Blue Bombers rookie has championship pedigree

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This article was published 24/05/2017 (3087 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EVERY player attending Winnipeg Blue Bombers rookie camp this week has a support team rooting for them as they work to make their professional football dreams a reality. But not everyone has the opportunity to pick the ear of a two-time Super Bowl champion like Jackson Jeffcoat does.

Jeffcoat, a six-foot-three, 253-pound defensive end, is the son of former NFLer Jim Jeffcoat, who played 12 seasons for the Dallas Cowboys before finishing his 15-year career with the Buffalo Bills. During his time with the Cowboys, Jeffcoat never missed a game and was part of the dynasty team — a club that included the likes of Hall of Famers Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin — that won back-to-back Super Bowls in 1993 and 1994.

Although Jeffcoat was only a youngster at the time, he still has fond memories of his father’s playing days.

“After a Cowboys win my dad would come pick me and my older brother (Jaren) up, kiss us on the cheek and walk us into the locker room and have us go talk smack to guys like Michael Irvin,” recalled Jeffcoat.

“Troy Aikman and my brother were real tight, so he would have my brother on his lap during interviews and stuff and we were just all around the players growing up. It was a lot of fun.”

Asked what advice his dad gave him prior to arriving for his first CFL camp, Jeffcoat said the message was simple: “Keep playing, have fun, work hard, be the best you can be. He said that my path is not always going to be the same as his; we’re not the same person.”

Jeffcoat may not have the same resumé as his father but he has spent time in the NFL, including two seasons with the Washington Redskins. He was signed by the Cleveland Browns last August but was released prior to the 2016 NFL season and is now looking to a career in the CFL.

New punter arrives

Recently signed Felix Menard-Briere, chosen in the fourth round (34th overall) in the 2017 draft, is the lone kicker at rookie camp.

He has the unenviable task of competing with Justin Medlock, Winnipeg’s versatile all-star punter/place kicker.

“I’ll try to win a spot on the team — that’s my main goal,” said Menard-Briere, who was the U Sports all-Canadian kicker at the University of Montreal and has university eligibility remaining and could return to the Carabins.

Menard-Briere said he got a nice welcome from Medlock.

“He’s a really, really nice guy,” Menard-Briere said. “He introduced himself and he congratulated me for the draft and everything that’s going on in my life. He showed me how it works here. If we can both have our thing and work together, that’ll be ideal.”

With the signing of Menard-Briere, the Bombers have only one 2017 draft choice unsigned — offensive lineman Geoff Gray, who signed as a priority free agent with the NFL’s Green Bay Packers. Gray was Winnipeg’s second selection, eighth overall.

Back in the ’Peg

Abu Conteh can remember walking past Investors Group Field when it was just a construction site. A teen at the time, Conteh, who was born in Sierra Leone but moved to Winnipeg at the age of seven after narrowly escaping civil war, used to marvel at its growth as he made his way to basketball practice at the University of Manitoba.

“People were excited and now I’m going to be potentially playing in it,” said Conteh, who moved to the U.S. at 17 and eventually earned a spot on the football team at Grambling State, and is now back in Winnipeg after being selected in the third round by the Bombers in May.

Conteh, 21, never expected to be back in Winnipeg, especially not as a football player with the chance to play for his hometown team. But now that he’s here, he plans to make the most of it by earning a spot on the team’s secondary. He’s being tested out at safety, a position currently locked up by another Canadian in Taylor Loffler, but knows he’ll have to prove himself in other areas first.

“My career is definitely on the rise. It’s definitely going to come together and with trying to make this team,” he said. “I sat with coach Mike (O’Shea) yesterday in his office and he just told me to make my money on special teams for right now. So that’s what I’m going to try to do. Just learn as the year goes on and I’m sure I’ll get into some playing time on defence as the year goes on.”

Blue add three more

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Import defensive tackle Caleb Bostic, import O-lineman Trevan Brown and import defensive tackle Cory Johnson were late additions to the rookie camp roster Wednesday.

Meanwhile, import receiver Stephen Burton missed his flight to Winnipeg and was placed on the club’s suspended list.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @jeffkhamilton mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @sawa14

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.