{"id":676473,"date":"2026-05-18T00:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T00:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/676473\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T00:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T00:26:11","slug":"blue-bombers-training-camp-day-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/676473\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Bombers Training Camp | Day 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s too long ago now to recount every detail, but Warren Burrell does remember this: Milt Stegall always had some gems to tell about Winnipeg, the Blue Bombers and playing in the Canadian Football League.<\/p>\n

All these years later, some of Milt\u2019s tales now seem to be coming true to life as Burrell has just completed another day of training camp with those same Blue Bombers that were once folklore.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was a kid, we\u2019d be over at my uncle Rodney (Lumpkins) house and Milt, who was a family friend, would tell me stories about his playing days,\u201d Burrell told bluebombers.com after practice on Sunday. \u201cMilt would tell us all these crazy stories, like how he would drink honey on the sidelines straight from the bottle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re a kid, you\u2019re not always really paying attention to it. But as I got older \u2014 and especially after finding out I was going to be coming here \u2014 you start to realize more about what he was saying.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then when I was looking into it further, he was waaaaay better than I thought he was. I always thought he was good, but he\u2019s truly a legend. So, to come here and see his name outside the stadium and then in here on the Ring of Honour\u2026 it\u2019s really, really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Burrell has been one of the newcomers standing out through the first week of training camp as he continues to get a lot of reps with the starting defence at the cornerback spot next to Deatrick Nichols.<\/p>\n

A product of Georgia Tech and Tennessee, Burrell\u2019s last football opportunity was in mini camp with the New York Jets. When that didn\u2019t lead to a shot, he went back to Georgia Tech to finish his masters in international affairs \u2014 he has a specific interest in climate change.<\/p>\n

The opportunity he is chasing now, though, is here with the Blue Bombers \u2014 the team he heard so much about from one of the franchise\u2019s legends and has since studied up on since signing here in January.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot everybody is family friends with Milt Stegall,\u201d said head coach Mike O\u2019Shea when asked of Burrell\u2019s pre-camp prep on the CFL. \u201cThe bottom line is you don\u2019t always have access to information. But you would expect in any job interview\u2026 I hope for my kids when they go on a job interview, they do some research on the company they\u2019re talking to, who they\u2019re going to be dealing with, who they are interviewing with.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think the young guys coming up to the CFL for the first time need to watch some CFL games. They can get them and if they know anybody that\u2019s ever been in the CFL they should be reaching out and talking to them and figuring out what it is \u2014 the major differences and what they have to look forward to. It\u2019s sometimes hard for guys in all three phases to watch a game and go, \u2018Oh, I understand what they\u2019re doing here.\u2019 You can read a rule, but when you get on the field things can be different.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Shea noted Burrell\u2019s cover skills and how quickly he\u2019s picking the Canadian version of the game up while fighting through the ups and downs every player \u2014 rookie and vet alike \u2014 experiences during camp.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s also been evident is how much Burrell covets this opportunity. Putting his master\u2019s to work in the climate change field can wait.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now my focus is to see what I can do on the field,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s one thing when you know you\u2019re not good enough or you don\u2019t have it. Then it\u2019s easier to move on. It\u2019s another when you know you can play at that level.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just about patience for me. Maybe if I had got that opportunity at the time I wouldn\u2019t have been ready for it. Now, going through that process and having that time to get my conditioning right, lift more weights, finish my masters\u2026 I feel it\u2019s prepared me better for this moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was able to have a conversation about this place with Milt before I got here and he said all good things,\u201d Burrell said. \u201cHe told me about the standard that they have and so I feel I was pretty well prepared before I got here.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow\u2026 I love it here. I love the guys here, the coaches\u2026 everything is great. Everything happens for a reason. I\u2019m where I\u2019m supposed to be. All we have is today. I can\u2019t look too far ahead; I can\u2019t look at yesterday. All we have is today. It\u2019s right here and right now for me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s too long ago now to recount every detail, but Warren Burrell does remember this: Milt Stegall always…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-676473","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\/676473","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=676473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}