Wasn’t easy for Milo to sit most of July
‘Sometimes you almost take things for granted,’ new Redblack kicker says
The cold “it’s just business” side of pro football smacked Chris Milo in the face a month ago, so all he could do was hope it would do the same to someone else and give him another opportunity elsewhere.
That someone else became Delbert Alvarado, and that elsewhere became Ottawa, where the Redblacks eventually made one move that might impact others on the Canadian Football League team’s roster.
“It wasn’t easy being on the couch and watching your ex-teammates go to practice every day,” Milo said about being dropped by the Saskatchewan Roughriders on July 6. “That was tough. It was tough mentally.
“As soon as I got released, this was the first phone call I made, and I knew this was where I wanted to be, and hopefully they could find a spot for me, and sure enough they did.”
Alvarado made 11 of 14 field-goal attempts in the Redblacks’ first five games, but his 34-yard overtime winner against the Calgary Stampeders on July 24 followed misses on a convert and another field-goal attempt from 32 yards that could have clinched victory in the fourth quarter.
The 26-year-old Alvarado was born in Honduras and grew up in Florida, making him a CFL international, which evaluators almost always factor in the ratio of Canadians to non-Canadians on the 46man active roster, so his citizenship made him as vulnerable as the field-goal success rate of 78.6 per cent that ranked sixth best in the nine-team league.
The 28-year-old Milo is from Montreal with an efficiency rate of 79.1 per cent over four plus seasons as a Roughrider.
“Sometimes you almost take things for granted,” Milo said Tuesday after the Redblacks practised at TD Place stadium. “Yeah, we’re playing football and it’s all cool, but, when that day comes and they tell you (that) you can’t play anymore, you kind of start thinking, ‘Maybe I should have done this more, maybe I should have appreciated it more, smiled more’ … just those small things. ‘Don’t be grumpy coming to practice,’ things like that.”
Redblacks coaches won’t finalize the roster for Friday’s home game against the Montreal Alouettes until at least Wednesday and maybe not until Thursday, but one option for the international slot created by Alvarado’s release would be to activating Aston Whiteside and Marlon Smith at defensive end in a rotation with Canadian Justin Capicciotti.
Smith played the first four games of the season, but Whiteside took that roster spot against the Stampeders and made his presence felt with two quarterback sacks and two forced fumbles: one he collected himself and the other recovered by Keith Shologan in overtime.
“Another possibility is putting on another American linebacker,” head coach Rick Campbell said. “If we did that, the motivation is special teams, of having an athlete that can play on all special teams.”
Also worth monitoring is the consideration given to who plays at tailback and at wide receiver on Friday.
Running back Chevon Walker, who missed the July 24 contest because of what appeared to be a hand injury, has participated fully in practices since Redblacks players returned from their week off. Jeremiah Johnson, who started against the Stampeders, and backup/returner Jock Sanders are also healthy, but Campbell says only two of them will be on the field on Friday.
Meanwhile, receiver/punt returner Chris Williams did not practise on Tuesday. Campbell said the speedster ranking third in the CFL in receiving yards had a “maintenance day” for a lowerbody ailment and would be reassessed Wednesday.
If Williams can’t play Friday, the most likely stand-in is Khalil Paden, a returnee who has been essentially stashed on the injured list since the season began.
“It’s part of the business, part of the game,” said Paden, who caught 21 passes for 305 yards and one touchdown in the Redblacks’ first CFL season. “You still work hard every week and prepare to play every week. It’s not like I’m slacking off and less focused. I’m focused like I’m going to play every week and, when my number is called, I’ll be ready to go.”
It wasn’t easy being on the couch and watching your ex-teammates go to practice every day.