No shortage of leaders on Stamps this season
Nobody around McMahon Stadium has ever been especially worried about a lack of leadership this season.
Sure, the off-season saw a steady stream of older veterans either retire, such as Dan Federkeil and Rob Cote, or join other teams such as Charleston Hughes and Jerome Messam.
But age and experience aren’t the only factors that contribute to a player’s ability to lead on the field or in the locker-room, and the Calgary Stampeders were never anything less than confident about leadership.
On Wednesday, they announced the four men who will serve as their captains this season.
The list was comprised of quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell and kicker Rene Paredes, both obvious choices, as well as linebacker Alex Singleton and defensive back Jamar Wall.
“Gaining the respect of your teammates is the biggest compliment you can get,” Mitchell said. “I think there are a lot of guys on this team who deserve that honour and can fill that role — and they need to. We have to have a captain at every position.”
Neither Singleton or Wall getting named captain is a surprise, although Singleton is only 24 years old and Wall is by no means one of the loudest guys in the lockerroom.
“I’m not a very vocal guy, so it’s going to be a little bit different,” said Wall, who is also one of the Stampeders’ CFL Players Association reps. “I hope I never have to get up there and break it down or anything like that, but if I have to, I’ll try to wing it ... Guys know they can come to me.”
Considering that he’s been with the Stampeders since 2012 and knows the CFL game as well as just about anybody, it’s easy to understand why Wall’s teammates voted for him as a captain.
The same goes for Singleton, whose youth is the only real reason anybody would think he wasn’t ready to assume a bigger leadership role. He’s the CFL’s reigning Most Outstanding Defensive Player, after all, and head coach Dave Dickenson says Singleton has already assumed more responsibility.
“I think he took (on a bigger leadership role) last year,” Dickenson said. “We had a linebacker, Deron Mayo, who I feel is a natural leader, a great person that I even would like to follow — he’s a great man.
“When he got hurt and was unable to play, there was a void there, and Alex took it, and Alex is pretty vocal, as well, and he studies, and he knows his stuff.”
If there’s one message the captains — and everyone else around the team, really — is trying to hammer in as the Stampeders prepare for their Week 1 matchup against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Saturday at McMahon Stadium (5 p.m., TSN/New Talk 770), it’s that expectations are just as high for this year as they have been the last two CFL seasons.
It’s not just that the Stamps never bought into the idea that they were short on leadership.
They also don’t believe that there’s been any drop-off in talent.
“You don’t ever want to lose ground,” Singleton said. “To be No. 1, you’ve got to want to stay No. 1. We’re not just going to say that at the end of the year we want to be the best. We want to be the best every week.”
The Stampeders will be opening their season with five straight games against East Division opponents, before shifting toward a stretch where they play mostly West Division opponents.
It would seem that those opening five games present a chance for the Stamps to beat up on teams from what recent history suggests is the CFL’s weaker division.
Dave Dickenson isn’t going to rush Eric Rogers into action.
If Rogers is ready to slot in at wide receiver this weekend, the Calgary Stampeders head coach will certainly be happy to have him as the team takes on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in their regular season opener (Saturday, 5 p.m., McMahon Stadium).
But there are no guarantees just yet.
“He’s practising, we’re going in and out there, I don’t want to overload him,” Dickenson said after Wednesday morning’s practice. “I’ll see how he responds. I do feel he’s picking up the offence but it’s just how much can his body take and is it best to play him or not?”
Rogers, who was a CFL All-Star in 2015, re-signed with the Stampeders last week and missed all of training camp.
He’s also been out of football for two years while he recovered from a knee injury, so he may need some time to get back to 100 per cent.
That’s something Dickenson certainly understands.
“I was out of the league for two years (as well) and you come back and sometimes you press a little bit,” Dickenson said. “Just be yourself and play the game with a little bit of an edge and take advantage of your opportunities.”