Fredericksen not ready to say goodbye to the gridiron

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are fortunate that Christian Fredericksen wasn’t discouraged by his first CFL free agent camp.

A year ago, the wide receiver from Rigby, Idaho, made the long drive to Seattle with his cleats and a $100 registration fee to attend an audition hosted by the B.C. Lions — an experience that proved less than ideal.

“It just felt like a cash grab,” Fredericksen admitted after Tuesday’s training camp session.

“About 80 per cent of the players there hadn’t played past high school. I was bummed because it didn’t matter how well I did.”

He could’ve ditched his pro football dream right there. And he would’ve been just fine, too — he has his masters in Health Care Administration from Idaho State.

After all, it’s a field Fredericksen is extremely passionate about.

“Back in high school, right before COVID, I got an entry-level job as a caretaker at a nursing home and I fell in love with helping people,” he said. “And something I saw there, unfortunately, was a lot of the management there didn’t treat the residents with a lot of respect and it broke my heart to see that stuff. So, I thought the best way I could make a difference in that was to be in a leadership position in healthcare.”

While he’s excited to dive into that, he’s not quite ready to say goodbye to the gridiron.

“I can be in the healthcare realm until I’m 80,” he said. “I only have this for so long, so, why not chase it with all you have until it’s over?”

In his year out of the game, he honed in on his craft before making a trip to Florida in the winter to try to impress the Bombers at their free agent camp. A few days later, he got a call inviting him to rookie camp.

“At my pro day, I ended up running a 4.73, which is super slow. And in that year off, I ended up getting that down to a 4.55,” said the 6-3, 209 pound target.

“I had to prove that I was getting better in that year. I was getting bigger, faster, stronger because otherwise, taking a gap year, you’re not going to be sought after — you have to chase them a little bit.”

Defenders have had a difficult time chasing the 24-year-old, leading to him getting some looks with the starting unit recently with veterans Nic Demski and Ontaria Wilson sitting out.

He comes from a football family with his brother, Logan, playing defensive end at Montana State.

“He’s making a lot of plays all over the field. He’s also one of those guys that just keeps on going,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea.

“These guys are tired right now. And there are certain guys out there you just don’t notice it as much. They just have that switch that they can flip. And honestly, I don’t know him well enough to ask him what it is, where did he get that from, how he’s managed to do it? But we do have a bunch of guys that are just going, going, and going.

“And you know they’re hurting, but they’re relentless.”

Fredericksen had to be relentless to even make it in college. He was invited to walk-on at Idaho State — mostly because they were heavily recruiting his high school quarterback — and managed to make the most of the opportunity by finishing as a top-10 pass catcher in program history with 148 receptions for 2,071 yards and 16 touchdowns in five seasons.

He’s made it as a longshot before, and he’s confident he can do it again — even though the Bombers are already loaded at receiver with Demski, Wilson, Tim White and Tommy Nield.

“It’s like a dream come true (to be here),” said Fredericksen.

“When you’re training, and you’re the only athlete in the gym with your trainer, it gets exhausting, so, you really have those hard conversations with yourself like, ‘Is this something I really want to do?’ And every time I had the conversation, the answer was always a loud, ‘Yes.’”

The Bombers will play their pre-season opener on Saturday in Saskatoon against the Saskatchewan Roughriders at 6 p.m. CT.

winnipegfreepress.com/taylorallen