Ottawa Redblacks Thread

[jerrym]

PR International WR Seth Coate has been suspended by the CFL for two games for violating the league's substance abuse rules. Coate claims it is due to an over the counter supplement he took in July. While GM Desjardins and HC Campbell accept the penalty, they say they continue to support his presence on the team.

[CFLfan]

PR International WR Seth Coate has been suspended by the CFL for two games for violating the league's substance abuse rules. Coate claims it is due to an over the counter supplement he took in July. While GM Desjardins and HC Campbell accept the penalty, they say they continue to support his presence on the team.

Not sure how a guy on the practice roster gets suspended for 2 games.
I saw this guy play in the pre-season game in Guelph and he looked pretty good. Thought Bethel-Thompson looked good in that game too.

[jerrym]

2018 seventh round draft choice Justin Howell has moved quickly up the ladder, making the regular roster for the season opener and now, with the release of Teague Sherman, he has become the backup safety to Antoine Pruneau.

[paulwoods13]

Not sure how a guy on the practice roster gets suspended for 2 games.
I saw this guy play in the pre-season game in Guelph and he looked pretty good. Thought Bethel-Thompson looked good in that game too.

Just catching up with this. I, too, would like to know how a PR guy can get suspended. Does this mean he can't practise or receive PR pay for two wks? If so, that's a pretty light penalty.

[jerrym]

Just catching up with this. I, too, would like to know how a PR guy can get suspended. Does this mean he can't practise or receive PR pay for two wks? If so, that's a pretty light penalty.

In trying to answer your question, I looked at four articles. The articles, including the CFL statement do not fully answer, the questions raised above. Here are excerpts from a couple of them. However, it is up to the team to decide whether he can practice. Since the RedBlacks talk favourably about Coate after the suspension (see second article), I would assume they will allow him to practice during the suspension, although none of the articles say this. The third article states he was on the PR and gives Coate's comment on the suspension.

Ottawa REDBLACKS receiver Seth Coate has been suspended for two-games after testing positive for a banned substance, SARM LGD-4033 metabolite, under the drug policy of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the Canadian Football League Players’ Association (CFLPA).
Players who test positive will face a two-game suspension for a first doping violation, a nine-game suspension for a second violation, a one-year suspension for a third violation, and a lifetime ban for a fourth violation.
Under the policy, a suspended player cannot participate in regular season or post-season games. It is up to the Club to determine whether that player can participate in other team activities, such as mini camp, training camp, practices and meetings.
All players will be subject to mandatory drug testing once testing positive and will participate in an assessment and clinical evaluation to determine if they need additional counselling.

https://press.cfl.ca/ottawa-redblack...pa-drug-policy

The CFL said in a statement that Coate tested positive for the selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM) LGD-4033. SARMs are therapeutic compounds that have anabolic properties similar to steroids, but without severe side effects. ...

“While we accept the penalty imposed by the CFL, we know the kind of person and player we have in Seth Coate and the Redblacks organization stands firm in its support for him,” Ottawa general manager Marcel Desjardins said in the release.

https://globalnews.ca/news/4365127/r...ned-substance/

Coate, who has been on the Redblacks’ practice roster since the beginning of the season, issued a statement after the CFL’s ruling.
“I was very upset and disappointed to learn that I recently tested positive for a substance that is banned in the CFL,” said Coate. “This was most likely the result of a supplement I took back in July when I was working full-time and I had no idea I was going to be playing football ever again.

https://ottawasun.com/sports/footbal...spended-by-cfl

[CFLfan]

Just looking at the CFL stats, it's great to see a Canadian leading the league in receiving. Sinopoli could break Ben Cahoons record of 122 receptions in a season and Sinopoli was a CIS player not NCAA. He has 52 receptions in 7 games

[jerrym]

Just looking at the CFL stats, it's great to see a Canadian leading the league in receiving. Sinopoli could break Ben Cahoons record of 122 receptions in a season and Sinopoli was a CIS player not NCAA. He has 52 receptions in 7 games

Sinopoli is leading the league in receptions with 52 but third in reception yardage with 641 yards behind Duke Williams and Jalen Saunders. However, another Canadian, Andrew Harris, is also first, in rushing yardage with 638 yards, 134 yards ahead of second place William Powell of the RedBlacks.

[jerrym]

Ottawa has released DB Luchiez Purifoy, who signed as a free agent with the RedBlacks after two years in BC. No doubt the debacle against the Argos played a role in this. The team also released PR WR RJ Shelton.

At the same time the RedBlacks added International DB Randall Evans, a former sixth round Philadelphia Eagle draft choice, just released by Hamilton.

