back Eric Gray in the fifth round, Corbin again did not make the cut.
This time, he quickly landed on the Carolina practice squad.
The opportunity to return came this week when the Giants placed Gray on injured reserve with a calf injury. Gary Brightwell is also sidelined.
The wide smile on Corbin’s face Wednesday in the Giants’ locker room said everything you needed to know about how he felt about being back, and about being on a 53-man roster for the first time.
Teammates were glad to see him, with some walking by and kidding him about the braids in his hair that weren’t there back in August.
“Feeling all the love coming back here is great,” Corbin said.
He wasn’t nearly as happy when he was cut.
“You always feel upset. You feel like you’ve done pretty good,” Corbin said. “Obviously I didn’t get the result that I wanted, but I could hold me head up. I know I did everything I could. I knew the opportunity was going to come, whether it was here, somewhere else I knew it was going to come eventually.”
Corbin is only a couple of months removed from the Giants, and said he only needs “refreshers” on the playbook. Which means he feels comfortable that he can contribute if need be this Sunday against the New York Jets.
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