Receiver Begelton gets another shot with Stampeders
Reggie Begelton wasn’t surprised when he got the call to return to the Calgary Stampeders, but his teammates sure weren’t expecting him to just stroll into the locker-room.
After leading the Stamps in receiving yards in the team’s pre-season opener and putting in an allaround impressive training camp, the football gods dealt Begelton a cruel blow when he injured his knee against the B.C. Lions.
The injury led to the Stamps releasing Begelton at the end of camp, but the 23-year-old receiver said the Calgary coaches made clear they were still interested in his services whenever he’d recovered.
This weekend, the healed-up Begelton got a call from the Stampeders and hopped on the first flight to Calgary, but apparently nobody told his new teammates.
“Everybody was surprised, nobody knew I was coming,” Begelton said Tuesday from McMahon Stadium. “They just gave me the bug-eye a little bit, with a big smile on their face.”
Begelton was added to the Stamps practice roster Tuesday and brings some high expectations with him.
In his lone pre-season appearance, the Texas native had five catches for 88 yards and one touchdown. He also attended a rookie mini-camp last year with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and had a tryout with the Oakland Raiders after graduating from Lamar University as the school’s all-time leaders in catches and yards.
“We’re just happy Reggie’s back with the team,” said Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson. “He would’ve made our team if he was healthy.”
Along with Begelton getting added to the practice roster, the Stampeders also announced Monday that international defensive back Jarrett Bush had been released.
BACK IN
After missing the past two games, Charleston Hughes was back practising with his teammates on Tuesday morning.
This would, obviously, appear to be good news for the Stampeders, but Dickenson was non-committal about whether Hughes would definitely be available for Saturday’s game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders (7 p.m., McMahon Stadium, TSN).
“If he can play, it’s a great help,” Dickenson said. “If not, we’ll bring (other defensive ends) up to speed, get them one more game and hopefully, have a good game.”
Hughes also practised for one day last week, but suggested he was much closer to a return than he was before the weekend.
“(The injury happened) first game of the season, Week 1,” Hughes said. “Minor injury, but something that’s kept me out for a couple weeks.
“It’s a little bit different now, I feel like I’m well prepared to play.”
Also returning to the fold at Tuesday’s practice was offensive lineman Shane Bergman, who has been out for a couple of weeks while he underwent the CFL’s concussion protocol.
While recovering from head injuries can always have peaks and valleys, Bergman said he’d gotten through Tuesday’s practice unscathed and expected to be back out on the field again Wednesday.
“No setbacks, so tomorrow’s a go,” Bergman said. “When you first get (a concussion), one day you feel good and they you’ll be fine the next day, but the next day you feel crappy.
“It’s a week-to-week thing, but right now I’ve had five days in a row with workouts and everything. Right now it’s day-to-day and each day has been good so far.”
MISSING TUESDAY
Both defensive tackle Micah Johnson and receiver Juwan Brescacin were missing from Tuesday’s practice.
From the sounds of it, Johnson will thankfully be available to play on the Stampeders’ terrifyingly beat-up defensive line against the Riders, but Dickenson didn’t sound quite as confident about Brescacin’s outlook.
At the same time, Dickenson refused to describe Johnson’s absence as being simply a “vet day.”
“There aren’t really vet days; we joke around about that,” Dickenson said. “I don’t like vet days nor do I want anyone thinking they can do it, but when you’re hurting and you need those days to get better, we give them to you and hopefully we can see him on the field.
“Juwan, I think, is a little bit more serious than Micah, so we’ll have to see how that plays out.”
Everybody was surprised, nobody knew I was coming. They just gave me the bug-eye a little bit, with a big smile.