SMITH FINDING HIS WAY IN FOREIGN TERRITORY
Stamps’ lineman working hard to make the switch to offence, writes Danny Austin.
By Quinn Smith’s own admission, 2017 was a tough year.
The Calgary Stampeders made the decision to switch him from the defensive line to the offensive line, but off-season knee surgery meant he missed training camp and wasn’t physically ready to play until more than halfway into the season.
For a guy trying to learn a new position, that meant he was way behind the eight-ball.
“I probably wasn’t healthy until Week 12, and by the that point the O -line was rolling,” Smith said Tuesday from Stampeders training camp at McMahon Stadium. “So if it’s not broken, why fix it, right?”
Smith only appeared in two games during the 2017 season after three years on the D -line that saw him never play less than 10 games in a season.
The 26-year-old is hoping to get back to playing more regularly this year, and a full training camp should help in that regard.
There’s still a lot of learning to do, though.
Because he’d made appearances on the O -line in emergency situations earlier in his career, it might have been assumed his transition would be easy.
That’s just not the case. Smith is a guy who spent his career playing one position, and is being asked to learn something entirely new — and learn it well enough that he can beat out guys for playing time who have been playing offence their entire lives.
“There’s a lot of calls and a lot of schemes you’ve got to know,” Smith said. “Yeah, I did well when I came in a couple times, but I wasn’t doing what they wanted. Now, I’m getting it slowly.
“It’s the toughest thing to learn in the world, but I’m getting there. Day by day, I’m doing something right.”
Before training camp, Stampeders head coach Dave Dickenson was fairly open about wanting more from Smith.
If Smith can establish himself as a reliable contributor, he’d give the Stampeders an invaluable extra piece of Canadian depth on the offensive line, something teams in the CFL can never have enough of.
“He’s working extremely hard, he’s getting better,” Dickenson said when he was asked for an update on Smith Tuesday. “It’s still a little bit foreign to him, but he’s working hard.
“What he has to do is take what he’s doing in the drills and apply it when there’s actually live action. That’s not always the easiest thing to do, but he’s certainly a guy we need to see in pre-season and evaluate how he plays.”
Smith spent the off-season working out and trying to get his body physically ready for the rigours of a season on the O -line. He’s always been a big, strong guy, but he looks like he’s added even more bulk. Physically, Smith looks ready. Now, he just needs to master all the little things that go into being an effective offensive lineman.
“He’s kind of up and down right now, but I think he’s progressing,” said Stamps offensive line coach Pat DelMonaco. “Is it as fast as we’d like? No, but he’s a great athlete and he’s learning the position and he’s growing into it each and every day.”
It’s the toughest thing to learn in the world, but I’m getting there.