Linebacker Maurice Leggett out for B.C. game

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This article was published 20/07/2017 (2992 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VANCOUVER – The Winnipeg Blue Bombers will enter Friday’s road game against the B.C. Lions without one of their key leaders on defence.

When the team released its roster and depth chart for the Week 5 matchup at BC Place, missing on it was strong-side linebacker Maurice Leggett. With Leggett out, Robert Porter will earn his first CFL start.

Porter, 24, played two seasons at Jackson State, where he earned All-SWAC honours in 2015, lining up at both corner and nickel. That year he finished with 38 tackles and one interception. He also broke up 12 passes.

Porter, who stands 5-10 and weighs 190 pounds, went undrafted to the NFL in 2016, but later signed a free-agent deal with the Chicago Bears. After his release from the Bears, the Bombers signed the Detroit, Mich. native to a contract in January. He was assigned to the practice roster at the start of the 2017 CFL season.

With the absence of Leggett, the Bombers are without two of their original starting linebackers. Weakside linebacker Ian Wild was injured during a 29-10 loss to the Calgary Stampeders in Week 3 and has been ruled out for at least six weeks. Kyle Knox, who lost out the middle linebacker job to Sam Hurl, has been playing in relief of Wild.

The Bombers will provide an update on Leggett when the team meets for their media availability later this afternoon. Leggett is likely banged up and not out for personal reasons. During Tuesday’s practice, he was working outside his regular position, which is odd for someone of his stature with the team. Leggett also missed most of training camp with a lower-body injury, although it’s unclear whether that injury has resurfaced or not.

In three games, Leggett has 13 tackles and one interception, which came in a 33-25 home win over the Toronto Argonauts last week. Leggett was tied with teammate T.J. Heath for the league-lead in interceptions in 2016 with seven.

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In other news, defensive end Tristan Okpalaugo will miss a second straight game with an upper-body injury, making way for Jackson Jeffcoat to make a second consecutive start. Receiver T.J. Thorpe will also make his CFL debut, replacing L’Damian Washington. Kevin Fogg, who returned to practice this week after injuring himself in the season opener, will not play against the Lions. Therefore, Ryan Lankford will resume playing double-duty in the return game.

The CFL also released its discipline report for Week 4 and two Bombers — OL Matthias Goossen and DL Cory Johnson — were levied fines for illegal hits in the win over the Argonauts. Goossen’s hit came was on Toronto’s Jeffrey Finley, which the league deemed was in a vulnerable position at the time. As for Johnson, it came on the Bombers final defensive play of the game, when his arm appeared to strike the helmet of Argonauts quarterback Ricky Ray. As per league policy, the amount of the fines were not disclosed.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.catwitter: @jeffkhamilton

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.