Receiver Jorden no stranger to underdog label
Stamps’ overachieving WR says team has something to prove against Eskies
Kamar Jorden doesn’t seem to mind that some people in the media are writing off the Calgary Stampeders.
His team earned homefield advantage for the West Division Final against the Edmonton Eskimos and finished the regular season with the best record in the CFL.
If people really want to focus only on the Stampeders’ final three games — all losses — instead of the dominant season they had before they wrapped up first place in the West Division, then that’s OK with Jorden, who is a fifth-year wide receiver with the team.
In his mind, it’s just another chance to prove people wrong.
“It’s kind of been a position where we haven’t really been too often, for years really, and it’s kind of put a chip on our shoulder,” Jorden said. “We’ve got something to prove.
“We just want to focus on us, focus on getting on the same page and kinda getting that swagger back.”
Ask around the Stampeders dressing room, and you’ll get lots of different answers about how the players feel about the perception the Eskimos are favourites heading into the West final.
Some will say they just ignore the media completely. Others are using it as extra motivation.
For Jorden, though, having something to prove is his natural setting. If you want to call him or his team the underdog, he’s cool with it.
“I felt like that my whole career in football and everything in life,” Jorden said. “Coming from where I came from, there was nobody who made it professionally and there weren’t a lot of people I knew growing up who got football scholarships coming out of high school.
“Really, every level I’ve been at, I kind of had to prove myself.”
Sunday offers another opportunity for Jorden to prove himself, which is honestly a little bit ridiculous given the way he burst out of the gates this year.
Through the first six weeks of the CFL season, Jorden was leading the league in receiving touchdowns and was in the top-5 in receiving yards.
After three years fighting for a chance with the Stampeders, Jorden was arguably the most talkedabout player in the CFL until a leg injury sidelined him for almost three months.
Memories are short, though, and now, he’s part of a Stampeders receiving corps that’s being largely overshadowed by their counterparts in Edmonton heading into Sunday’s matchup, the third such meeting between the two Alberta teams in the past four years.
It’s just another chance to prove everyone wrong.
“It’s back to the comfort zone for me, really,” Jorden said. “All of us receivers, we really just want to come out there and show a good game, make plays and kind of just lead our team to a championship.
“There really hasn’t been a lot of games where we had all our guys available at receiver or healthy, period. It’s definitely exciting to know I have all my guys with me and around us to make plays.”
SHAQ BACK
After a couple days in which Shaquille Richardson’s ability to practise was limited, the Stamps’ starting SAM was back going full-speed at McMahon Stadium on Friday.
Longtime starter Joe Burnett was getting lots of reps, too, but there will only be room for one of them on the roster for Sunday’s big game.
“One of those guys will be on, one won’t,” said Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson. “Good to see both. Veterans who have played a lot. I think Shaq’s healthy, we’ll see with Joe, we’ll have to play it out.”
If both guys are healthy, it’s hard to imagine that Richardson will be left out of the lineup. He was one of the breakout players of the season for the Stampeders and formed strong chemistry with both the linebackers ahead of him and the defensive backs behind him.
Meanwhile, the running back situation was no more clear after Friday’s practice than it has been all week.
With Jerome Messam expected to start and kick returner Roy Finch likely serving as his backup, it’s unclear whether the Stampeders can find room for either Dominique Williams or Terry Williams.
Having three running backs on the roster — two of whom are American — isn’t something the Stampeders have done since Week 13.
If they do dress two American running backs, it will likely mean an American receiver will have to sit in order to accommodate the CFL’s ratio demands.
I’ve felt like (an underdog) my whole career in football and everything in life ... I kind of had to prove myself.