Bazzie psyched to play former team
They call him the Bad Man.
But it doesn’t take long to realize Alex Bazzie is a pretty good quote.
And the new Edmonton Eskimos defensive end didn’t hold his tongue on the prospect of facing his former B.C. Lions teammates Friday at Commonwealth Stadium (8 p.m., TSN, ESPN+, 630 CHED).
“There are going to be a lot of emotions out there on the field for both teams,” said Bazzie, a 6-foot-1, 228-pounder in his fifth CFL season. “You’ve got guys over there who used to be here, and then guys like myself here now, that used to be over there.”
B.C.’s side of the teeter-totter includes offensive lineman Joel Figueroa, defensive back Garry Peters, long-snapper Mike Benson and Anthony Orange — previously known as A.J. Jefferson while on Edmonton’s roster — as well as a handful who hoisted the Eskimos’ last Grey Cup in 2015: defensive backs Otha Foster and Marcell Young, slotback Cory Watson, offensive lineman Chris Greaves and, who could forget, defensive end Odell Willis?
“I heard a little bit of him pretty much being hyped up for this game, and as he should coming back to his old stomping grounds,” Bazzie said of the longtime fan favourite. “I’m pretty sure he’s pumped up about it.
“Nonetheless, our focus is on the Edmonton Eskimos side to just keep our heads in the game. We’ve got something bigger than ourselves coming along, and that’s a divisional game and a chance to redeem ourselves from a performance that we were not happy and satisfied with in the previous week.”
While the Eskimos are looking to bounce back from last week’s 38-21 loss to the visiting Hamilton Tiger-Cats, they aren’t the only ones looking for vengeance Friday.
Besides those nine players, B.C.’s new general manager is also returning to Commonwealth Stadium for the first time since being fired by the Eskimos in April 2017.
“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that, too. Ed Hervey and some of those other coaches have been here and actually won a championship here,” Bazzie said, noting Lions offensive co-ordinator Jarious Jackson, Lions president Rick LeLacheur and scout Torey Hunter also have Eskimos ties. “I’m pretty sure their mindset is to kind of show this community that they needed them, or whatever.
“But our mindset is further ahead than that. We’re real humble right now.”
And the lone Eskimos player off of B.C.’s 2017 roster is looking especially forward to seeing one of his old teammates.
“To be quite honest, I’ve never had a chance to go against that offence live in front of a huge crowd, other than training camp,” Bazzie said. “To know that I can go and face that offence and their quarterback, Jon (Jennings), over there, and to finally get a real sack on him would be nice.
“It would be nice for our team, as well, being that we’ve been getting in these backfields but we haven’t been racking up any sacks. So it would be nice to get some sacks against a guy like that, who is very athletic, who shows similar traits to (Ticats QB Jeremiah) Masoli, running around and stuff like that.”
But you won’t hear the verbose Bazzie get too caught up in any of the trash talk Friday.
“The main thing I can tell myself is, ‘Put your emotions aside and whatever is personal, you put it aside.’ Although, you want to go out there and show your boys what it would be going against them.”