Redblacks receivers looking to snap up play time

Behar, Scarfone may be first up

This week’s release of starting receiver Julian Feoli-Gudino has opened up an opportunity for playing time, specifically for Canadians — starting with Saturday’s home game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

At the front of the line looking to make more of a contribution to the Ottawa Redblacks offence are Nate Behar (Carleton University) and Jacob Scarfone (University of Guelph) — former college foes and now teammates.

There’s no question both players can put up numbers. In 2015, Scarfone had 57 catches for 940 yards and 10 touchdowns with the Gryphons. Behar had 178 catches for 2,577 yards and 21 touchdowns in four years at Carleton.

“It’s definitely exciting there’s a possibility of getting some playing time, but at the same time you have to keep doing what you’re doing — focus on putting in a good day’s work every time I show up,” Scarfone said. “You see other guys have put in the time on practice rosters. If you put in that time, it prepares you even more for when you get that chance.”

Judging by reps at practice this week, it looks like Behar may get the first shot to be a starter. It’s something he did in Edmonton; he was selected fifth overall by the Eskimos in the 2017 CFL Draft. Last year, he caught 27 passes for 257 yards. The Redblacks signed him as a free agent in the off-season

“I’m here to play football and reach the potential of what I can be as a player,” Behar said. “This is a good chance to get going.”

Has he been getting anxious for the opportunity?

“The way to say it is, it’s process-based versus results-based,” Behar said. “I’m doing my best as a young man to be a process-based human being and take pride in that. All the little things you can control, I feel like I’ve been doing a good job of that with effort in practice, workouts and all the extra work with the quarterbacks. You obviously want those results to come, but you have to believe they eventually will and not focus on them.

“You have to prove yourself every day. Great players get benched in this league, great players sometimes fizzle out and even get released. It’s not a place where you rest on your laurels, I learned that pretty quick. It doesn’t really matter where you came from. I’ve played with guys who were on the bench and have come from major schools and were four- or five-star recruits. If that can happen to people you see on Rivals Top 50 (high school rankings) back in the day, then who am I to think any differently?”

Tim Baines