Rookie prospect turning heads

CALGARY — Every weekday at precisely 10 a.m., Rob Jones takes a break from dispensing prescriptions to catch up with his buddies over coffee in the booming oil community of Weyburn.

Like at most Saskatchewan establishments, the subject of conversation at the Captain’s Table invariably turns to football and all matters related to the beloved Roughriders.

How will Darian Durant fare at the controls this season? Will Geroy Simon live up to the Superman nickname in green?

This week, however, the enemy Calgary Stampeders keep weaving their way into the conversation. A change in allegiance is afoot.

“It’s an adjustment,” concedes Jones, a longtime Roughrider season-ticket holder considering wearing red tonight when the Stampeders visit Mosaic Stadium in Canadian Football League exhibition action. “That horse in Calgary always used to bother me. When it used to run around the sidelines after a Calgary touchdown, that used to bother me. But I’m coming to grips with that.”

He’s coming to grips with committing treason (Saskatchewan style) by way of cheering for the Stampeders — although most kind folks will no doubt forgive Jones his transgressions.

After all, his son Brett is trying out for the Stampeders. In fact, of the biggest surprises of training camp, the six-foot-two, 319-pound fire hydrant is bidding to start at centre.

Offensive linemen normally apprentice for at least a year before earning a starting job, especially in the middle with the additional responsibility of making the calls. But Jones is not your normal kid coming out of college in any respect.

“He’s one of the most wellrounded young men that you’ll ever meet,” says University of Regina head coach Frank McCrystal. “He’s an outstanding student. He’s an outstanding community person and leader. And the thing that’s obviously attracted everybody’s attention in Calgary is that he’s a very good football player. So I think that combination makes him quite special.”

Only 21, but mature beyond his years, Brett Jones realizes the importance of not getting caught up in his press clippings. After all, he hasn’t earned anything just yet. The Stampeders could even send him back to Regina for his final year eligibility with the Rams.

Don’t bet on that happening any time soon.

“I was just happy to get drafted,” he says. “I never thought really that I would ever play in the CFL. So now that I’m here and getting to play and getting a chance, it’s just so exciting.”

And to play at Mosaic Stadium? Well that makes it even more exciting.

“I’ve been to almost every game there over the last couple of years, because I was doing the Ram 50-50 ticket stuff,” he said.”It’s going to be cool to be coming out of the tunnel instead of watching the other guys come out.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

As for school, Jones hasn’t given up on the goal of following his dad, the pharmacist, and mom, a chiropractor, into the medical field.

A dream deferred is not a dream abandoned.

“Yeah, I was disappointed not to get in,” he says. “I’m just more excited to do this now. Definitely, it’s really addicting.

“I’m just excited to play football.”