Stangby back after missing Grey Cup run
With his team heading into the CFL playoffs last November, Joshua Stangby left Ottawa for “personal reasons.”
As difficult as it was for the 26-year-old to walk away, he did what he had to do. Now he’s back, hoping to pick up where he left off.
“I had some important family issues I had to take care of,” said Stangby Friday on Day 2 of the Redblacks mini-camp at TD Place. “I had to leave. It was related to illness and some financial stuff — that’s stuff you can’t really play around with. I wanted to make sure everything was settled there. It hurt a lot to leave, but everybody here had my back, everybody was supportive. They were lifting me up and that made it a bit easier.”
He watched Ottawa’s Grey Cup victory on his computer.
“It hurt to sit and watch, but at the same time, you pull for your team,” said Stangby. “So I was happy to see the outcome.”
After signing with Ottawa last October, two months after being cut by the Indianapolis Colts, Stangby got into the team’s final regular-season game. The stats show he had two catches for 22 yards, returned two punts for 22 yards and had two kickoff returns for 45 yards. No question he can play.
“You can tell he understands how to play the game, it’s not too big for him,” said Redblacks coach Rick Campbell. “He stepped in last year in the Winnipeg game and showed well for being a guy that was pretty new to this league. If he keeps working at it, there’s no reason why he can’t do some good things for us.”
Stangby believes he’s up for the challenge.
“Mentally and physically, I’m where I need to be,’” he said. “This off-season I put a lot of focus into fundamentals and working on my skills. This is a great opportunity and I’m really excited.” Twitter.com/TimCBaines