Adversity nothing new for Schoen

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This article was published 19/05/2022 (1330 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

You have to feel for the rookies across the CFL.

They travel to a foreign country in hopes of keeping their pro football dreams alive and before they can even learn what the heck a rouge is, the players go on strike and everything comes to a screeching halt.

“It’s obviously tough,” said Bombers wide receiver and CFL newcomer Dalton Schoen after Day 1 of training camp on Thursday.

“We came out here a week before all that and had a blast the three days of rookie camp and it was nice. We were getting a feel for everything, getting used to the new rules like the waggle and all that, and then to hit a stand still like that is obviously never ideal. But you control what you can control and use the time to get your body right and get in the playbook.”

The CFL and CFLPA reached a tentative agreement on a new CBA late Wednesday, but not every rookie was willing to wait it out. Australian punter Tom Hackett, a two-time Ray Guy Award winner at Utah who was chosen sixth overall by the Bombers in the 2022 CFL Global Draft, couldn’t handle all the uncertainty so he decided to call it quits and return to his family.

For Schoen, the strike was just the latest obstacle in his football journey. He broke the state record for receiving yards in a game (380) and was one of six national finalists for the Heisman High School Award, but the Overland Park, Kan., product still had no choice but to walk on at Kansas State University. After patiently waiting on the sidelines for two seasons, Schoen broke out as a top target for the Wildcats as he hauled in 92 passes for 1,569 yards and nine touchdowns in 34 games between 2017-2019. After the 6-1, 210-pounder didn’t hear his name called at the 2019 NFL Draft, Schoen signed with the Los Angeles Chargers. With it being the first year of the pandemic, the Chargers held their offseason virtually and when Schoen got to camp, he barely had a chance to show what he could do. He sat out the rest of the year but ended up spending some time on the practice squad for the Washington Commanders and his hometown Kansas City Chiefs in 2021.

“I guess the best way to describe it is it’s always been an uphill battle,” said Schoen, one of the standouts from Bombers rookie camp. “It’s never easy coming into a Power Five school, a Big 12 school, as a walk-on. I always tell people that you go to the bottom of the bottom and you got to grind and claw your way up from there. And then to come out in the COVID year, that also wasn’t easy… My whole career has been an uphill battle.”

Schoen, 25, was discovered by assistant Bombers general manager Danny McManus when he was in camp with the Chiefs. He has another uphill battle in front of him as the Bombers don’t have any obvious holes at receiver with proven players in Nic Demski, Rasheed Bailey, Greg Ellingson, Jalen Saunders, and Drew Wolitarsky at the position. Despite that, Schoen is hopeful he’ll be able to catch a break in Winnipeg.

“All these uphill battles are just a better opportunity to keep writing my story. I think I have a pretty interesting story of dealing with the adversity, climbing out of a tough hole to be in and being an underrated guy that kind of always gets written off,” Schoen said.

“… The payoff is going to be just getting to see the end of the story. Ideally that means making this team, making plays, getting to be a professional at the sport I love, being out here with these guys that I’ve gotten to know a little bit but would love to get to know more and then just see where God takes me on the rest of this story.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31