Bombers’ Turner to miss Friday game

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This article was published 02/08/2012 (4814 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Bombers will be without a big piece of their defensive line when they host the Montreal Alouettes at Canad Inns Stadium Friday night.

Defensive lineman Bryant Turner has returned home to Mobile, Ala., to attend funeral services for his grandmother. The two were very close, according to Bombers head coach Paul LaPolice, and when Turner informed the coach of his family situation, the club didn’t hesitate to grant him leave.

“We talked about the situation and what has happened,” LaPolice told reporters after the Winnipeg walk through Thursday. “You can’t be somebody who says family is important and then not show that. So when he called me, I sai,d ‘Hey, whatever you need to do, we’ll support (you).’”

The Bombers investigated having Turner play in the game and then flying him to Mobile for the funeral Saturday morning, but the turnaround time just wasn’t possible, the coach said.

The loss of Turner is huge for a Winnipeg defence that relies heavily on a decent pass rush. The 24-year-old leads the club with five sacks through five games, a mark that puts him second among the CFL sack leaders (B.C. defensive end Keron Williams has six).

The Bombers will plug defensive tackle Brandon Collier in Turner’s spot. Collier is coming off a shoulder injury that was originally thought to have kept him out for eight weeks. Instead, he’ll return to the lineup after just missing one game.

“I’m pretty close,” Collier said of his health for Friday night. “(My) arm got caught up with another offensive lineman… shoulder/biceps injury. I guess it healed fast so I’m pretty excited about that.”

Collier isn’t the only D-lineman making his return against the Alouettes.

Defensive end Kenny Mainor was taken off the nine-game injured list and inserted into the 46-man roster Thursday. Mainor suffered an ankle injury in the first game of the season and was placed on the nine-game injured list July 12, but it turns out his injury wasn’t as serious as originally thought.

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He’ll be back in the defensive line rotation against Montreal.

The Bombers (1-4) come into the game riding a one-game win streak – a noteworthy achievement considering the four-game losing slide they suffered through to open the season.

Winnipeg sits just two points back of the Als (2-3) in the East Division standings; a win pulls them even, while a loss would bury them in the basement heading into the bye next week.

Montreal, meanwhile, is riding a two-game losing streak and was in the middle of a travel nightmare Thursday. Originally scheduled to be in Winnipeg at noon, the club won’t arrive in Manitoba until 6 p.m. Thursday evening, as they’ve had some flight issues out east.

The Bombers say more than 28,000 tickets have been sold for Friday’s game.