Girard back after year in retirement, bolsters Ticats offensive line
Mathieu Girard will put in his work on the practice field, yes, but he’s also got to spend a lot of time under barbells ... and at the buffet table.
The 26-year-old offensive lineman, who caught the Hamilton Tiger-Cats by surprise last April when he retired from football to pursue a full-time career in information technology with professional-services giant KPMG, will return to the team in time for Sunday’s opening of training camp.
“I think the biggest thing for me is gaining back some of the weight that I lost,” says Girard, who now weighs 275 and feels he can soon get to 290, still 15 pounds below his pre-retirement playing level.
“To be honest, I’m still physically strong, but not as strong as I need to be. I do need to get back to the gym, so I’ll be doing that at training camp too.”
After getting nearly a yearand-a-half of full-time work under his belt, Girard was able to work out an arrangement with KPMG to play football from May through November then return to his job in Montreal after the CFL season. He signed a threeyear contract with the Ticats.
“I think at heart I’m a football player but I also have long-term goals I want to achieve,” Girard told The Spectator Monday afternoon. “The reason I left was that I had an opportunity with KPMG, but they’re allowing me to return to the company in the off-season.”
Girard’s return is far more important than the untrained eye can see, coming in the wake of the May 2 trade of all-star right guard Ryan Bomben to the Montreal Alouettes, in return for the No. 1 overall choice in the next day’s CFL draft, which Hamilton used to take receiver Mark Chapman.
Girard says he and the Ticats have talked “for a while” and that it was the team that recently reached out to him, although he wasn’t sure whether that was before or after the Bomben trade. If it was before, which is highly likely, it casts a different, less risky, light on that trade.
While fifth-year Ticat Landon Rice will open camp as the No. 1 right guard, Girard should eventually challenge for the job.
That’s one of the Ticat boxes his return ticks off. With Girard and Rice in uniform complementing Brandon Revenberg at left guard, the drop-off in experience from starters to backup offensive lineman is not as substantial as the one which faced the Ticats prior to Girard’s ‘un-retirement.’ That puts less pressure on the learning curve of their slew of developing linemen, including No. 6 overall draftee Darius Ciraco. Girard also proved himself capable at centre when he filled in for the injured Mike Filer for six starts in 2016.
And, he has also been a long snapper on field goals. Mac and Bishop Tonnos grad Kevin Malcolm has the long-snappers job.
Girard was a defensive lineman at the University of Montreal but after taking him in the sixth round of the 2014 CFL draft, the Ticats converted him to the offensive line, as they’ve done with a number of players including current Cats Kay Okafor and Everton Williams.
He says head coach June Jones, offensive line coach Dennis McKnight and strength and conditioning coach Chris Desrosiers will calibrate his on-field and gym work balance.
“My only goal from camp is to be ready as fast as I can while still staying healthy,” he says. “I don’t want to go too hard and injure myself. There are steps to follow.
“The way I see it, you have to earn what you get. So I’m starting at zero and I’ll have to work my way back.”