Every game, don\u2019t miss Barney Shynkaruk\u2019s Behind the Facemask \u2014 a closer look at your favourite Saskatchewan Roughriders. This week: Roughriders fullback Albert Awachie.<\/p>\n
Every game, don\u2019t miss Barney Shynkaruk\u2019s Behind the Facemask \u2014 a closer look at your favourite Saskatchewan Roughriders.<\/p>\n
This week: Roughriders fullback Albert Awachie.<\/p>\n
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\n<\/p>\n
Barney Shynkaruk:
\nAll right, it\u2019s Behind the Facemask, and this week we\u2019re joined by Albert Awachie.<\/p>\n
Man, you\u2019re a lot taller and bigger in person than you look from up in the booth.<\/p>\n
First question \u2014 were you a soccer guy growing up?<\/p>\n
Albert Awachie:
\nYeah, soccer was my first sport.<\/p>\n
I was a striker.<\/p>\n
I looked up to David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and all those guys.<\/p>\n
I was definitely a soccer player first.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nSo I\u2019m guessing you\u2019re watching a lot of the World Cup?<\/p>\n
Albert:
\nI catch the highlights when I can, usually between studying and everything else.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d like to watch more, but right now we\u2019re focused on this football thing.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nIf you had to pick one favourite soccer player growing up, who was it?<\/p>\n
Albert:
\nProbably Beckham first.<\/p>\n
There were movies about him, too, so that added to it.<\/p>\n
After he left, Rooney kind of took over.<\/p>\n
Those were my top two.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nDo you still play at all? Men’s league? Anything like that?<\/p>\n
Albert:
\nNo, not anymore.<\/p>\n
If I see a soccer ball, I\u2019ll juggle it a little bit.<\/p>\n
When I\u2019m back home in Ontario, I\u2019ll head down to the basement and see if I can get to 100 juggles.<\/p>\n
Usually it takes me a few tries, but I\u2019ll get there.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nAs I understand it, you split time between Toronto and Colorado growing up, but mostly Colorado?<\/p>\n
Albert:
\nYeah.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m the youngest in my family and the only one born in Canada.<\/p>\n
I was born in Toronto, and then my mom got a job as a nurse in Colorado, so our family moved there.<\/p>\n
I grew up there through elementary school, junior high and high school.<\/p>\n
After high school, I came back to Toronto for university.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nIt was one of your brothers who got you into football, right?<\/p>\n
Albert:
\nYeah.<\/p>\n
My oldest brother was the first one to play football.<\/p>\n
He played high school ball and then defensive tackle at the University of Northern Colorado.<\/p>\n
Watching him prepare, how he trained, how he ate and how he carried himself really showed me what it meant to be a professional.<\/p>\n
He paved the way, and I just tried to follow it.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nYou played at Rocky Mountain High School, but you also played both sides of the ball.<\/p>\n
Albert:
\nYeah.<\/p>\n
Shout out to the Lobos.<\/p>\n
I actually also played for our cross-town rivals, the Fort Collins Lambkins, so that was kind of funny because those schools definitely didn’t get along.<\/p>\n
I played defensive end, running back and even some free safety.<\/p>\n
I just loved being on the field.<\/p>\n
The funny thing is, my first year playing defensive end was my senior year.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d never played the position before, but I ended up earning all-state honourable mention.<\/p>\n
We had a really good group.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nPeople don’t always think about this, but you’re playing football at 5,000 feet above sea level in Colorado.<\/p>\n
Do you remember what that was like?<\/p>\n
Albert:
\nYou almost don’t notice it because you grow up there.<\/p>\n
I was in great shape back then, too.<\/p>\n
But when it gets cold, that air gets sharp.<\/p>\n
Your clothes almost feel like they shrink in the cold.<\/p>\n
There are similarities to places like Calgary with the elevation.<\/p>\n
There are definitely some familiar elements.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nHow did the University of Toronto happen?<\/p>\n
Were there NCAA opportunities?<\/p>\n
Albert:
\nHonestly, I never really thought about football that way.<\/p>\n
I was just playing.<\/p>\n
I actually walked on at the University of Toronto.<\/p>\n
I was trying to become a receiver, which I had never played before.<\/p>\n
Before that, I even went to Bradenton, Florida, for a CFL receiver tryout with basically no experience.<\/p>\n
I was only about 210 pounds then.<\/p>\n
I didn’t make the team, but a lot of people came up afterward asking how old I was and telling me they thought I had talent.<\/p>\n
That really changed my mindset.<\/p>\n
I realized I had to prepare like I was competing against American athletes, not just U SPORTS players.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nWho did you model your game after?<\/p>\n
Albert:
\nThere were three guys.<\/p>\n
Steve Smith was one.<\/p>\n
He wasn’t the biggest guy, but he played with unbelievable toughness and blocked like crazy.<\/p>\n
Chad Ochocinco was another.<\/p>\n
His footwork was incredible, probably because of his soccer background.<\/p>\n
Then Brandon Marshall.<\/p>\n
He had the size and physical presence that I really admired.<\/p>\n
I tried to take a little bit from all three.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nHave you ever shown the coaches what you can do as a receiver?<\/p>\n
Albert:
\nI think they know.<\/p>\n
But we have so many talented receivers here.<\/p>\n
I’m happy with my role.<\/p>\n
I just know that whenever the ball gets in my hands, I’ll try to make somebody miss.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nDo you have a favourite NFL team?<\/p>\n
Albert:
\nIt changed over the years.<\/p>\n
When I was a kid playing NFL Blitz, I liked the Tennessee Titans because I liked the colours.<\/p>\n
Then it became the Bengals and Panthers for the same reason.<\/p>\n
Now I’d probably say Denver because it feels like the hometown team.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nLast one.<\/p>\n
Give Rider Nation a look behind the curtain.<\/p>\n
What’s the pregame meal?<\/p>\n
Albert:
\nI’ve been ordering Cora’s for quite a few years now.<\/p>\n
I usually get a Western omelette, strawberry-banana pancakes, orange juice, and chocolate milk.<\/p>\n
That gets me ready to go.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nAlbert, thanks so much for doing this.<\/p>\n
You might have people asking you to play soccer during the offseason now.<\/p>\n
Albert:
\nThanks so much. I appreciate it.<\/p>\n
Another edition of Behind the Facemask with Albert Awachie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every game, don\u2019t miss Barney Shynkaruk\u2019s Behind the Facemask \u2014 a closer look at your favourite Saskatchewan Roughriders.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":764523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,272031,82],"class_list":["post-764522","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-saskatchewan-roughridersalbert-awachiebehind-the-facemask","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764522","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=764522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/764523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}