Spencer glad to join team with ‘good bond’

After seeing what happened in Ottawa during the past two seasons, Diontae Spencer says he just wants to fit in and do his part: making plays.

“I want to be a playmaker,” said Spencer, who is in Regina for the Mark’s CFL Week events.

“I’m hoping to bring speed, excitement and do things in the return game. They have four guys who went over 1,000 yards in backto-back seasons. I want to come in and make plays. If I can do that, team success will come along with that.”

With Chris Williams and Ernest Jackson gone to B.C. and Montreal as free agents, Spencer and Kenny Shaw will step into an offence led by quarterback Trevor Harris.

“The Redblacks expect to win. They’ve had two great years,” Spencer said.

“There are high expectations and you want to come in and fill those expectations. There’s no pressure. Pressure is playing behind a CFL legend like Chad Owens (in Toronto). Pressure is him getting traded and me being that guy that has to step in. Coming into this situation, getting familiar with the position, it’s just coming in and doing whatever I can.”

The Redblacks signed Spencer, who turned 25 on Sunday, on the first day of free agency in mid-February.

As a Toronto Argonaut, Spencer had 71 catches for 706 yards and 33 punt returns for 341 yards in 2016.

“The past two years, I’ve been beating up on (the Redblacks),” Spencer said. “Now I’m part of it, I’m excited. It’s a new opportunity, it’s a new situation.

“Everybody has been telling me about how the city’s great, the fans are great and the locker-room is great. There’s a good bond there.”