Rookie Williams ready to step in line
If Federkeil can’t go, offensive tackle could make his Stamps debut
Beyonce once said it’s to the left, to the left.
For Ucambre Williams, it’s to the right, to the right.
But Williams has a couple more days to figure out his sides and his steps before, potentially, making his Calgary Stampeders debut.
A left tackle throughout a college career at South Alabama that featured 28 starts in his final three seasons, Williams may be needed on the opposite side of the line as a professional.
With veteran right tackle Dan Federkeil banged up enough that the 32-year-old wasn’t able to practise at all this week — Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson called it “tendinitis in his upper-body” — Williams was inserted on the right edge.
“It feels good having your name called and the coaches believing in you saying, ‘Let’s go. We’re going to roll with you this week,’ ” Williams said Wednesday. “Injuries happen, so I understood that and prepared myself each week like I was starting. This week should be a cake. Go out there and just do what the coaches ask of me.”
While Williams seemed ready to go, Dickenson is holding out hope — false or not — that Federkeil may rebound enough before the rosters are set to give it a go Friday at Mc- Mahon Stadium against the B.C. Lions (8 p.m., TSN, News Talk 770).
“Still not feeling 100 per cent, so we’ll go in and talk about it,” Dickenson said after practice. “It’s certainly not a good sign. “He’s played so many games for us and he’s been around that if he felt like it was good to go, I think, he could still function if given the opportunity.”
His first CFL start would be a nice gift for Williams, who will turn 24 on the first day of August.
The 6-foot-3, 284-pounder has gone through the same adjustment every young American deals with during their CFL indoctrination, as he tried to figure out the spacing with defensive linemen one yard off the ball in the three-down game.
Now, he’s adjusting to a new position.
“This is going to be my first time,” Williams said of the right tackle spot. “I was at left my entire collegiate career and played a little centre, but this’ll be my first time at right tackle. It’s an adjustment, but I’ll be ready.”
TAKING A KNEE
After sitting out the first two days of practice this week, defensive tackle Micah Johnson was back on the field Wednesday.
The 28-year-old interior disrupter has been dealing with some knee inflammation this week, but no one seems worried, at this point.
“He’s had tough luck on his knee and when you’ve had multiple surgeries, a lot of times you do get a little fluid on there and he’s, basically, trying to work it out,” Dickenson said.
“I pretty much have 100 per cent faith that he’ll be in there.”
With Derek Wiggan ready to return from strained ligaments in his foot and Junior Turner ready to take on a bigger role in his second week back from off-season shoulder surgery, the defensive tackle group is starting to return to health.
Quinn Smith, however, will miss his third straight game with a shoulder sprain, while defensive end Frank Beltre hasn’t practised all week and is expected to miss his second straight game.
On the other side of the football, receiver Lemar Durant is ready to return from a high-ankle sprain he suffered while making a highlight-reel catch against the Lions in Week 1.
VARGA RETIRES
The Stampeders spent back-toback third-round picks on lottery tickets during the 2014 and 2015 CFL drafts, and one of them officially busted Tuesday in an unfortunate way.
After his rookie season with the Indianapolis Colts ended last fall due to a serious concussion, running back Tyler Varga, who the Stamps drafted with the 19th-overall pick in the 2015 draft, surprisingly announced his retirement from the sport.
“That was too bad,” Dickenson said.
“I don’t know the details of it yet, but I was definitely one of his biggest fans.
“I thought the guy was legit. Let’s see how it plays out. You know, Dan Federkeil also retired, and he’s been playing pretty well for a lot of years.”
With the exact same pick at the top of the third round in 2014, the Stamps selected McGill offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, a player who has developed into a starting option with the Kansas City Chiefs.