Floridian Shaw easily scared by Ottawa’s wildlife

With more than a month of recovery time from a leg injury, Kenny Shaw had time to check out the Ottawa area, coming face to face with some animals that disturbed him.

He did some hiking in Gatineau. “There are some animals that weird me out. I’ve never seen black squirrels and chubby little gerbils. What are they, groundhogs?”

The 25-year-old receiver from Orlando said Florida “has a lot of hiking. You guys are afraid of alligators, I’m not. They attack people when people feed them. Don’t feed them, walk past them.”

Waiting for an opportunity to practise and play in a game — he’s on track to start Friday night in Hamilton against the Tiger-Cats — was challenging for Shaw, who had 1,004 receiving yards last Canadian Football League season with the Toronto Argonauts, then signed with Ottawa as a free agent.

“My history, I think I sat out only three days and that was practices,” he said. “I didn’t miss any games. Being out well over a month, the first couple of weeks were tough … especially playing my old team, Toronto. It’s one thing when you’re out day-to-day, but, when you go on the sixgame (injured list), I’ve never been through that situation.”

Despite the team’s 1-6-1 record, Redblacks players are keeping their heads up and working hard to win football games, according to Shaw.

“We’re just a play away,” he said. “It’s frustrating. Through it all, we still come in smiling.”

Whenever he plays again, Shaw says he’s not going to put pressure on himself to be “the guy.”

“I just want to come in and provide whatever I can,” he said.

“I’m a team guy. If that means I’ve got to block and crack some linebackers, I’m going to put my little body in there. Once you think you have to do something outside your element, that’s when mistakes happen. So I’m just going to play.”