Blue’s Edwards makes name for himself
Veteran receiver has some eye-popping stats
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/09/2010 (5536 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Terrence Edwards was admittedly adrift both physically and emotionally. His future in pro football was in doubt, his passion level for the game hovering just above empty.
Cast aside with no warning by the Montreal Alouettes just over three years ago — he actually found out about his release while surfing the net — Edwards was helped back to his feet, indirectly, by a handful of key people.
There was fellow Atlantan Milt Stegall who put in a good word to then-Winnipeg Blue Bomber management types Brendan Taman and Doug Berry. But the man who helped him keep his chin up, spurred him to continue on and also put in a reference call to Berry was the very same person he idolizes to this day and whose shadow seemed to be forever cast over his own accomplishments — his older brother Robert.
“He had almost given up playing football after he was released by the (Atlanta) Falcons and then again by the Alouettes,” began Robert Edwards when reached at his home in Atlanta.
“He’s had a tough road coming up in my shadow, through high school and then following me to the University of Georgia. But he’s definitely made his own way now. And once he got there to Winnipeg, the rest is history.”
Well, certainly soon-to-be history.
A late addition just before training camp opened in 2007, Edwards has managed to put up some sexy numbers from the very first moment he pulled on a Bomber jersey. Yes, in just 31/2 years and playing for three different coaches in three different systems Edwards is now on the verge of moving into some elite company.
He needs 20 catches to move past Mike Holmes into 10th place on the Bombers all-time receptions list; 326 yards to jump ahead of Leo Lewis into 10th on the career receiving yardage list and three more TDs to eclipse Gerald Wilcox for 10th spot on the team’s receiving scores chart.
“I don’t hear or read all the time now that I’m ‘Robert’s little brother,’ ” said Edwards with a chuckle. “I heard that from middle school to high school and even at Georgia (where he is still the school’s all-time leading receiver).
“It’s an honour being his brother, especially with what he’s been through and what he’s taught me. But I’m 31 now and it’s about time I stood on my own two feet and be Terrence, not Robert’s little brother.”
Robert, you may recall, was a former first-round draft pick of the New England Patriots whose comeback story has Hallmark movie-of-the-week written all over it. A thousand-yard rusher with the Pats as a rookie, Edwards blew out his knee playing flag football on a beach in Hawaii with other top rookies, including Peyton Manning, in an injury so gruesome he almost had his leg amputated.
But Edwards returned to play with the Miami Dolphins, Alouettes and Toronto Argonauts, including a short stint with his brother in Montreal.
“Terrence was a little more mentally prepared than a lot of kids his age because when he was young I used to drag him along to play with the big boys,” recalled Robert, now the head coach at Arlington Christian High School in Fairburn, Ga. “He always had a great knowledge of the game.
“We’re still close and still talk regularly. I try to catch up with him every time he plays a game. I watch it on the computer and he calls me immediately after the game to tell me how the team did and then I ask him how he did.
“I’m really proud of him.”
When he first arrived in Winnipeg Edwards admittedly soaked up every bit of info he could from Stegall, the future hall of famer. And now he is playing the same role Stegall once did to the receiving corps — leader, mentor, adviser and playmaker.
“There’s no secrets or anything, I just go out and try to play the game to the best of my abilities,” said Edwards with a shrug. “You know, it’s funny… it all goes so fast. I can still remember my first game at Georgia when I was 19. I can still remember high school games. And now I’m 31 and one of the older guys on the team.
“Looking back now, being released by Montreal was one of the real low points for me. But now I’m glad they did because I’m doing well and I love being here.”
ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca
