B.C.-born Stampeder pumped to tame Lions
Injuries could see Milanovic-Litre expanding his role into running game
A good football day for Ante Milanovic-Litre is donning the red and white of the Calgary Stampeders.
An even better one — admittedly — would be leaving a trail of B.C. Lions in his wake in contributing to a Stampeders victory over his hometown club.
The Stamps second-year running back could well get that chance — and then some — Saturday in the Lions-Stamps tilt at McMahon Stadium (7 p.m., TSN/ CHQR 770).
“Going up against my hometown team is really special,” said Milanovich-Litre.
“I love being in that villain role. “I love playing against the B.C. Lions. So yeah, that’s going to light that fire a bit.”
With so much up in the air health-wise in the Stamps offensive backfield, Milanovic-Litre could add running responsibilities to his already solid special-teams contribution.
“I’ve just got my fingers crossed,” said Milanovic-Litre, a former standout with the Simon Fraser Clan in Burnaby, B.C. “That might rev the engine a little bit (to run the ball) against the Lions.
“I grew up in Vancouver, so we knew all about the Lions, and seeing Andrew Harris back in the orange earlier in the day, that was really cool,” Milanovic-Litre continued.
“But as I kind of grew up a little bit and got into SFU, Calgary was the team that was drafting all of my teammates. Lemar (Durant) went here, Brad (Erdos) went here and (Adam) Berger went here, so I ended up becoming a Stamps fan before I got drafted here just because I liked seeing my former teammates play.”
Now he’s playing alongside them, getting ready — wearing arguably the biggest of smiles of any Stampeders player — to take on the team he formerly cheered on.
In particular, Milanovic-Litre, 23, is eyeing up a run or two against another young SFU grad in the news recently.
Jordan Herdman is filling in admirable for the CFL’s 2014 Most Outstanding Player Solomon Elimimian, the Lions superstar middle linebacker who’s sidelined until at least mid-August after undergoing wrist surgery.
“Herdman and I, we went to SFU together, and I know he’s a very talented linebacker, so we have to have respect for him. I know Jordan particularly well. If we take him lightly, that would be a foolish mistake on our part. We can’t afford to take anybody lightly. Everybody deserves respect in this league.
“So it’s not going to change much if Solly is in or not. We’re going to play the game we do.”
The Stamps fourth-round pick in 2017 is a solid guy at 6-feet, 232 lb.
So far in his brief Stamps career, he hasn’t exactly had the chance to Bruce Willis his way to added real estate.
The affable youngster has nine carries for 29 yards, including just one run of three yards this season.
But that could all change Saturday night.
SHORT YARDAGE
Despite limited action in practice with the offence Thursday, Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson is pleased with the injury progress of RB/KR Terry Williams after a grumpy shoulder knocked him out of last week’s win in Regina.
But the same can’t be said of RB Don Jackson, the Stamps top rusher with 222 yards, who was a late scratch with a hamstring tweak before the Week 7 tilt against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
“Terry’s the one that should be good to go,” Dickenson said.
“Don is going to be tough. We just haven’t been able to get him out here. We held Terry out (of offensive reps Thursday), but he looks good and should be ready to go if needed.”
Rookie RB Romar Morris, who’s seen limited game action in the offensive backfield, took the most reps of running backs this week in Stamps practice.
DL Cordarro Law ( bone bruise) is also unlikely to play Saturday for the Stamps.
After a maintenance day Wednesday, DL Micah Johnson was back practising full-on Thursday with the Red & White.