Injury sidelines halfback Johnson for Thursday’s game

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This article was published 05/07/2016 (3363 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The absence of halfback Bruce Johnson for Thursday’s game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats will mean a bit of re-jigging in the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ secondary.

Johnson, who missed Monday and Tuesday’s practice with an undisclosed injury, was a spectator on Tuesday with his right hand taped.

Head coach Mike O’Shea played coy about who would fill the vacancy opposite Julian Posey.

“We’ll stick to the plan of speaking about the roster tomorrow,” he said. “A lot of guys took reps today. Some guys did pretty good. We like that there’s still competition.”

The front-runner for Johnson’s starting spot is Travis Hawkins, a sophomore CFLer who saw time in 15 games with Toronto Argonauts last year. There, the former Delaware Fighting Blue Hen collected 37 tackles, two interceptions and a touchdown.

After a shot with the New England Patriots came up short, Hawkins, 25, thought about heading back to school to get his masters and figure out an alternate path in life, but the Argos gave him a second chance in 2015. The Argos didn’t re-sign the Maryland native, but he had enough on film to send it out to teams across the league.

“It’s been a bit of a journey,” he said. “Being released by Toronto was a bit shocking to me. You have to take the good with the good and the bad with the bad. That’s what I’m doing. I’m here and I’m happy and it’s a great team.”

Hawkins was added to the roster on June 23, the day before their lopsided defeat at the hands of the Montreal Alouettes in their home opener. His agent had sent his film to the Bombers and something struck a cord with the team’s brass.

“He’s hungry because he was without a job and now he’s itching to get on the field,” said Blue Bombers’ defensive co-ordinator Richie Hall. “He understands the CFL, he has a whole year under his belt. Even though he might be new to us, he’s not new to the league.”

Hall wouldn’t say whether Hawkins would start but said if he did, he’d be going up against perennial CFL all-star receiver Chad Owens.

“That’s who he saw during practice last year so there’s a lot of familiarities,” Hall said. “It’s a matter of acquainting himself with the people he’s going to be playing with because I don’t care what team you play for, everyone, for the most part, plays the same coverage.”

Meanwhile, the Bombers’ No. 9 pick in the CFL draft this past spring, Trent Corney, will also miss Thursday’s game with an undisclosed injury. Corney picked up his first CFL sack, taking down Calgary Stampeders’ quarterback Bo-Levi Mitchell in the first quarter of last Friday’s game. The University of Virginia alum also collected his first CFL tackle in the game.

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @scottbilleck

Scott Billeck
Reporter

Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade’s worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024.  Read more about Scott.

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