Just when you thought …
Middle of defensive line goes from four Canadians to one
“Not looking good.”
Kent Austin said it three times within a minute, and it wasn’t even about his Hamilton TigerCats’ winless 2017, although the description certainly applies.
No, this was about the National — read, Canadian — content in the middle of the Ticats’ defensive line, the second most-maligned group of linemen on the team.
Evan Gill — the Ticats’ first round and the CFL’s ninth overall pick from the 2014 draft — who hasn’t played much in his three pro years because of injury, was hurt again Monday when he appeared to hurt, or tear, his Achilles tendon.
“I don’t have an official diagnosis, although I’m sure I’ll get it later today,” said the Ticats’ head coach after Tuesday’s workout in preparation for Friday’s nearly-must-win game with the Ottawa Redblacks.
“It’s not looking good.”
Gill, who turns 25 Saturday, has always been on the edge of the Ticats’ long-term blueprint for the middle of their defensive line, which they eventually hoped to fully stock with homebrews.
However, after the tackle was drafted, he opted to return for his final year of eligibility at the University of Manitoba and was done for the year after just two games with an ACL injury. He missed all of 2015 with injury, and played only four games last season, again because of injury.
He missed the first six games this year, played last week, then got hurt Monday.
Normally a guy who hasn’t played much isn’t being counted upon to do so. But all-star tackle Ted Laurent, one of the bright spots this dark year, is injured.
“Not looking good,” Austin said of Laurent’s chances of making an appearance Friday.
And tackle Michael Atkinson who, along with Laurent, gave the team the very strong potential to start two Canadian defensive tackles as long as they had enough backup depth (Gill, and freshlydrafted Hamilton native Justin Vaughn), missed the first five games, played two, and is now on the six-game injury list.
“Not looking good,” Austin said, adding with almost a laugh, “That’s a lot of not looking goods.”
So it’s down, at least Canuckwise, to only Vaughn in the middle, flanking pleasant surprise International Davon Coleman. Vaughn has had far more action this year than he could have anticipated, as part of what has generally been a six-man rotation through the four defensive line positions, but he needs rest, too, and that will impact the National-International ratio.
“(Vaughn) has played a lot, he’s going to be a really good player,” Austin said.
“We still want a rotation; we just have to figure out how to do that now with the ratio changes.”
Jason Capicciotti and Connor McGough, both Canadians, play defensive end, and that offers some periodic solutions.
But Austin said that the coaching staff still hasn’t determined how the minimum of seven required Canadian starters will be reached.
“We did it a bit differently yesterday, did it a little bit differently today,” Austin said.
“We’ll combine the two days to see what we can do.”
Among several possible solutions are using a pair of Canadian receivers (Mike Jones and Giovanni Aprile or Felix Faubert-Lussier) in some situations, or using Mercer Timmis more often at running back.
Just another problem in a season that’s been flooded with them. NOTES: Cornerback Demond Washington, who started Game 1, but has been hurt since, is practising. But Austin said ratio considerations will determine if he plays Friday . ... Simoni Lawrence was a partial participant in what Austin called a “maintenance day, for now,” for the linebacker.