WINNIPEG \u2014 Jordan Younger kept Winnipeg’s secondary on the field after the Blue Bombers finished their walk-through practice on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The team\u2019s defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach gave extra attention to the unit after more injuries caused changes ahead of Thursday\u2019s home game against the Ottawa Redblacks. One of the adjustments was adding rookie Cam Allen, who\u2019ll make his CFL debut at safety.<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old Purdue graduate is ready for it. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever a new guy comes in, I know on the other side of the ball they\u2019re probably looking at who\u2019s back there,\u201d Allen said. <\/p>\n
\u201cMe going into the game, I know I\u2019m expecting a couple shots, for them to come at me. A guy like me, I\u2019m very confident in my play, so I want those plays because if they go away from you, you ain\u2019t got no opportunity to make a play. I\u2019m just ready for the opportunity.\u201d <\/p>\n
Dru Brown is the quarterback who\u2019ll be testing Allen\u2019s coverage, and he\u2019s coming off a career-high five-touchdown performance in Ottawa\u2019s 46-42 comeback victory over the Toronto Argonauts last Saturday. <\/p>\n
Allen knows a thing or two about reading quarterbacks. The six-foot-one native of Bluefield, Va., played the position in high school before sticking to defence at Purdue.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I have a very good sense of where the quarterback wants to go,\u201d Allen said. \u201cJust reading concepts, being able to break on the ball and just knowing the quarterback wants to throw the ball and where he\u2019s going to throw the ball. Reading and reacting is what I\u2019m best at.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allen got on the roster after cornerback Terrell Bonds was carted off the field in last week\u2019s 28-27 loss to the Calgary Stampeders that was decided by a final-play, 40-yard field goal from Rene Paredes. Bonds had knee surgery and is done for the season. <\/p>\n
Bombers rookie defensive back and kick returner Trey Vaval replaced Bonds in the game and remains in the spot this week. Winnipeg\u2019s other cornerback is Dexter Lawson Jr., a recently signed three-year veteran who started last week in place of the still-injured Jamal Parker.<\/p>\n
Winnipeg head coach Mike O\u2019Shea isn\u2019t losing sleep over changes for a club that sits at 4-4 and has lost four of its past five games. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re pro football players, right? They\u2019re going to step up and make the most of their opportunity,\u201d O\u2019Shea said. <\/p>\n
Bomber halfbacks Deatrick Nichols and Evan Holm have been the constants in Winnipeg\u2019s secondary, both playing all eight games. <\/p>\n
Holm said the biggest challenge with change is communication.<\/p>\n
\u201cCommunication, getting everybody up to speed,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just mostly trying to see the game the same, making sure there\u2019s not miscommunications because not everybody sees the game the same.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Redblacks (3-6) are replacing two defensive backs, bringing in rookie cornerback Gavin Heslop to make his first career start. Safety Bennett Williams\u2019 addition is a game-time decision. Two linebackers are also coming onto the roster.<\/p>\n
Head coach Bob Dyce told Ottawa media that even though it\u2019s a short week of practise, the players are ready to keep rolling after the victory over Toronto and two wins in a row.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get an opportunity to get back on the field, carry through with the momentum that we built the last couple of weeks ,\u201d Dyce said. <\/p>\n
Running back William Stanback had 17 carries for 84 yards versus the Argonauts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in great spirits, but we know that we\u2019re not even close to where we feel we can be,\u201d Stanback said.<\/p>\n
Winnipeg quarterback Zach Collaros and veteran receiver Nic Demski said the focus for the offence is cleaning up its mistakes from the loss to Calgary.<\/p>\n
The Bombers had mounted a 17-0 lead early in the second quarter and were ahead 23-16 at halftime, but didn\u2019t score a point in the third quarter. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you look at the little things, the little details, alignments, assignments, being on the same page with everybody, being in the right place at the right time, I think that\u2019s a big thing right there,\u201d Demski said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve definitely got to do a better job at that. It\u2019s the little details. You just can\u2019t be making mistakes as a group. Once we get rid of that, I think we\u2019re going to be in a good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n
KEEPING A STREAK GOING<\/p>\n
The Bombers have won nine of the past 12 games against Ottawa and three consecutive at home. The Redblacks last win in Winnipeg was Aug. 17, 2018.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 13, 2025.<\/p>\n
Judy Owen, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WINNIPEG \u2014 Jordan Younger kept Winnipeg’s secondary on the field after the Blue Bombers finished their walk-through practice…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-67936","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\/67936","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=67936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}