[jerrym]

With Purifoy gone for problems on and off the field according to HC Campbell, Sherrod Baltimore, a starter last year who has been on and off the game roster will take his place. National Pruneau shifts to SAM LB due to Anthony Coffi's injury while National seventh round draft pick Justin Howell, who has moved up the roster ladder very quickly, takes Pruneau's place at safety.

[jerrym]

The RedBlacks will honour the 1968 and 1969 Grey Cup winning Ottawa Rough Riders on Saturday. Players on the Rough Riders who will attend include CFL Hall of Famers Russ Jackson, Ronnie Stewart, Whit Tucker, Gene Gaines, Don Sutherin, Ken Lehmann, as well as Margene Adkins and Bo Scott. What a lineup including its three Canadian CFL Hall of Famers!

[jerrym]

One of the very talented players I left off the list of 68-69 Ottawa Rough Riders honoured at tonight's Redblacks game was Canadian OL and DL Jim Cain from Toronto who never missed a game in nine years. Here are a couple of what I thought was his most interesting answers to questions in a long interview (lots of other good info there too):

You were the rare breed of player capable of playing on both sides of the ball, did you have a preference?
Oh for sure. Defence is a lot more fun to play and if you miss a tackle, you had guys like Kenny Lehmann, Wayne Giardino, Soupy (Jerry Campbell), to make it for you. As an offensive lineman, especially when you’re pass blocking, you’re on an island and if you screw up, there’s no hiding.
It’s funny actually. Even the day after a win you’d get sweaty palms driving the Queen Elizabeth Driveway to Lansdowne Park wondering how you looked on film. I used to ask my good friend Moe (Racine) how he thought he played and he’d always say he didn’t know. Once the film started you realized it normally wasn’t too bad.
Getting back to your question, playing defence was better as it didn’t carry that same pressure. You had all those guys behind you and it was their job to make plays too.

Who was the toughest player you ever lined up against?
Good question. I could name someone on either side of the ball since I played both ways but I’ll go with someone I went up against when I was on offence. Although he wasn’t tough in the sense of being mean or that you’re wind up physically beat up during the game, John Barrow (with Hamilton) was an all-time great. The problem with playing him was that if he got by you, you knew for sure you’d be picking him up off the quarterback. That made for long afternoons.

During your career, you were teammates with some of the biggest names in Ottawa’s CFL history. What made guys like Ronnie Stewart, Kaye Vaughan, Whit Tucker, Moe Racine and Russ Jackson so special?
I think the main thing is that every one of those guys you mentioned were great competitors. On our two championship teams (68/69), we had eight Hall of Fame players. So not only were they talented but they worked hard. We had NFL guys come in, full of talent but they lacked competitiveness. Pound for pound Kaye Vaughan could hit with the best of them. Ron Steward, despite being a small guy was as tough as they came and full of fighting spirit. Even Russ Jackson, our quarterback, was a physical specimen and not afraid to get hit. If you look at the numbers, he averaged more yards per carry (6.84) than any running back in the top ten for rushing in CFL history. That’s pretty impressive.

http://3downnation.com/2018/08/11/ca...gend-jim-cain/

[jerrym]

Seventh round draft choice Justin Howell, who has progressed rapidly in his play this year, made his first start as a safety. HC Campbell speaks highly of his progress as a player.

We've started integrating him into the defence," Campbell said. "We had some packages with an extra DB on the field and he's done that the last few weeks and done a really good job for us on special teams and the game's not too big for him. Sometimes with rookie guys it can get too big with the speed of it, but he's done a really great job and looking forward to seeing him play."

https://www.delta-optimist.com/redbl...hup-1.23396481

He tied for the second most tackles on the RedBlacks with four.

[jerrym]

Former undrafted Ottawa Gee Gee Lewis Ward, who was a security guard at the Redblacks' TD Place stadium last year, is having a sensational rookie season. He is leading the league in scoring, FGs and FG % (96.2%). After missing a FG in his first game, he has kicked a rookie record 22 consecutive FGs, leaving him 25/26 overall in FGs, as well as 8/8 in converts.

[jerrym]

International WR RJ Harris from the University of New Hampshire has performed well after becoming a starter in the last four Redbrick games, catching 19 passes for 255 yards during that time.

[jerrym]

It looks like ten year National veteran Jon Gott, after starting every game in the five year history of the Redblacks in which he was not injured (76 games), has been relegated to being a backup due to Ottawa's depth of good, Canadian young offensive OL.

It’s frustrating, disappointing and a whole lot more for Jon Gott. ...

