Rookies ‘on job interview all year’

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/06/2009 (5942 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Yo, rookie. Nice job. You’ve survived two-a-days and two sets of cuts and got the news this week that you’re on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ 46-man roster. Way to go. But we’ve got news for you. Your life as a pro football player has only just begun and like the young chicklet just released from the egg, you’re still very vulnerable.

Any number of vermin, from disease to barn-yard weasel, could come and eliminate you at any time.

Making the team is one thing but now the hard part starts. A player without a long resumé to back him up is thrown into a series of week-to-week interviews and a wrong answer can bring a pink slip.

“Excuse me, rookie No. 5, that blown coverage in the second quarter last night, well, that’s gonna cost you. Cost you, as in your job. Hand in your playbook and here’s your bus ticket. Good luck with your future endeavours.”

Veterans who have been through the wars will get the benefit of the doubt from a coach for a while but for rookies the leash is much shorter.

The Blue Bombers kept seven newcomers on the active roster to begin the season and those players will be under pressure to have both an impact and play mistake-free football as the season begins. Take a look around the releases sent out on Thursday and there are lots of football players looking for work right now.

So a slip-up now, on the field or off the field, is dangerous territory.

“I’m just having fun with it and learning everything I possibly can and trying to get a chance to play,” said rookie linebacker Jonathan Hefney, a four-year starter at Tennessee who bounced around NFL practice rosters last season. “I was relieved and excited at the same time when I got the news (Thursday). I didn’t want to call my mom. I wanted to make sure. I didn’t call her until it was 9 p.m. at home in South Carolina. She just said, ‘Now you know what you need to do. Just go out there and play.’ I’m just happy to be a Blue Bomber. Now we have to play. If you don’t play well they release you. You’re on a job interview all year.”

Hefney played safety and corner in college but was asked to switch to linebacker prior to training camp. He’s 5-foot-9 and 190 pounds and will rely on his speed and ball instincts to compete. Hefney is high-energy and plays sideline to sideline. Versatility is one of his chief attributes and there’s talk in Bomberland that he’ll take some reps in the defensive backfield in next week’s opener in Edmonton against the Eskimos.

Running back Lavarus Giles made a big splash in the pre-season and would like to roll that into the real games.

“It’s a business. Everybody knows that. Just because you made the team doesn’t mean you can get laid-back,” said Giles, who had three TDs and a 9.5-yard-per-rush average in two pre-season games. “Now it’s time to play football and do what the coaches want. Pre-season went well but now you have to keep making things happen to stay on the team.”

Rookies get lots of their playing time on special teams and Hefney can do a little bit of everything in that capacity from getting downfield and making tackles to returning kicks.

“I always keep my eyes open and my mouth shut. I’ll try to learn from the older guys and suck up as much knowledge as I can and then take it out on the field,” said Hefney, 24. “Special teams is key. It makes the whole job easier if you’re making plays on special teams. It also shows the coaches you’re willing to do anything and I always want to do that. I’ll play any position that put me in.”

It’s also the best way to the NFL for most players in Canada. Put together a strong special-teams tape and an NFL scout can easily vouch for a player looking for a tryout.

Hefney understands that getting in trouble off the field is perhaps worse than making a mistake on the field.

“I got all that stuff out of the way in college and high school. I just come to practice, do my work, take home studies and then play some video games,” said Hefney.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca