NFL in rear view, Bombers' Chris-ike ready to roll ... Four-hour sleeps enough for QB Wilson ... Barriere getting used to the Waggle, just like his quarterback
NFL mini-camps behind him, Winnipeg Blue Bombers draft pick Michael Chris-ike reset his sights on Canada.
The second-round pick signed his first pro contract and attended his first day of training camp on Tuesday after stops with the New York Jets and New Orleans Saints.
“Actually the NFL camps prepared me for this,” Chris-ike said after his initial practice. “Before doing that I wouldn't have any idea what training camp at a pro level team would be like. But I have to catch up, of course.”
A product of Hamilton, Chris-ike is a 6-foot-1, 225-pound running back whose eye-popping results at the CFL combine here in Winnipeg caught the attention of NFL scouts.
Tied for the fastest 40-yard time (4.51 seconds) and agile as a cat in the three-cone drills, his results belied his lack of action at Delaware State University, where he touched the ball just 14 times last season.
Something immeasurable came from it, though, something that caught the Bombers' eye.
“You find out he knows he might not be as involved, and he sticks it out and he finds other ways to help his team,” is how head coach Mike O'shea put it. “Those things carry a lot of weight. In a day and age in the NCAA where everybody just packs up and leaves … you like that in kids these days.”
O'shea will also like to hear this: knowing full well CFL leading rusher Brady Oliveira and veteran backup Johnny Augustine are ahead of him, Chris-ike will relish whatever role he might land, even if it's on special teams.
“And I take a lot of pride in that, too,” the 25-year-old said. “The goal is to be the best I can be, help the team win. Whatever that could be, wherever I can show value.”
Assuming he can get up to speed in time for the first preseason game in Saskatchewan next Monday, we'll get the first glimpse of what kind of running back he is.
“I'm definitely a downhill runner,” he said. “One cut, get up-field kind of back. But I also have a little wiggle to me, too. And I'm physical, of course. My size and speed combination is my best attribute. And I'm just a hard worker.”
20-HOUR DAYS FOR ROOKIE QB
He's trying to learn the CFL game and land a job while out of his own country for the first time, in a place he knew nothing about.
Welcome to the world of quarterback Terry Wilson, No. 3 in your program and trying to be No. 3 on the Bombers depth chart.
“I've been locked in, trying to figure out this playbook,” Wilson was saying, Tuesday. “It can be a little bit overwhelming. But it's all how you approach it. I've been used to jumping from place to place … I kind of enjoy it. Get to meet wonderful people that care about you and want to see you succeed.”
A product of Oklahoma City, Wilson's typical day goes something like this: after a 6 a.m. alarm, he arrives at the stadium an hour later and doesn't leave until close to 10 p.m., when he goes back to his dorm room and studies film and the playbook until around 2 a.m.
“I want to come out to practice the next day mentally alert and make sure I need to do what I need to do,” Wilson said.
The only thing he studies even close to as much as the playbook is No. 1 quarterback Zach Collaros.
“The goal is to soak in as much as I can,” Wilson said. “Watch how Zach does everything, in the weight room, in the film room, in the locker-room — just try to pick his brain, see how he thinks. He's MVP for a reason. Just little things I like to key on and mimic some, so when I'm five, six, seven, eight years down the road, I'm doing the same type of things.”
Making things interesting, Wilson's dorm roommate is the player trying to take the same job: quarterback hopeful Eric Barriere.
“I want to see him win, and I know he wants to see me win as well,” Wilson said. “This is actually my first time studying with another quarterback. You know quarterbacks, they're competing. But we've been helping each other out and having fun.”
After a nomadic college career, Wilson, 26, spent two years with the USFL'S Houston Gamblers.
“The crazy thing is I was going to come up here two years ago, but I never got my passport,” he said. “I just brushed it off, and that's why I went to the USFL. I wish I got here a couple years ago so I could get some years under my belt. But my goal is to stay in the league, learn it and have some fun.”
THEY'RE WAGGLING!
Both Wilson and Barriere say one of the hardest adjustments is getting used to the waggle by receivers.
“They're moving before the ball is snapped,” Barriere said, still sounding surprised by it after his fifth day of workouts.
With Collaros and Chris
Streveler locked in at No. 1 and 2, both CFL newbies know where they stand.
“Just learn as much as I can,” Barriere, 26, said.
“Seeing how they process things, and try to replicate that the best way I can. I felt like a little kid, like a freshman all over again. Just coming into a new environment, meet new people and get out of my comfort zone.
“Every day a stepping stone.”