June 18, 2010
Arden Zwelling
CFL.ca
Itās not often that a linebacker beats a wide receiver in a competition of speed and acceleration.
Thatās why you can forgive linebacker Cory Greenwood for bragging after he bested his Concordia Stingers teammate Cory Watson, a wide receiver, in the 40-yard dash at the CFLās Evaluation Camp in March.
You have to strike while the ironās hot, after all, and Watson feels fairly confident that things would turn out differently under the lights.
āHe would never catch me on the field,ā Watson quipped from Winnipeg where heās taking part in his first ever CFL training camp with the Blue Bombers after they selected him with their first pick, ninth overall, in the 2010 CFL draft.
We may never get to see Greenwood chase Watson around a CFL field ā the linebacker, drafted third overall by the Toronto Argonauts, signed a contact with the NFLās Kansas City Chiefs last month.
Weāll just have to settle for watching his former teammate, the 6-foot-2, 208-pound Watson, wreak havoc on CFL defences. If he makes the team, that is.
Watson is competing for a spot on the Winnipeg receiving corps, one of the toughest jobs to earn in any CFL training camp this year.
āI think we have a really good group,ā Blue Bombers receivers coach Chris Wiesehan said. āThereās been a great tempo in practice.ā
Wiesehan is in his first year with the Blue Bombers after several years of coaching in the NCAA and has been granted an embarrassment of riches at the wide out position.
CFL veterans Adarias Bowman, Terrence Edwards and Brock Ralph are veritable locks to earn the top three spots on Winnipegās receivers depth chart after they led the team last year with 55, 52 and 43 receptions, respectively, combining for 2300 yards.
After those three, the competition for the fourth wide out spot opens up. Aaron Hargreaves, who had 7 receptions for 71 yards with Winnipeg last year, appears to have the inside track. Meanwhile, import newcomers Chris Davis and David Ball are clearly in the running for a spot while Canadians Jabari Arthur, Scott McHenry and Watson are also in contention. It all makes for a very competitive atmosphere at camp.
āMy goal is to contribute in any way that I can. Personal goals aside, I need to find a way to help the team,ā Watson said. āI just have to be consistent in everything I do. I approach every game saying āI want to improve myself and help the team win.āā
Wiesehan said that rubbing shoulders with CFL veterans like Bowman, Edwards and Ralph has already had a positive effect on Watson who has been quick to adjust to the increased tempo of the CFL game.
āWe have some good leaders in that group,ā Wiesehan said of his receivers. āThereās been great communication every time we break the huddle and those veteran guys have kind of taken the younger guys under their wings.ā
āEvery day Iām learning a lot of things from the veteran guys that will hopefully allow me to be successful in this league,ā Watson added. āEveryone here is clearly here to really work and be perfect in everything they do.ā
Watson gives selfless sound bites like a rookie but the Jamaican-born wide out isnāt your typical freshman. At 26-years of age, he is one of the oldest first-year players looking to crack a CFL roster in 2010. Heās almost two full years older than Hargreaves, who already has two seasons of CFL experience under his belt.
His age has given Watson a sense of urgency at Blue Bombers training camp ā itās do or die for the CIS standout.
āThereās no real freshman year for me ā itās now or pretty much never,ā Watson said. āI have to come in with the mantra that I need to contribute right away, rather than maybe in the next couple years.ā
Watsonās age also gives him an edge in intelligence and maturity over younger, more wet behind the ears rookies. While there is naturally an adjustment period and a bevy of miscues for most rookies in their first CFL training camp, Watson has been able to limit errors and, according to Wiesehan, learn from his mistakes.
āHeās very good above the neck. Heās an absolute student of the game,ā Wiesehan said. āThereās an ebb and flow of training camp where some guys have some mental lapses but heās been able to limit those.ā
Undoubtedly, much of that comes from his time at Concordia University playing for Stingers head coach Gerry McGrath, who is currently in Saskatchewan, volunteering as a guest coach with the Roughriders.
āAt Concordia youāre expected to perform week in and week out and itās the same thing here. Youāve got to perform,ā Watson said. āItās not what youāve done, itās what have you done for the team lately.ā
McGrath kept Watson busy during his four years at Concordia ā he led the team in all major receiving categories in 2007, 2008 and his standout 2009 season when he was the second best receiver in the country with 102.6 receiving yards per game.
āWorking with Coach McGrath helped me tremendously because he runs everything in a professional style from camp to the day-to-day team stuff,ā Watson said. āHe stresses professionalism in everything which helped a lot in terms of getting prepared for life in the CFL.ā
Much of Watsonās maturity also comes from his upbringing. The second-oldest of nine children, Watsonās single mother moved the family from Jamaica to Montreal ā where his uncle and grandfather already resided ā when he was nine years old.
Watson was relied upon at a very early age to earn income for the family and be a good role model for his seven younger siblings. While taking jobs to support his family and working through Quebecās tough CEGEP secondary school program, Watson never abandoned his dream of one day playing professional football.
Even today, on the cusp of realizing that dream, Watson remains focused and driven to succeed.
āFrom being drafted to training camp, everything has gone really quick,ā Watson said. āIām assuming that once training camp is done with, Iāll have that day to go āokay, Iām here now.ā And then Iāll get back into it and get ready for game one.ā
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