Draft picks Chungh, Waggoner look promising in camp

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This article was published 06/06/2015 (4006 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One was a first-rounder this year. The other will cost the Winnipeg Blue Bombers their first-round draft pick next year.

In other words, the Bombers have a lot invested in offensive lineman Sukh Chungh and linebacker Garrett Waggoner.

And so with their first week of pro football behind them, it seemed like a good idea to check in on Chungh and Waggoner Saturday to find out whether Winnipeg’s big investments had risen or fallen after seven days of training camp.

Chungh’s stock has clearly soared. In a week in which four of Winnipeg’s five projected starting offensive linemen have missed practice due to sickness or injury Chungh has seized the opportunity to show he’s exactly what the Bombers were hoping he’d be when they used the second-overall pick to draft him last month: CFL-ready.

Chungh has practiced at all three interior lineman positions during his first week and hasn’t looked out of place at any of them. But it is his audtion the last couple days at right guard in place of an ailing Patrick Neufeld — what else is new — that likely presents him the best chance to crack the Bombers starting lineup.

Neufeld has been unable to stay healthy his entire time with the Bombers — and in Saskatchewan before that — and Chungh has gone a long way in a week to making a case he’s a more reliable solution at right guard, if for no other reason that he’s healthy and Neufeld, once again, isn’t.

“It’s an unbelievable experience so far,” said Chungh (6-4, 303 pounds; Calgary). “They’ve moved me around the offensive line and I understand you have to be willing to step up in any case.

“With guys having some injuries, it’s given me the opportunity to step up. Getting reps with the first team is always good and you learn a lot more with those guys.”

While his natural position is at guard, the Bombers have also had Chungh taking some reps at centre, probably not a bad idea given the man Winnipeg will start at that position — Dominic Picard — will be 35 when the regular season gets underway later this month.

“I’ve always been the third centre — the last resort centre,” said Picard. “It’s always been a good tool to have in my tool box.”

Bombers coach Mike O’Shea has raved about Chungh at every opportunity the past week and if Chungh’s first seven days are any indication, the only question still to be answered isn’t whether he’ll be on the 46-man roster on opening day but whether he’ll be starting.

It’s not quite so clear-cut with Waggoner, who the Bombers gave up their 2016 first-round pick for to draft him in last month’s supplemental draft.

While Waggoner has also impressed during the first week of camp — both with his athletic skill and his sharp intellect — his learning curve is also steeper, coming as he does to Winnipeg with no background in three-down football.

The good news is Waggoner is a quick study and a great student — as evidenced by the Ivy League economics degree he earned while playing four years at Dartmouth.

“I did well in the classroom growing up,” said Waggoner, 6-1 and 225 pounds. “And I think the combination of my athletics and my GPA helped catapult me to the Ivy League.”

The question now is whether the raw ability and brain power can also earn him a job this season.

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O’Shea says the club likes what they’ve seen so far — and is committed to being patient with a man it thinks has a very bright future in the CFL.

“He’s had no problem picking up the playbook,” said O’Shea. “The difference for him is the size of the field and the landmarking where you drop to, just getting used to changing the habits of a smaller field and translating that on to a bigger field.

“But there’s no problem. He’s a smart kid — very active — and he’s getting used to the CFL game. We’ve moved him around a little bit. He’s a terrific athlete and a smart kid. There’s not a need for him to come in and be a starter instantly. We’re just going to take our time with him. There’s good guys around him and he’ll continue to get better.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek