Hughes chases another sack title
Say one thing for the man, he can stump.
To boost the moonlighting fortunes of teammate Quinn Smith, he pulled out all social-media stops.
By circulating news of Monday night’s appearance at the Ironwood Stage, by kick-starting buzz a week earlier with his teaser to Twitter followers — “Which Calgary Stampeder is the headliner? Come to find out.”
By touting the abilities of the guitar-playing, song-singing lineman. Orchestrating helmet, jersey, football, ticket giveaways. Tweeting reminders and countdowns.
By thumbs-upping even the sound check.
By filing pictures of the show, posting video.
By promising more of the same — from Smith and himself.
Meet Charleston Hughes, quarterback hunter and carnival barker.
“I just told him I’d help him out, try to put his music career out there, and do what I can to network for him,” Hughes says.
“Just build some kind of fan club for him for his music. You just do what you can to help out.
“We have other players on the team with careers outside of football.”
In the case of Hughes, off-field pursuits are limited. Once upon a time, he managed restaurants, but he gave it up — too much time on his feet.
So the man settles for supporting others, for being in the audience.
The night after Quinn’s gig, Hughes hustled to the Grey Eagle Event Centre for the Boyz II Men show.
“Great performance, man,” he says.
“It was better than what I expected it to be. A lot of good hits, a lot of good oldies. An awesome time. I enjoyed it a lot.”
Is he himself perhaps a musician at heart?
He uncorks that booming laugh of his and shakes his head. “No skills, no skills.” Except in the realm of promotion.
Although when it comes to his own horn, the defensive lineman’s tooting is decidedly dialed back. Noise regarding his own accomplishments is not required. Not anymore.
Hughes, asked about the state of his ninth year in the Canadian Football League, is matter of fact.
Yes, he knows how many sacks he’s collected — 14.
Yes, he knows where he sits on the charts — tied for first.
Yes, he knows with whom he’s deadlocked — Shawn Lemon, former teammate.
“I pay attention,” Hughes says. “I’ve been watching, from time to time, making sure that I’m remaining at the top of that list.”
“It’s something that’s a personal goal for me. To be at the top, that’s the ultimate goal. “To be No. 1, right?” Hughes and Lemon each have two dates remaining, including Friday’s at McMahon Stadium, the latest head-to-head job.
They’d shared the field barely a week ago.
Oct. 10 — in advance of Thanksgiving’s visit from the Stamps — Lemon tweeted: “Eggs and pancakes for breakfast ... @Bo Levi Mitchell for lunch.”
The Toronto Argonauts masher, however, went hungry. Hughes, meanwhile, earned two sacks in Calgary’s 48-20 win.
“I’ve just got to do what I’ve got to do,” says Hughes, 10 pounds trimmer these days — “Glutenfree, sugar-free, dairy-free” — is listed at 6-foot-1 and 240 pounds.
“(Lemon) texts me every day to let me know that he’s going to win the sack title, but I just let him know that I’m pretty much just not going to let that happen.”
The Saginaw, Mich., native finished second in 2012, then claimed the crown the following year.
Hughes is asked if it’s too simplistic to describe his on-field mindset as stop-me-if-you-can. Perhaps that is unfair. Maybe it overlooks nuance, the high art of freaking out the passer.
He notes that no one’s succeeded in derailing him, no matter which scheme is deployed.
“I’ve been doing it for quite some time now,” he says. “I know what it takes to get to the quarterback.” Deep breath. “I’ve been double-teamed, I’ve been triple-teamed. I’ve been slid to, I’ve been slid away from. I’ve been chipped by running backs, I’ve been chipped by receivers. I’ve been bombered on … just zero-bombering on me.” Zero-bombering? “When the receiver comes in to block,” he replies. “So there’s nothing I haven’t seen. Or nothing I feel that I can’t overcome.
“Teams have done it all to me. There’s nothing I’m not prepared for.”
At 32, Hughes isn’t the oldest player on the premises — “Nah, Dan Federkeil is,” by a matter of weeks — but, after two injuryinterrupted seasons, he is in great shape as the schedule grinds into Week 18.
And he’s been chasing quarterbacks long enough — nine years in the CFL, all with the Stamps — that the franchise record is within relative reach of those big mitts.
He enters Friday’s festivities with 86 career sacks, 13 back of franchise leader Will Johnson.
“I’m pretty sure that I could break that in one (more) season,” Hughes says. “But we’ll see how things crack out because I am a free agent. We’ll see how things go, how things pan out.”