Former teammates talking trash
Dennis vs. Hughes the marquee matchup as Stamps host Riders in CFL showdown
The main course on Saturday night at McMahon Stadium will, obviously, be the big West Division showdown between the Calgary Stampeders and the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
As far as tasty side-dishes go, though, it seems the Stampeders are expecting Charleston Hughes and Derek Dennis to serve up something sweet.
“The matchup I’m really looking forward to seeing is Derek and Charleston,” said Stamps receiver Marquay McDaniel of two former teammates lining up, literally, against each other. “There’s a lot of talk on Twitter this off-season and this season. I’m looking forward to seeing that.”
Dennis is arguably the biggest name among a big group of former Stampeders who are now employed down the road in Regina. It’s a list that also includes linebacker Glenn Love, receiver Bakari Grant, defensive back Jeff Hecht and quarterback Kevin Glenn.
It’s Dennis, though, who seems to be delighting most in talking pre-game trash on social media.
After a standout season in Calgary that saw him named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Lineman in 2016, Dennis accepted a contract with the Riders that the Stamps couldn’t match.
There were no hard feelings about his departure, and his trash talk seems mostly lighthearted, but that hasn’t stopped Dennis from tweeting at his former teammates.
On Friday, Hughes responded. “I’m the reason why Dennis is who he is today — I helped him mould his career,” Hughes said with a big smile on his face. “He knows he’s got to go against the best, he’s got to face the best.”
A couple of hours later, the Riders’ plane touched down in Calgary, and Dennis was one of two players the team brought to McMahon Stadium to meet with the media.
When Hughes’ quote was read to him, the green-haired offensive lineman laughed and then responded in kind.
“Why he feels that way, I have no clue at all,” Dennis said. “Whatever floats his boat, floats his boat. If that’s what he wants to think my job is, just to go out there and make sure KG has time in the pocket, and Cam Marshall has enough space to run.
“I may say some things just to have fun with it. At the end of the day, it’s a football game, you’ve got to have fun with it, but I’m not letting the hype of me and him going against each other distract from what I have to do.”
To be fair, the trash talk between Hughes and Dennis is only part of what makes seeing them face off on Saturday night so much fun.
In Hughes, the Stampeders will be fielding a guy who led the CFL in sacks last year. Looking him in the eye on the other side of the ball will be the league’s top offensive lineman last year.
The fact that they were team- mates adds a little bit of fun, although the Stampeders were adamant that having so many former members of the Red & White wouldn’t get them more motivated.
“It’s no motivation — it’s not bad feelings or anything like that — but it does make it a little more fun,” said Stamps receiver Kamar Jorden. “Just talk a little trash, a little something extra … you know what I mean?”
Jorden’s not alone in that assessment.
“We already talk trash, and then the guys who left talk trash,” said Stamps defensive back Jamar Wall. “It’s just going to be a bickering show the whole game. It’s going to be competitive. We know what they do, and they know what we do.”
It should also be noted that, while there’s a growing sense of anticipation about the Hughes vs. Dennis showdown, both Jorden and Bo Levi Mitchell said that it was another former teammate who would talk the most trash. That would be Hecht.
“Oh, without a doubt,” Mitchell said of Hecht. “He’ll be your best friend pre-game. He’ll talk some trash pre-game, but in the game, he’ll be locked in on hitting somebody and talking trash.”
I’m not letting the hype of me and him going against each other distract from what I have to do.