Leggett ready to come off Bombers’ injury list
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers will make at least one defensive roster change for Thursday’s home opener against 0-1 Hamilton.
Safety Moe Leggett is ready to come off the one-game injury list, and head coach Mike O’Shea said he doesn’t mind messing with a winning roster where Leggett is concerned.
“We’ve won one game,” O’Shea said Monday. “Going into the season we had high expectations of Moe Leggett ... so if he’s ready this week, he’ll go. And I’m pretty sure he’ll be ready.”
Leggett practised with the first team as the Bombers got back on the field following a day off Sunday.
“I’m pretty close,” he said, grinning. “You fight with the guys you’ve been with for a very long time. You just want to get out there and fight for them and fight with them.
“That (watching Week 1) is the hard part. This is what you grow up doing, and then you have to sit out a game ... it makes it really tough.”
Demetrius Wright took Leggett’s spot in Saturday’s 30-26 victory in Saskatchewan, Winnipeg’s first in Regina in 11 years.
The Bombers came out of the game relatively unscathed, unlike the Riders, who lost starting quarterback Darian Durant for the season with a torn Achilles.
His old teammate, Winnipeg quarterback Drew Willy, hated seeing Durant go down with a seasonending injury for the second year in a row, both in games against the Bombers.
“It was tough,” Willy said. “I was able to text with him after the game, just trying to give him some words of encouragement. You just wish the best for him. He always took me under his wing when I first came into the league. He’s such a good guy.
Durant, who missed the last half of 2014 with an elbow injury, was one of three quarterbacks to go down with what look like long-term injuries in the first week of the CFL season. Montreal’s Dan LeFevour and Edmonton’s Mike Reilly were the others, while the Alouettes Jonathan Crompton was also knocked from the first game but is listed as day-to-day.
“A lot of times you just can’t do anything about it,” Willy said.
Receiver Rory Kohlert, who missed Winnipeg’s opener, sat out practice again Monday.
O-lineman Pat Neufeld took some turns at guard and could come off the six-game injury list early.
Roster moves
The Bombers made official the signing of quarterback Dominique Davis, Monday.
They also added former Hamilton defensive back Julian Posey and released fourth-string quarterback Josh Portis, second-year DB Don Unamba, receiver Toney Clemons and D-lineman Ettore Lattanzio from the practice roster.