Smith, Dressler comparisons come naturally
Ryan Smith and Weston Dressler aren’t twins, but to hear the chatter around Saskatchewan Roughriders camp, they might as well be.
“It’s crazy how much they are similar, in every aspect of their lives,” Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant mused this week.
Smith is a rookie receiver; Dressler a former Roughriders star who headed to the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs this past off-season.
Observers are struck quickly by the three obvious things those two men have in common: 1. They’re both receivers. 2. They’re both from North Dakota.
3. They’re both really, really small. But wait. There’s more. Both men play bigger than they are — the 5-foot-7 Smith, who continuously flashes gifted hands, has worked his way up the Roughriders depth chart throughout camp.
And both come across the same way when you talk to them — just a wee bit shy, kind of reserved, soft-spoken but concise. You can picture Dressler mouthing Smith’s words, and vice-versa.
“He’s going to get those comparisons all year if he’s around,” says Roughriders receivers coach Jason Tucker. “They’re going to compare him — ‘There’s Little Weston!’ ”
Tucker acknowledged it’s rather unfortunate the rookie had to start drawing those lofty comparisons before he even pulled on a Roughriders jersey for the first time.
Smith, for his part, says he “really looks up to the guy.”
The gridiron doppelgängers have never met, but Dressler reached out via phone before Smith went to Florida for a recent Roughriders evaluation camp — two North Dakotans, talking CFL football.
“We had some good conversations,” Smith says.
“I asked him about the CFL ropes, what to expect, the rules. He took time out of his agenda to call me, which really means a lot to me.”
Tucker, for obvious reasons, tries to downplay the similarities between the two men, at least when it comes to their on-field habits.
“Two different guys, two different players,” he stressed. “Weston’s great, he did a lot of good things, but Ryan’s going to do things of his own. That’s why he has a different number.”
So how are they the same out there? And how are they different? Tucker pauses briefly.
“They both do everything full speed, all the time,” Tucker said. “They’re all out. If they make a mistake, they’re going to make it going full speed. That’s what you’ve got to like about them; they’re both similar in that way, and they both work hard.
“The differences? I think Weston might be a little quicker than (Smith) is and can do a few more things. But the jury’s still out. You never know — Ryan might be able to do some of the things Weston used to do as far as sweeps and stuff like that. We just have to see.”
Durant, who can attribute a healthy slice of his passing yardage to Dressler’s sure hands and big-man-in-a-small-attitude, admits to feelings of nostalgia when he casts his eyes in Smith’s direction.
The two men sit in proximity during meetings, and Smith has made some fine grabs off Durant’s airborne offerings.
“Man, just being around that guy ... I tell him every day how much he reminds me of Dress,” Durant said.
“They’re basically the same guy, except Ryan’s raw and he’s learning the game. But his work ethic, his knowledge, his skill-set is very comparable to Dressler. It makes me reminisce a little bit.”
Smith, like Dressler, has heard knocks about his size. It started in high school, he said, but he’s still out there, stubbornly running routes, now at the pro level.
“You can be the littlest guy on the field,” he said, “but you’ve got to play the biggest, and you have to prove people wrong. That’s what I’ve been doing my whole life.
“The biggest goal is to play pro football at the highest level. My dream started becoming reality when a couple of coaches start talking to you, then you’re invited to the mini-camp down in Bradenton, then I’m offered a contract. It was like ‘holy, crap — the dream’s becoming a reality.’ ”
Meanwhile, those nearconstant comparisons to the departed Dressler float around the stands and in the locker-room, and all of it before Smith plays his first game as a Roughrider.
Hey, he says. He’s flattered. He really is.
But he’d really rather just be Ryan Smith, Saskatchewan Roughriders receiver, from Wahpeton, North Dakota, by way of North Dakota State.
“Weston’s a great player,” Smith said. “You can’t take that away from him. But I’m just going to be me. I’m just going to be a football player.”