“I don’t know if I should say too much about it,” said Gott, who’s 32. “You see what’s going on. Evan’s playing left guard at practice; that’s kind of probably how it’s going to go. (The Redblacks) could probably give a better explanation why, I’ll leave it at that. It’s tough. I thought I was playing pretty good, then I get the call saying, ‘You’re not playing.’ It sucks. You deal with it and hopefully your number gets called again. ...

When the guys who make the decisions are asked about Gott, you hear, “good player” and “we’re lucky to have him,” but unless injuries happen — and that’s not out of the realm of possibility — Gott may be relegated to backup duty well beyond Friday. The Redblacks start four former first-round draft choices — Jason Lauzon-Seguin, Nolan MacMillan, Alex Mateas and Johnson, with another (Mark Korte) waiting in the wings. Then there’s left tackle SirVincent Rogers, the league’s most outstanding lineman in 2015.

“We know who Jon Gott is and what he can do,” Redblacks coach Rick Campbell said. “Jon’s going to be around here and he’s going to play here again this year. We’re going to navigate our way through the season and do what we think is best as we go through it.”
Asked about Johnson, Campbell said, “He’s a guy who’s going to play in this league for a long time. He brings versatility; another factor in this thing is Evan can play both guard and tackle. The CFL’s a league where a lot of teams dress six O-linemen — that’s what we usually do. When you dress six, you have to make sure you have your bases covered.”

https://ottawasun.com/sports/footbal...tarting-lineup

[OV Argo]

It looks like ten year National veteran Jon Gott, after starting every game in the five year history of the Redblacks in which he was not injured (76 games), has been relegated to being a backup due to Ottawa's depth of good, Canadian young offensive OL.


https://ottawasun.com/sports/footbal...tarting-lineup

Johnson might be a decent upgrade over Gott - who is still nice for them to have around for depth. With Korte and another draft pick from this year's draft - Andrew Pickett - in the wings, this might be Gott's last season.

If Johnson can play strong at OG - Ottawa might have the best O-line in the league IMO.

[jerrym]

Dominique Rhymes, who had only five catches for 59 yards so far this season, had a breakout game against the Eskimos with eight receptions for 100 yards and his first CFL TD.

[ArgoRavi]

Dominique Rhymes, who had only five catches for 59 yards so far this season, had a breakout game against the Eskimos with eight receptions for 100 yards and his first CFL TD.

His uncle Buster Rhymes played in the 1988 Grey Cup in Ottawa for Winnipeg. He also played for the Vikings.

[AngeloV]

Dominique Rhymes, who had only five catches for 59 yards so far this season, had a breakout game against the Eskimos with eight receptions for 100 yards and his first CFL TD.

He looked very good. Maybe not Darvin Adams or Kamar Jordan good, but still damn good.

[jerrym]

A quiet end to 18th overall 2013 draft pick DL Connor Williams' career for a quiet man:

A couple of weeks ago, after spending the first month-and-a-half of the Canadian Football League season on the Redblacks’ six-game injured list, the soon-to-be-27-year-old Williams sent off an email informing the CFL he was retiring. There was no fanfare, no retirement party, no press conference. That isn’t who or what Connor Williams is. As loud and violent as he was on a football field, Williams is quiet away from it. The last thing he wanted was a big fuss being created.
“I’m more of a private person,” Williams said. “I’m not too big on making a big scene of things. I haven’t celebrated anything in a long time. The day I was drafted, I didn’t celebrate. I don’t think I’ve celebrated a birthday since I was in elementary school, and I think my mom made me. I don’t like that stuff. ...

“Even when we won the Grey Cup (in 2016), I had the locker-room celebration, then after I made sure my folks got back to the hotel OK, I went back to my room and I was going over in my head, ‘What did I do wrong? What can I improve on?’ I’ve always gone about my business in silence. That’s the way I was raised. I don’t want to hate on anybody else, but nowadays, everybody’s so me, me, me or I, I, I. The world takes all kinds of people to go around; that’s just what I am. I wouldn’t change it because I wouldn’t have done what I did.” ...

A kid who dreamed of playing college football did that and so much more. He was selected 18th overall by the Redblacks in the 2013 CFL draft. In 2014, Williams, who grew up in Kanata (he went to St. James Catholic Elementary and Holy Trinity High School), played 14 games for his hometown team. A back injury limited him to just one game in 2015.
But, healthy again, he came back strong in 2016 in what turned out to be championship season. He played all 18 regular-season games, getting five sacks while starting at both defensive tackle and defensive end. His versatility was a huge asset to the team. In 2017, injuries dogged him and he played in just one game. But earlier this summer, he got a clean bill of health from the doctor. Williams, though, decided it was time to move on, going out on his own terms.

https://ottawasun.com/sports/footbal...-the-barbarian