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<\/p>\nIt\u2019s been a common theme-slash-buzzword around the Winnipeg Blue Bombers over the last few weeks as the club\u2019s haul in free agency kept featuring one solid addition after another.<\/p>\n
And landing the likes of Tim White, Jake Ceresna, Jarell Broxton, Jonathan Moxey and Tommy Nield is enough to make even the most veteran voices in the Blue Bombers clubhouse belting out their hallelujahs.<\/p>\n
Case in point, we give you quarterback Zach Collaros, who is in Winnipeg this week for some marketing work for the club.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe signings that we had were awesome,\u201d said the veteran pivot at a media conference at Princess Auto Stadium on Tuesday. \u201cAll five of the guys \u2014 we brought back a lot of people, too \u2014 but the five marquee signings that we made from other organizations are really going to help our club.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of buzz. I speak to Redha (Kramdi) a lot, I speak to Deatrick (Nichols) a lot, obviously Stan (Bryant) and Paddy (Neufeld). You lose some teammates along the way which makes it tough, but we all sit back and play fantasy GM and what we would do, too, so there\u2019s been a lot of agreement with a lot of these signings, a lot of excitement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if the work in free agency represented a statement, both to the locker room and the rest of the Canadian Football League, Collaros offered this:<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s a statement, but for myself, being a little longer in the tooth in this game, and some of the other guys that have been here for a long period of time, I think it just sends a message like \u2018Hey, we\u2019re trying to win now. We want to continue competing for Western championships and competing for Grey Cups.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the CFL, you can win the Grey Cup any year, but I think just echoing that and showing the guys like \u2018Hey, we\u2019re in it to win it this year.\u2019 Not that we haven\u2019t been in the past, we try to do this every single season. But, if there\u2019s deficiencies that the front office saw, they tried to address them and that definitely stands out to the guys, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Collaros\u2019 session with the media had conversing on a variety of subjects. Here are the key takeaways that jumped out, in no particular order\u2026<\/p>\n
THE NEW GUYS<\/p>\n
\u2013Receiver Tim White:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFast. He\u2019s fast. I love his experience. He played this game with four years in a row with a thousand yards. His durability. I talked to Scott Milanovich (Hamilton Tiger-Cats head coach) a couple weeks back when this all went down and he said to me, \u2018You\u2019re going to love Tim.\u2019 He hasn\u2019t missed a practice in two-three years, however long (Milanovich) has been there. The people I\u2019ve talked to that know of Tim and have been around him have all echoed the same sentiment about him \u2014 he\u2019s a great teammate, he cares a great deal so he\u2019s going to fit in well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe game stuff stands out \u2014 he\u2019s fast, he\u2019s a reliable guy and he\u2019s played in different systems; he\u2019s played in Tommy\u2019s system, so I was able to talk to Tommy a bit before that all went down when I started my recruiting pitches to Tim, too. I\u2019m excited about him being around.\u201d<\/p>\n
-Receiver Tommy Nield:<\/p>\n
\u201cI threw with Tommy two-three years ago. Shamawd Chambers runs a group out there in Ontario. Tommy was there and it was my first day throwing in the offseason and he was running and I pulled Shamawd aside and said, \u2018Who is that? What college does he go to?\u2019 And he was like, \u2018That\u2019s Tommy Nield, you idiot.\u2019 You don\u2019t see anybody without their helmet on, and I don\u2019t really watch on TV, so he really impressed me and I developed a relationship with him there.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the last two seasons I\u2019ve watched him a lot more closely and the run he put together in Sask last year was really impressive. He\u2019s played in all the different spots; he\u2019s a great route-runner. He\u2019s been coached by great coaches \u2014 Marquay (McDaniel, Roughriders receivers coach) had him out there in Sask, Pete Costanza (now the receivers coach in Ottawa) had him in Toronto and Pete speaks really highly of him as a guy that plays different positions and can play them at a high level. And a Canadian guy, so that makes a big difference, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013Offensive tackle Jarell Broxton:<\/p>\n
\u201cStud. He was (B.C.\u2019s Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman) candidate. Big-bodied guy. Moves his feet well. I know Paddy (Neufeld) was speaking to Mikey Couture out there and B.C. was upset that they lost him when that all went down. I was able to speak to him for a couple of days afterward, after that all happened and he seems like a great guy. Some of the people I talked to out there in B.C. who have been around him say the same thing \u2014 great guy, great teammate so he\u2019s going to fit in really well. And from my interactions with him I can definitely see all that.\u201d<\/p>\n
-Defensive lineman Jake Ceresna, who said last week Zach contacted him and asked for him to join the Blue Bombers so he could stop hitting him:<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019ve said that to him after every game for the last 10 years. (He\u2019s not a fun guy to play against) I think if you ask our offensive line, there\u2019s a few guys like that in the league where you really have to be always cognizant of where he\u2019s lined up and he spearheads that list, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
-Overall take, including experienced cornerback Jonathan Moxey:<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve all played a lot of football, and I think that matters in the CFL, especially with the American guys because it\u2019s not an easy game to learn. The more reps you get at it, you get up to speed faster in your systems, and a lot of those guys have played in different systems so they understand the game inside and out.\u201d<\/p>\n
THIS SEASON\u2026 AND BEYOND?<\/p>\n
Collaros is entering the last year of his current contract and said there have been no talks about a possible extension. He\u2019s also turning 38 in August and understands fully at this stage in his career more than ever it\u2019s a prove-it business.<\/p>\n
He was asked Tuesday if he has thought of this season possibly being his last year.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, but not in a negative way. I still feel really good,\u201d he said. \u201cI still really enjoy the entire process. I enjoy working out, getting up early and doing it. This off-season has been great working with Tommy (Condell, new offensive coordinator) and putting stuff together for the training camp and for the season. I\u2019ve kind of been reinvigorated in that way just having my hand in it a little bit more than I have in the last five years. So, it\u2019s been a lot of fun. I\u2019m really excited for the year.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 You\u2019re always kind of playing on a one-year thing anyway. It\u2019s not going to change the way that I approach the season. It\u2019s not changing the way that I\u2019m training, it\u2019s not going to change the way that I play. Would I like to keep going? If I feel healthy and think I can help the club, then, yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n
TAYLOR ELGERSMA = IVAN DRAGO<\/p>\n
Funny moment near the end of the session when Collaros was asked about Canadian QB Taylor Elgersma, drafted by the club last year and still trying to chase his NFL dream. Collaros likened the big Wilfrid Laurier product to Ivan Drago, the Russian fighter Rocky Balboa faces in Rocky IV<\/p>\n
\u201cI threw one time with him last year. Walked in, I just couldn\u2019t believe how tall he was (6-5). I didn\u2019t know who he was, to be quite honest with you. I thought he was a tight end or a left tackle or something. Not that he\u2019s a heavy dude, but he\u2019s big. Like Ivan Drago, honestly. Really, it was like, \u2018If he dies, he dies.\u2019\u00a0 (Quote from Drago after his pounding of Apollo Creed leads to him dying in Rocky\u2019s arms).<\/p>\n
\u201cBig guy. He throws it very hard. Seemed like a good guy. Spent about an hour and a half throwing with him. I think this was before we drafted him. Seemed like a great dude, and has a lot of physical gifts, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been a common theme-slash-buzzword around the Winnipeg Blue Bombers over the last few weeks as the club\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-481652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}