{"id":823561,"date":"2026-07-24T17:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T17:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/823561\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T17:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T17:54:11","slug":"hogan-goss-making-a-name-for-himself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/823561\/","title":{"rendered":"Hogan: Goss Making a Name for Himself"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s easy to imagine that the above transaction caused even a slight ripple of interest when it was posted. On January 26, the Toronto Argonauts added American defensive back Owen Goss to the roster, a player virtually unknown in CFL circles, but the soon-to-be 25-year-old is starting to change that profile.<\/p>\n

Goss enrolled at Colgate University after a perfect senior season at Hinsdale Central High School, located about 10 kilometres due west of Chicago Midway Airport. Remarkably, the cornerback allowed receivers to catch a grand total of zero passes throughout the entire season.<\/p>\n

The next stop on his journey was Colgate University, where he once, also remarkably, blocked three kicks in the same game. He was named First Team All-Patriot League before finding his way to the University of Arizona, where he\u2019d play his final season of NCAA football in 2024.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Now Goss\u2019 travels have taken him to Toronto, trying to establish himself as a CFL player. He\u2019s done a nice job so far, making his mark on special teams, then starting the last two games at weakside linebacker, the position he\u2019ll find himself in once again on Saturday when the Argos play the Lions in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

Whether he starts will be determined by the health of Cameron Judge, who is listed as the starter, but is a game-time decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a blast so far,\u201d Goss said of his Canadian experience to date, \u201cI didn\u2019t know what to expect, honestly. I didn\u2019t have any previous understanding of the CFL, so it\u2019s been a whirlwind. I feel like I\u2019m adjusting pretty well.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has been. Goss has played well on special teams, while in his two starts at WILL he\u2019s recorded a half-dozen defensive tackles, a tackle for loss, and a sack, while also contributing on specials.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But to continue starting means he\u2019ll have to take the job of either Judge or Isaac Darkangelo, both of whom have also played well. One may think that the veterans would be wary of a talented newcomer gunning for their jobs, but Goss told Argonauts.ca that hasn\u2019t been the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been the complete opposite,\u201d said the rookie. \u201cThey\u2019ve helped me an incredible amount. Extra meetings, whatever it might be on the field, making sure I\u2019m doing everything right; they\u2019re being selfless making sure I\u2019m right with everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot to learn, especially for someone with zero experience with three-down football and is also new to the pro game. Goss says he\u2019s not working off a completely blank page because of his final year of college ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of played a similar position at Arizona,\u201d he explained. \u201cThat\u2019s helped me for sure. I feel like I\u2019ve adjusted very well, not really having my head spinning as much as it was for maybe the first week of camp or so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with his rookie camp experience, Goss points to playing special teams as a big part of his pro progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpecial teams in the CFL, people don\u2019t realize how difficult it is,\u201d he explained. \u201cI\u2019m still getting my wind, still getting used to the conditioning; you\u2019ve got 30 plays. The difference is that it\u2019s grown men out here. Every single player on special teams was a great player in college; that\u2019s a whole battle in and of itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Now he\u2019s getting a chance to show off what he can do. The contributions he\u2019s made at WILL, coupled with special team plays like the fumble he forced in Montreal in the season opener, have caught people\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe position I\u2019m playing, I can have eyes on the backfield a little bit more, I can just feel the game. That was one thing at Arizona my coaches homed in on a ton, to just have a feel for the game. This position really allows me to do that, this is fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

The University of Arizona has been kind to the Argos over the years. Players like Chris Schultz and Rob Waldrop were impact players back in the day, while Goss\u2019 new teammate Paris Shand played there for three seasons before transferring to LSU.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s one person connected to the Argos that definitely caught the attention of Goss before he arrived in Toronto, the person that\u2019s easily the all-time leading rusher in Wildcat history; running backs coach Ka\u2019Deem Carey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made sure first day to go up and talk to him,\u201d said a broadly smiling Goss. \u201cCoach Ka\u2019Deem is a legend in Arizona. I told him we\u2019ve got to go to the Arizona State game this year because he still lives in Tucson. Hopefully we\u2019ll be able to go to that game together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The timing works out. The Wildcats don\u2019t play the Sun Devils until November 28th, 13 days after the Argos are hoping to play their final game of the season, the 113th Grey Cup game in Calgary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s easy to imagine that the above transaction caused even a slight ripple of interest when it was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":823562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-823561","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\/823561","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=823561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}