Every game, don\u2019t miss Barney Shynkaruk\u2019s Behind the Facemask \u2014 a closer look at your favourite Saskatchewan Roughriders. This week: Roughriders receiver and returner James Letcher Jr.<\/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 receiver and returner James Letcher Jr.<\/p>\n
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\n<\/p>\n
Barney Shynkaruk:
\nAll right, it\u2019s Behind the Facemask with James Letcher Jr.<\/p>\n
Now I\u2019ve got to ask \u2014 the Riders website lists you at 5-foot-7, 180 pounds. Wikipedia says 5-foot-6, 180.<\/p>\n
Which one is right?<\/p>\n
James Letcher Jr.:
\nThey\u2019re both wrong.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m 5-foot-8, 180.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nWere you always one of the smaller guys growing up, or did you just never hit that growth spurt?<\/p>\n
James:
\nYeah, I was always shorter.<\/p>\n
I never really hit a growth spurt.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve probably been around this height since I was a freshman in high school, maybe even earlier.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nYou grew up in Kansas City, Kansas?<\/p>\n
James:
\nYep. Kansas City, Kansas.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nWhat was it like growing up there? What was football like as a kid?<\/p>\n
James:
\nMy dad played college football and spent some time with the Miami Dolphins, so football was always a big part of my life.<\/p>\n
I also played basketball and baseball, so it was a little bit of everything.<\/p>\n
But if I could get the neighbourhood together for some backyard football, that’s what I wanted to do.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nYou mentioned your dad. What about your mom and your siblings?<\/p>\n
James:
\nI’m the youngest.<\/p>\n
I’ve got two older sisters and an older brother, so I’m the baby of the family.<\/p>\n
They like to cater to me.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nWere they athletic too?<\/p>\n
James:
\nMy older brother definitely was.<\/p>\n
I wouldn’t say the same about my sisters.<\/p>\n
One of them was a cheerleader and the other wasn’t really into sports.<\/p>\n
They’re all at least six years older than me.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nBesides football, what was your best sport?<\/p>\n
James:
\nHonestly, I’ve told people that if I had played soccer growing up, I might have been a soccer player.<\/p>\n
I didn’t really learn much about soccer until I was older.<\/p>\n
But if I had stayed with baseball, I think I could’ve been pretty good there too.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nAlbert Awachie says he’s a pretty good soccer player.<\/p>\n
Did you know that?<\/p>\n
James:
\nYeah, he can play.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nWhat positions did you play in high school?<\/p>\n
I’m guessing both sides of the ball.<\/p>\n
James:
\nOn offence, I played a little receiver, but mainly running back.<\/p>\n
On defence, I played a little corner, but mostly safety.<\/p>\n
In my senior year, I was a running back and a safety.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nWho were your favourite players growing up?<\/p>\n
James:
\nReggie Bush was probably my favourite.<\/p>\n
Barry Sanders for sure.<\/p>\n
Adrian Peterson, too.<\/p>\n
Actually, one of my buddies used to call me “Young AP.”<\/p>\n
Then later on, Tavon Austin was another guy I really liked watching.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nYou went to Washburn University.<\/p>\n
The Ichabods… where does that nickname come from?<\/p>\n
James:
\nIt comes from Ichabod Washburn.<\/p>\n
It’s definitely a unique nickname.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nWhen did you first hear about the CFL?<\/p>\n
James:
\nI remember being at practice one day and someone from Hamilton came by and told me they were interested and that I should look into the CFL.<\/p>\n
At first, I didn’t really pay attention because growing up in the U.S., you think it’s NFL or nothing.<\/p>\n
Then Montreal added me to its negotiation list, and I figured I should see what it was all about.<\/p>\n
The rest is history.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nFavourite part of Montreal?<\/p>\n
James:
\nThe city life.<\/p>\n
And definitely the people I met there.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nBiggest difference between Montreal and Regina?<\/p>\n
James:
\nNightlife.<\/p>\n
A thousand percent.<\/p>\n
Montreal always has something going on.<\/p>\n
You can walk outside, hop on the Metro and find something to do.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nBesides Mosaic Stadium, what’s your favourite road stadium in the CFL?<\/p>\n
James:
\nThis year, I’d probably say Montreal.<\/p>\n
I know how loud that crowd gets because I played there as the home team.<\/p>\n
Now I want to experience it as the visiting team.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nLet’s go behind the curtain a little bit.<\/p>\n
What’s the pregame meal?<\/p>\n
James:
\nIt depends on whether we’re home or away.<\/p>\n
If I can, I’ll usually go to OEB.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, I’ll make myself a breakfast sandwich with eggs and beef bacon.<\/p>\n
I’ll add a bunch of fruit too.<\/p>\n
Nothing too heavy.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nWhat are you listening to during warm-ups?<\/p>\n
James:
\nIt’s changed over the years.<\/p>\n
I used to listen to a lot of gospel music.<\/p>\n
Then I got into the Game of Thrones soundtrack while stretching and doing yoga.<\/p>\n
Now it’s mostly hip hop and rap.<\/p>\n
I like Gunna, R&B… a little bit of everything.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nIf someone handed you tickets to any concert, who are you seeing?<\/p>\n
James:
\nGunna.<\/p>\n
No question.<\/p>\n
I’ve already seen him once, and I’d go again tomorrow if I could.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nAre the Chiefs your NFL team?<\/p>\n
James:
\nA thousand percent.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nWhen do you think Patrick Mahomes is back?<\/p>\n
James:
\nKnowing him, he’d probably try to come back around Week 6 or 7.<\/p>\n
But he needs to make sure he’s completely healthy.<\/p>\n
We all know what kind of player he is when he’s healthy.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nOn a scale of 1 to 10 \u2014 how confident are you that the Chiefs can get back to the Super Bowl?<\/p>\n
James:
\nIf Mahomes is healthy?<\/p>\n
Seven-and-a-half.<\/p>\n
Maybe an eight.<\/p>\n
As long as he’s healthy, we’ve always got a chance.<\/p>\n
Barney:
\nJames Letcher Jr., thanks for doing this.<\/p>\n
James:
\nAppreciate it.<\/p>\n
Another edition of Behind the Facemask with James Letcher Jr.<\/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":780163,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,276237,82],"class_list":["post-780162","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-roughridersjames-letcher-jr-behind-the-facemask","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780162","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=780162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}