Messam won’t let pain ground him against Argos
CFL’s leading rusher lucky to avert serious knee injury after taking big hit
Calgary Stampeders running back Jerome Messam declared himself good to go ahead of Saturday’s clash against the Toronto Argonauts at McMahon Stadium.
The news isn’t shocking, given the Canadian Football League rushing leader’s tough-as-nails approach to the game.
But after looking at the replay from last Friday’s 21-17 win over the B.C. Lions — which shows Messam flying over Lions defensive back Loucheiz Purifoy in the fourth quarter, clearly hitting his left knee on Purifoy’s body — the Stampeders should be thankful the damage isn’t worse.
“It kind of hit me in the highknee, low-quad area,” Messam said Thursday after another day of full contact practice. “I just have to do what I gotta do to get healthy. There wasn’t anything wrong with the hit itself, though. Once I knew everything was good ligament-wise, and it was more of a pain thing, I just wanted to fight through it.”
Fighting through knee pain, however, can be a difficult thing, but as a 6-foot-3, 255-pound player in that position, Messam understands the risks. And it’s a good thing for the Stampeders to have the Toronto native in the lineup, since he’s 112 carries for 559 yards and seven touchdowns in eight games. Messam, right now, is averaging five yards per carry.
“Knees are hard to deal with, so you have to make sure you protect yourself,” Messam said. “There’s not much you can do out there but play confident and play fast. If I feel healthy and good enough to play, I’ll be out there.
“I’m playing. I’ll be playing.”
D-LINEMEN READY
Stamps defensive linemen Charleston Hughes and Micah Johnson were back on the field Thursday after taking a maintenance day on Wednesday.
Stampeders head coach Dave Dickenson anticipates both will be in the lineup Saturday.
The boss also wanted to stamp out any questions over quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, who sparked the conversation over his health after saying his throwing motion is being hampered by an apparent shoulder injury after Friday’s game in Vancouver.
“Honestly, I’d rather we move on,” Dickenson said. “He threw the ball well again (Thursday), so let’s just move on and handle some different questions.”
TICATS COACHING CHANGE ‘INEVITABLE’
Kent Austin’s departure from the helm of the winless Hamilton Tiger-Cats (0-8) should come as no surprise, especially in the wake of the club’s 60-1 loss to the Stampeders on July 29.
But the writing was on the wall when his replacement, June Jones, joined the team three weeks ago as an assistant coach.
“When you hire a guy like June Jones, I thought (the move) was inevitable,” Dickenson said. “He’s not going to come here if he wasn’t, in my opinion, promised (a job), but that’s their business.
“You never enjoy seeing guys lose their jobs.”
The Tiger-Cats are currently on a bye-week and haven’t won a game since Oct. 21, 2016, when they beat the Ottawa Redblacks 39-36 in overtime.
Austin, who took over as head coach of the Tiger-Cats in 2013 and led them to two Grey Cup appearances, will remain with the club as vice-president of operations.