Terry Greer, Michael Clemons, Derrell Mitchell, S.J. Green and…Kevin Mital?
On the surface it looks like a Toronto Argonauts version of the Sesame Street game One of These Things is Not Like the Others. Four of the receivers are rightfully members of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, the fifth is in just his second season in Double Blue but is on the verge of becoming the fifth member of an incredibly exclusive club.
Mital has a CFL-high 84 catches this season, a sweet sixteen shy of joining the Argos century club.
If the Laval product being on the brink of entering such an esteemed collection of pass catchers surprises you, don’t be alarmed, it also caught Mital off-guard.
“That’s a good start,” Mital said when informed by Argonauts.ca he was within distance of joining an elite group, laughing before changing the subject. “We try to win games and it’s not going our way right now, but we’ve still got three on the way and we’re trying to win them.”
When asked if joining that group would mean anything to him, the receiver, while not being disrespectful of the others in the group, reiterated stats just aren’t his thing.
“Not really,” was his response to the question, “It’s not like I’m getting 100 and we’re 18-0. We’ve still got the same record and that won’t change anything. I guess it’s a good thing for me as a player to stay here with the Argos. I’m trying to stay in Toronto as long as I can, so I guess that’s a positive.”
Mital was not the only one who wasn’t aware of his catch total. Receivers coach Pete Constanza also was taken aback when informed of that number by Argonauts.ca.
“I was not aware of that,” he confessed. “It doesn’t surprise me, but I don’t look at the numbers. It doesn’t surprise me because of his athletic ability, and I know he started the season really well. I’m pleasantly surprised.”
So why the dramatic increase in production this year? In his rookie season he had just 18 catches on 22 targets.
“He’s always a part of the game plan,” explained Costanza, “especially because of what he does once the ball is in his hands (Mital is third in the CFL in yards after catch). To look at the number of catches is usually an end of year thing, but with the history of the Argos, all the years we’ve played, to have a guy that’s that close to being in the top five just speaks to the type of year he is having.”
It’s gone far beyond what Mital was hoping for when the season began.
“The only goal I had coming into this season was to get a starting spot and help the offence,” said Mital. “I’m not into numbers that much, just trying to win some games.”
A recent hot streak has put the Montreal native within reach of the magical number. He’s caught 15 passes in his last two games, 35 in his last five. If he were to hit the one hundred mark it would be an accomplishment that he’d be happy with, but there are other things he’s more concerned about.
“I’ve still got a lot to prove,” he said. “What I’m doing right now is a lot of low levels (underneath routes). I’m trying to show that I can be a threat down the field, that’s something I have to add to my assets as a player.”
Mital was a dominant receiver with the Rouge et Or. Catching seven or eight passes in a game was the rule rather than the exception. In 2022 he was recognized as the best player in U SPORTS by being named the winner of the Hec Crighton Award.
In 2024, the Argos selected him with the fifth overall pick in the CFL Draft, never dreaming for a moment that he’d drop that far. He did, and the Argos are now reaping the benefits of that good fortune.
“The goal coming into the season was to try to get involved as much as I can,” said Mital. “Any time I can touch the football and do something positive, either get a first down or a touchdown and help the offence.”
There’s no question his production has seen an incredible increase this season, but what about the receiver has changed from the beginning of training camp until now?
“Real easy,” said Costanza, “his knowledge base and his self-awareness and ownership of learning the offence. What most people wouldn’t see, unless you were at practice or in the meeting rooms, for a guy that English is his second language, and he speaks English well, but to know the details like he does, the communication to the rest of the receivers in practice or in a game, he has a great understanding of what’s going on and is becoming a leader by his work ethic.”
Mital was asked the same question about his biggest improvement from early May until now and he had an identical answer to his coach.
“I think consistency,” Mital said. “I try to be disciplined and not make the same mistake twice. Be locked in on the details that Coach Dinwiddie tells us in the meeting room, trying to write down everything and know all the positions if I can, so if a guy has a question he can rely on me and ask me and I’ll have the answer. I don’t have to rely on Nick (quarterback Nick Arbuckle), we can just talk it out as receivers.”
It’s been a season of more disappointments that positives for the Argos, but if Mital can come up with 16 catches in the next three games his milestone will be something worth remembering in upcoming years.