New DB ready to knock some heads for Bombers

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This article was published 23/06/2015 (3994 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Defensive back Lin-J Shell brought a healthy dose of confidence to his first day of Winnipeg Blue Bombers practice at Investors Group Field.

The blue and gold picked up the 33-year-old defender on Monday, just two days after he was released by the Grey Cup champion Calgary Stampeders.

Asked by reporters today to cite his best attribute, Shell came with this: “It has to be my looks.”

“Nah, I’m ‘a utility guy,” he said. “Wherever coach needs me. I’ll make sure I know the entire defence. I try to bring that confidence and that leadership to the younger guys so that we can grow as a unit.

“At the end of the day, you’re only as good as your weakest link. I try to make sure everybody is as strong as they could possibly be.”

Shell has played six CFL seasons, including in Montreal and Toronto when O’Shea was an assistant there.

“It feels great, lot of tradition and everything,’ Shell said about arriving in Winnipeg. “And you’ve got coach Osh and everything, great leaders like that, so it’s more than a pleasure to come out here to try to knock some heads in Blue and Gold.

“I was given a couple of options. I played for Osh before. He’s one of those guys, a natural-born leader. Any time you want to get out here and play for somebody, you want to give them your heart and Osh is one of those guys that if he asked me to do it, I’d do it.

“Brick wall and everything, I’m running through it.”

Shell said he was surprised by his release on Saturday, the final cut-down day before the start of the CFL season.

“Yeah, I was surprised but it’s definitely business,” Shell said. “They have things to do on their end and as players, all we can do is play.

“So I can’t question them. I played for some great guys, some great coaches, just had to enjoy my time there and do my job.”

O’Shea was also confident he knew what he was getting.

“He’s a vet,” the coach said. “He’s a pro. He has a lot of experience in a lot of difference defences. So I think he picks things up easily. He’s already communicating first day out here. He’s communicating with the guys around him out on the field.

“He demands a lot of himself and of his teammates. He’ll never lower the bar. He loves to play special teams as well. You can plug him in anywhere.”

That Shell was available didn’t shock O’Shea.

“It happens to everybody,” he said. “It doesn’t necessarily shock me. It’s good for us.”

Based on today’s practice, the Bombers may even be contemplating using Shell in this Saturday’s season-opener in Saskatchewan. DB Maurice Leggett is on the one-game injured list to start the season.

They have initially placed the native of Orlando, Fla., on their practice roster but that could change.

“That’s a ways away,” O’Shea said, deflecting the question. “We still have to figure that out.”

Shell vowed to be ready if asked to play this week.

“I’m not even looking that deep into it,” he said. “At the end of the day, if coach says you’re up, then I’m up. Until then, I’m in the books, studying.”

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Asked where he’s most comfortable in the defence, because he’s played a variety of positions, Shell said: “On the field.”

“At the end of the day, it’s a job,” he said. “You have to be a professional. The more you can do, the more you can play. So I”m trying to stay on the field. If they need me to play safety, it’s safety. Boundary corner, half (back), wherever it is, if they need me to play nose-tackle, I’ll play it.

“It’s football. I love the game and I love these coaches and it’s one of those things where if they need it, I’ve got it.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca