OK sports fans, name at least two members of the Canadian Football League’s Ottawa RedBlacks.
Time’s up. If you had been paying attention when they held the expansion draft, you would know the names of quarterbacks Kevin Glenn and Thomas DeMarco.
Those are the so-called marquee names. Vernon’s James Green was one of the many role players plucked by Ottawa.
Green, a 30-year-old linebacker, was chosen in the third round, 18th overall from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
“I had no idea it was going to happen,” Green told me. “The GM (Marcel Desjardins) told me he wanted an older guy and a leader who could be the special teams captain.”
Green, a 5-foot-11, 217-pounder, played high school football for Mike Scheller at Fulton, moved to the Okanagan Sun and then boosted the Calgary Dinosaurs in university ball.
In one year with the Toronto Argos and four with the Blue Bombers, Green has registered 74 special team tackles and recovered two fumbles.
“My strengths as a player after five years are experience, versatility, a new-found understanding of the game.”
He’s stoked about being part of the franchise’s start-up in a new TD Place Stadium and new era. He expects to win more than he loses this season.
“I don’t think that there are little expectations as being an expansion franchise, I think the level of expectation is higher because you have to prove to the rest of the league and the fans that you belong and that you can compete on a high level on a consistant basis. You have to do well so you don’t end up becoming disbanded again.”
The Renegades and Rough Riders (Roughriders was already taken) are now in Ottawa’s football past. New owner Jeff Hunt said the moniker RedBlacks was chosen because it’s unique. The other names presented were the Nationals, Rush, Voyageurs, and Raftsmen.
The sawblade logo on the front of the jersey is a tribute to Ottawa’s heritage as a logging town. Hunt told the media the sawblade is menacing, scary.
Green has trained with King Football in Calgary for several years, working out with the likes of Stampeders’ superstar Jon Cornish. Green is a serious athlete and he likes the athleticism he sees in DeMarco, who shined in brief action with the B.C. Lions.
“We have two solid quarterbacks. DeMarco is good. He learned from (Travis) Lulay and he’s reallty mobile. He’ll be really accomplished under Kevin Glenn. I think it will be equal opportunities for our quarterbacks.”
Home for Christmas to visit his mom, Jeanie, and friends, Green majored in communications and minored in history at U of C. He will definitely be part of CFL history as the RedBlacks try to jumpstart football, again, in Ottawa.
The other RedBlacks taken in round 1 include defensive lineman Motton Hopkins (Montreal), DE Jonathan Williams (Toronto), RB Chevon Walker (Hamilton), WR Wallace Miles (Winnipeg), OL James Lee (Saskatchewan) and WR Carlton Mitchell (Edmonton).
Desjardins told the CFL media he wasn’t necessarily looking for offensive players.
“Our philosophy getting into this is to take the best players, it wasn’t going to be a function of offence or defence,” said Desjardins. “Really, we’re sticking to that philosophy.”
The new Ottawa team planned to begin play in 2010, until cracks in the concrete structure in the south stands of Frank Clair Stadium led to the demolition of those stands; the league later set a date of 2013 for the team’s debut, but lawsuits forced the delay of construction on the stadium to be pushed back even further.
After taking Week 1 of the regular season off on a bye, the ninth and newest CFL team will play its first-ever regular season game at Winnipeg’s new Investor’s Group Field July 3. If you want to check out Green in Vancouver, the RedBlacks don’t visit the Lions until Saturday, Oct. 10.
And if you think Ottawa is hardly excited about the RedBlacks, you would be wrong big-time. Senators’ d-man Chris Phillips emerged from the restricted area of the Senators dressing room and apologized to reporters who were waiting to speak with him after the morning skate.
The veteran was late because he was watching to see who the RedBlacks were taking with their first selection in the expansion draft.
“Kevin Glenn,” said Phillips. “He’s an experienced guy, a quality player. Hopefully he can lead them to the playoffs early on. It would be nice to see.”
Like many of his teammates, Phillips is a football fan. Unlike most, he prefers the three-down game.
“I fight the battle in here,” he told the Ottawa Sun. “I enjoy the CFL.”
Phillips already has his RedBlacks season tickets – a pair among a “big group” of friends.
