GUELPH \u2014 He has a Grey Cup ring and 100-catch season to his credit, yet receiver Kevin Mital doesn\u2019t allow himself to feel comfortable at the Toronto Argonauts training camp.<\/p>\n
Even entering his third CFL season, the former Laval star diligently takes notes during team meetings, understanding there\u2019s no such thing as a detail that\u2019s too small.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the thing I\u2019m trying not to do, become too comfortable,\u201d Mital said Wednesday following Toronto\u2019s on-field session at Alumni Stadium. \u201cWhat I\u2019ve learned from the past two years is when guys come to training camp and get too comfortable, they get a surprise and get cut.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always try to be on top of things. I\u2019m still taking notes, I try to be the first one out on the field, I try to stay late and write down every detail because business is business. It\u2019s still training camp, you\u2019re still fighting for a job every year \u2026 you\u2019ve got to earn your spot.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a mature approach for such a young player. Mital, 27, began his collegiate career at Syracuse in 2019 before transferring to Laval in 2020, leading the Rouge et Or to a Vanier Cup title in 2022, the same year he captured the Hec Crighton Trophy as Canadian university football\u2019s top player.<\/p>\n
Toronto selected Mital in the first round, fifth overall, in \u201924 CFL draft.<\/p>\n
After registering 18 catches for 201 yards in 12 games as a rookie, the six-foot, 229-pound Mital had 102 receptions for 886 yards and four touchdowns in 18 regular-season contests last year. And with the absence of veteran receivers DaVaris Daniels (retirement) and Canadian Dejon Brissett (free agent Calgary), Mital could become an even more important member of Toronto\u2019s receiving corps in 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still have a good group of receivers,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got Makai (Polk), we have (Damonte) Coxie, we have Dave (David Ungerer III), we have Jake (Herslow) and we\u2019ve got some good rookies coming up.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs long as we win games, the whole offence has good games and we\u2019re putting points on the board, that\u2019s all that matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mike Miller, Toronto\u2019s first-year head coach, said the Argos won\u2019t be looking for Mital to shoulder more responsibility in 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to ask everybody to play a role and Kevin does that and does it well,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ve just seen such steady improvement from him over the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has a mature understanding of the offence and now he\u2019s getting into the finer details of the execution. And I\u2019ll tell you, he\u2019s an outstanding human being and we\u2019re lucky to have him. He has had a great impact on this offence already.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller added Toronto\u2019s expectations of Mital will have nothing to do with statistics.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just expect him to have the same maximum effort that he always gives,\u201d he said. \u201cThat stuff (stats) kind of takes care of itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about our execution, playing physical and finishing. He does that and embraces it well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mital usually plays slotback but has the physical ability to line up at wide receiver. However, he leaves no questions regarding his preference.<\/p>\n
\u201cDepending on the formation and play, we\u2019re all over the field with everybody trying to mix up things,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I like slot, I like having that 10-yard waggle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mital\u2019s stellar \u201925 season came with veteran Nick Arbuckle under centre as Chad Kelly missed the entire campaign with a leg injury suffered in the \u201924 East Division final. Kelly is back with the club in camp and projected as Toronto\u2019s opening-day starter.<\/p>\n
Mital said it really doesn\u2019t matter to receivers who\u2019s playing quarterback.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still have to run our routes, we still have to do our job and make our blocks whoever is back there,\u201d he said. \u201cFor sure, we love having Chad back but if it\u2019s Chad, it\u2019s Chad and if it\u2019s Nick, it\u2019s Nick.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Holy Grail for pro receivers is reaching the 1,000-yard plateau each season. Doing so this year would not only be a career first for Mital but also be timely given he\u2019s entering the final year of his current deal with Toronto.<\/p>\n
Of more importance to Mital is earning a second Grey Cup ring after being part of Toronto\u2019s 2024 championship squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat (second Grey Cup win) would be good,\u201d he said. \u201cI still have to do my job and put up good stats to earn that next contract.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m trying to have the best season I\u2019ve ever had in the CFL.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 13, 2026.<\/p>\n
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GUELPH \u2014 He has a Grey Cup ring and 100-catch season to his credit, yet receiver Kevin Mital…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,890,82],"class_list":["post-667680","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-lifestyle","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667680","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=667680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}