8/24/2007 11:52:11 PM
Watch And Learn
Fred Stamps reminds me of myself at times. He’s always watching intently and looking for different ways to get separation from DB’s but not only that, he has the confidence to try the new things he learns. I was one of the lucky ones, and I always thought so. Upon coming into the league in 2001 I had just missed my chance to watch and learn from Allen Pitts, but I still got lucky in being able to work closely with Travis Moore. From there, after my NFL stint I came back to this league and had the opportunity to learn watching Milt Stegall. Once I got to Edmonton, I started watching Jason Tucker and Mookie Mitchell intently because as camp proved, nothing is set in stone and you never know who will be around to watch and who won’t. I can’t stress enough how much it helped me as a young player with ability, to be able to watch those guys every day and apply the things that they do to your own game.
Travis was tremendous with his hands and physicality in avoiding jams which is crucial in order to get separation from defensive backs in this league. The fact that defensive backs can collision receivers, jam us, and ride us all the way down the field was a huge adjustment for me when I arrived from U.S. college football much as it is for ex-NFL receivers that end up coming up here. In the south, the teaching emphasis is more about getting into the route quickly and worrying about the jam as a secondary occurrence so as not to impede the timing between the route and QB. In Canada, if you can’t deal with people interacting with you on every play even on the outside edges of the field where we play as receivers, the league may not be for you. Travis would attack the entire idea that the defensive back had the audacity to try to jam him, almost as if he took offence to it. It was this aggressive, “attack with a plan” mentality that I derived watching Travis work every day in practice and watching it play into games.
Milt Stegall on the other hand, has both an uncanny knack of getting open amidst a crowd and a tremendous ability to run away from fast people. I had always admired how he could beat our double teams when I was with Calgary. I would spend the whole week pretending to be him on the scout team trying to service our defence, and deal with the same double teams. I can recall thinking that there would be little that he could do to free himself from the vice that we were setting up for him with a linebacker pushing to him, a halfback playing him outside in, and a safety rolling over the top of him. Of course I was wrong, and he was able to run free and clear on far too many occasions. It was from playing with Milt that I learned to watch film the correct way, watching the coverage keys instead of how the man who would be guarding me moved. This is how he could seemingly see what was happening before it did and see the void in the coverage before it formed. Seeing a void form is one thing, getting there is completely another issue. Luckily for Milt and unfortunately for countless DB’s in this league over the years, Milt has developed a failsafe escape move that never ceases to give him separation…The dead leg.
The dead leg is the last thing that I made it a point to “borrow” from Milton before I exited Winnipeg. I had him show it to me in slow motion at walking speed, and then at full speed the first year that I was playing there. At first he was reluctant, but I think he could tell that I was going to hound him for that particular secret unmercifully, so he ultimately relented. 138+ touchdowns later and one would think that somebody would have come up with an anti-dead leg defence by now. That just proves how perfect that move really is in my opinion.
Today, while I was watching Fred Stamps and J.F. Romeo running their one-on-one reps I saw distinct steps in their stems that they’ve asked me about this year, or admired aloud to me about after seeing me do them. It’s a wonderful feeling to see someone else have success with a skill you’ve developed over time, and even more satisfying to try to help them institute it into their game as a weapon instead of a novelty. It’s one thing to learn a new move, and completely another to have the confidence to try it with the chips down in the heat of the game.
This is part of the transition for me into true veteran status, and is much more welcome than I thought it would be. Jason Tucker and I along with Pat Woodcock are the true old men of the corps in terms of years in this league. Without looking into it, I believe I’m the longest in total years in this league among us now that I think about it. With Pat and Jason on the shelf with injuries, the eyes watching me belong to young talented receivers who seem to have a great capacity to listen and apply what they’ve learned.
I can only hope to give to them half as much as I’ve taken from Travis and Milt. ©
*Note- Although it is late, I’d like to formerly congratulate Milton Stegall on his Touchdown record. In my eyes he’s the best that I’ve seen in this league thus far, and I wish him continued success in all things.*

KP8