Bryant Turner Jr. returns, Bombers sign Thomas, Sherman

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This article was published 07/07/2014 (4324 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers got back to the business of building on their 2-0 record today with Bryant Turner, Jr. back at work, two Canadians signed to contract extensions and with still a huge question mark along their offensive line.

Turner, Jr., the Bombers all-star defensive tackle, returned to Winnipeg on Sunday and was back on the field a day later after his wife gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Kennedy Jordan, last Monday in Alabama.

“She’s doing really good,” said Turner, Jr. “She was eight pounds five ounces. There were some complications with the birth and it was kind of scary for awhile. We were in the hospital until Saturday. But everything right now is completely fine. Thankfully Coach O’Shea completing understood and told me to take as much time as I needed and that everything was right before I got back. I was very appreciative of that and so was my wife and family.”

Meanwhile, with Chris Greaves out for an indefinite period with a sprained knee ligament the Bombers looked at a bunch of different options to fill his left guard spot. Matthias Goosen took turns there, but it import Cordaro Howard finished up the practice working with the No. 1 offence.

“Chris Greaves is a guy who wants to play,” said coach Mike O’Shea. “We’ll have to give it the right amount of time and the right amount of time for an O-lineman, whatever that is.

“We’ve got a bunch of different options. We’re going to go through those options through the practice week and see where our best works out. We’ll watch the film today, see how things worked and from there we’ll make the necessary adjustments.”

The Bombers also announced earlier on Monday that two Canadians had signed contract extensions — defensive tackle Jake Thomas and Teague Sherman, a University of Manitoba product, to contract extensions.

Sherman is in his second season with the club and is seeing an increased workload on both defence and special teams. In last week’s win over Ottawa, Sherman partially blocked a Brett Maher punt and added two tackles. Thomas is in his third season with the Bombers after being selected in the fourth round of the 2012 CFL Draft. He has accumulated one fumble recovery, one forced fumble, one sack and ten total tackles, including two special teams tackles through 32 games and has become a regular starter on the defensive line.

“I’m just absolutely thrilled,” said Sherman. “I love this city, I love the organization, I love this team. I’m thrilled to get another opportunity to stick around.”

“Both of these individuals are extremely high-character guys, while their play on the field just continues to improve,” said General Manager Kyle Walters. “Teague has progressively made more and more plays through the start of training camp and the first two games of 2014, building on his first season, while Jake continues to be solid in the middle of our defensive line. We’re very pleased to lock both of these guys up.”

BLUE NOTES: Not practising today in advance of Friday’s road game in Montreal were OL Chris Greaves, SB Cory Watson and DT Zach Anderson.

Ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait