December 21, 2009

It has taken me more than a few weeks to fully digest this season. In many ways this one was the most difficult seasons that I’ve faced as a professional. I should have been able to tell pretty early on if I was really looking that the climb would be uphill. I sustained an achilles injury the first day of training camp that got progressively worse as I played on it throughout the year until the last 4 or 5 weeks of the season where the 50% the I was practicing and playing on each week was elevated to about 60%. It’s easy to take simple things like the ability to bear weight on both feet fairly equally, and strike while running off of each foot for granted until you find yourself with only one working foot in the middle of a professional training camp - fresh off of the best year of your career. Anyways, I’ve played through injuries in the past - broken ribs, broken thumbs/fingers, hamstring pulls, meniscus, mcl tears, turf toe etc. but this was by far the most difficult. In hindsight, I probably should have taken the time off to allow myself to heal instead of staying on the field and misrepresenting myself, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Partly because I know that my teammates needed me and I wanted to be there for them in any way that I could, and partly because I wanted to test my limits. Limits in a physical sense in trying to play at a high level when I was so physically limited, as well as my mental limits as the football world itself took quite a few shots at me in 2009.

I’ve never had a coach make a personal vendetta against me known to me before, especially without reason, so this season was the first for that. Needless to say, when that coach is the one responsible for putting me into positions of success or failure and this disdain is made known mid training camp...things were definitely looking grim from the gates. While I don’t see the point in beating a dead horse, I’ve seen so much in this game from so many coaches, some stellar and some not-so - I’d be remiss if I didn’t express how disconcerting it is as a player when you put in so much offseason work only to come into camp and deal with that level of unprofessionalism from any coach especially from one you’ve worked with years and never had any problem with - it really is quite a helpless feeling. That being said, I convinced myself that nothing positive could come from making a scene so I met with him and let him know that regardless of opinion of me personally, I would do what was asked of me to the best of my ability, and that’s exactly what I did. What was asked of me ended up being much less in the way of ball catching and play making as the two previous years, it involved more clearing out, blitz pick up, and point of attack picks and blocks, which I did to the best of my ability. I’m a professional, and as most anyone knows...you don’t need to see eye to eye with your manager in order to get your job done.

That particular situation seemed to work itself out through what my mother would call karma, and I commend the powers that be for doing what was needed. I’ve said from the beginning that coach Strasser is the best choice, and I stand by that. The move still left me in a spot however because now I was left needing to show a new offensive coordinator what I was capable of...while still on one leg and no reliefe in sight. Hindsight being 20/20, I still don’t know what I would do differently to perhaps make this year better for me. While sitting out and letting the injury heal may have kept me from misrepresenting myself, it really wouldn’t be true to my character. I would have really, really liked to handle the situation with the coach more directly as I’m just not passive by nature, I feel those situations are best confronted swiftly and concisely - I just didn’t think that any good would come of it. That’s enough about that though, lets just sum up by saying that 2009 was an extremely tough year...start to finish.

On the other hand, 2009 brought me a great sense of pride in many respects. It really wouldn’t be possible for me not to smile at the way that Fred Stamps and Maurice Mann asserted themselves amongst the leagues best this year. While they had their ups and downs as all players do, to see their confidence swell by setting defenders up and putting the techniques to use that Tuck, Drew and I have tried to drill into them for the past few years was awesome. I thought that they really got a chance to show their athleticism and toughness early and often in some really big games and introduce themselves formally to the league as the tremendous talents that they are. This corps could get very interesting with the play late of Efrem Hill and Jason Barnes, and the possible addition of Kelly Campbell in 2010. For what it’s worth, I thought that Jason Tucker did a tremendous job managing all of the characters that goes into a receiving corps like this.

While it hurt to see Jesse Lumsden go down so early knowing first hand what it feels like to want so bad to prove people wrong about you - I pray that he can stay healthy enough to get that chance in 2010. At the same time, one man’s misfortune is the blessing of another, and Arkee Whitlock took the ball and ran with it. Much was made about his rough start in Montreal, but to his credit he put that game behind us and became an anchor for us all year. It’ll be interesting to see what our backfield looks like next year should #28, #31, and #36 all be healthy through pre-season.
 
I loved watching the emergence of Kyle Koch and Aaron Fiacconi this year. With consistent all-star play from Kabongo and Armstrong on the right side, there were definite questions surrounding the other 3 positions on the line, and I felt that those two in particular really elevated their games to answer the call. Initially handed the reigns due to injury, but later made the position his own with his play and leadership ability Fiacconi will be an asset here for some time to come. Koch is thought to be our most technically sound offensive lineman and he gains comfort and confidence in each start that he notches.

Defensively, I felt like our personnel in the secondary was second to none at the end of the year. Whether or not we can keep them all under the SMS remains to be seen, but it was quite an experience for us as receivers to go against that many all-stars in practice each day. It’ll be interesting to see how our secondary lines up in 2010, especially now that coach Hall is taking over the defence. I’ve worked with Jim Daley on different teams for years, and he’s truly one of the great people in our game. I truly wish he and his family the best as he moves on to other things, but like many other Eskimo fans I’m very excited to see this personnel executing coach Hall’s schemes. A healthy Romero returning, and a newly locked up Kai Ellis are anchors for us on the defensive line. I look for higher levels from Peach and Richardson in 2010 although I thought both played admirably in their time as rookies. Restelli will benefit perhaps more than any except for Peach from his rookie campaign, and I look for more from Rod Davis at that position as well. Hill and Williams, could make for an interesting training camp battle at the Sam linebacker position unless Lenny makes his way back into the secondary. Both are physical and opportunistic players that make things happen when on the field. Look for a humbled Maurice Lloyd to be turned loose this season in the schemes that he’s come to know and love from his regina days.

I really enjoyed our special teams play this past season as it was among the best in the league. Off-season acquisitions like Graeme Bell, Mark Restelli, Rod Davis, and Jason Nugent made their presence felt along with Eskimo special teams vets like Mathieu Bertrand, Justin Cooper, Andrew Nowacki, Calvin McCarty and Chris Ciezki. For those who don’t really watch special teams often, I recommend that you really take a look next time you get a chance. These guys are true kamikaze’s and my hat’s off to them every time they take the field. Most play a ton of upfield snaps as well as being dominant on teams which is part of the reason 3 of my 4 favorite players personally are on specials (Bertrand, Nowacki, and McCarty). To really sum up what it is to be out there with the bullets flying, just take a peek at #97 in your programs whenever he’s running down on them. Coop is pretty much guaranteed to produce a spark somewhere even though nobody in the league is willing to take him head up by themselves.
All in all, I look forward to 2010 with tremendous optimism. I feel like in coach Hall and coach Strasser, we have the two premier play-callers in the league which is ultimately where it all starts. All the talent in the world means nothing if your schemes suck. Trust me...I know. I’m already healing up nicely and begin my training January 1st so keep an eye out in the training section for training videos.

Happy Holidays,

Kp8

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