Cornerback eager to play now that thumb is healed

There aren’t really many positives for a football player when he breaks his thumb early in training camp.

Cornerback Tay Glover-Wright knows this all too well, as his sophomore season with the Calgary Stampeders was delayed by the injury in the team’s first preseason game.

It was a bad break that saw Glover-Wright put on the six-game injured list, a situation he called incredibly frustrating.

There was at least one benefit to breaking his thumb, though.

“It was on my left hand, and I’m left-handed, so it was my dominant hand, and I became ambidextrous,” Glover-Wright said Thursday. “That’s the positive thing.”

With his left hand mostly healed, Glover-Wright has come off the six-game injured list and got a lot of reps at corner with the defensive starters this week as the Stampeders prepared for their trip to Regina to face the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Sunday.

In part, that’s because both Ciante Evans and Tre Roberson — the Stamps’ regular starters at corner — have been fighting injuries. Yet nobody should be surprised if Glover-Wright begins pushing for playing time.

“He came off the six (game injured list) a couple weeks ago, we liked him, and we do feel he can do some things for us. Good versatility,” said Stampeders head coach Dave Dickenson. “We had some injuries at corner with Tre and Ciante not taking as many reps this week.”

Whether Glover-Wright will be included on the team’s active roster Sunday isn’t clear, but it seems likely he’s going to break through at some point this season. The Utah State product spent a couple of years bouncing around the NFL before signing with the Stampeders last October, remaining on the practice roster for the tail-end of the season before appearing in the team’s final regular season game.

That set him up nicely for 2018 — until the broken thumb put plans on hold.

“First pre-season game, first series, I went out there and tried to break up a pass and make a tackle and my thumb just broke,” Glover-Wright said. “I got up and it was out of place, I finished the whole series trying to pop it back into place. I got to the sideline and asked the trainer to try to pop it back into place.”

Eventually, Glover-Wright got the disheartening diagnosis.

“(The doctor) told me I’d be out 10 weeks, it was traumatizing,” Glover-Wright said. “I cried, everything.”

Now, though, Glover-Wright is picking up where he left off and has been taking advantage of his opportunities at practice this week.

It might not have been the seamless start to the season he envisioned while he was putting in work at the gym this winter, but with the broken thumb behind him, he’s ready to go.

“I’m finally back on the field, it’s exciting, it’s fun,” Glover-Wright said. “I’m just glad I’m back out there.”

ODD MAN OUT

When he has played this season, Reggie Begelton has contributed.

In four games, Begelton has 13 catches for 185 yards, so he’s definitely been productive when he’s in the lineup.

The second-year receiver is fighting for playing time, though, and with the Stampeders opting to go with only three American receivers recently, it’s been a bit of an uphill battle.

That shouldn’t be seen as an indictment of the work Begelton is putting in.

“He looks good,” Dickenson said. “Receiver-wise, we’re just not in that mode of getting as many Americans out on the field. We made that ratio change when (Eric Rogers) got hurt. Nothing against Reggie, he’s doing well.”

Against the B.C. Lions in their last game, the Stampeders rolled out Kamar Jorden, Da-Varis Daniels and Marken Michel as their three American receivers, with Canadians Lemar Durant and Juwan Brescacin also in the starting lineup.

CLOSE TO THE VEST

Based on Friday’s practice at McMahon Stadium, a betting man would put his money on Romar Morris being the Stampeders’ starting running back in Regina.

Dickenson wasn’t about to confirm that after practice, though.

Instead, the Stamps head coach remained vague about his plans.

“We’ve been working on some things, it will come out soon enough, we’re working on the progression of all three guys,” Dickenson said.

Morris took the majority of firstteam reps at Friday ’s practice, and while the hamstring injury hampering Jackson shouldn’t keep him out for long, the Stampeders have emphasized that all three of their running back options are capable of doing the job if called upon.

The roster the team releases Saturday morning might prove otherwise, but as of Friday afternoon it looked as if Morris was going to be the guy against the Riders.

“He had the least amount of reps (in practice this season), so we took a peak there,” Dickenson said. “We want to make sure everybody feels confident.”