Intense Canuck turns heads

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/06/2015 (3993 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sam Hurl must be having a pretty good camp because head coach Mike O’Shea is even willing to break his own media rules when it comes to discussing the middle linebacker.

O’Shea was asked who currently sits atop the depth chart at middle linebacker. The second-year boss’s first instinct was to brush the question off.

The real depth chart, the one on the whiteboard in the coach’s office, it’s for the eyes of club personnel only and heaven help the interloper trying to get a peek.

“You’re asking that question, eh,” mused O’Shea, no doubt considering which of my bones to snap. A quick pause, however, saw O’Shea change direction from secretive head coach to president of the Sam Hurl fan club.

In fact, O’Shea’s answer to a question about a position with several candidates still in the mix, focused on just one player. No one else was mentioned.

Hurl is not only atop the depth chart, it’s becoming more apparent the job is now his to lose.

“I’m very high on Sam Hurl right now. There were things I saw on film that I expected when he got here that I would look at and go, ‘OK, we need to work on this and that.’ But he’s surpassed my expectations,” said O’Shea. “And the intangibles are what stands out. He absolutely runs around the field. The whole practice, he’s running by guys. He keeps that intensity up.”

So, a Canadian at middle linebacker for the Bombers? It’s normally a position for imports, and it is unequivocally key to the success of a defence. When Canadians such as Henoc Muamba prove good enough to start in the middle, they’re often snatched up by the NFL.

If any coach in the CFL is willing to set aside anti-Canadian sentiments, it’s going to be O’Shea. The North Bay native and University of Guelph product started at middle linebacker throughout his storied CFL career. A birth certificate isn’t a pertinent document for O’Shea.

Hurl, for his part, also says it’s irrelevant.

“I try not to think about it. And me, personally, I don’t really like this whole Canadian/American thing that’s going on in this league. I feel like, if a Canadian is good enough to play, it shouldn’t be considered. It should just be who’s a better player, who can step up, who can make it happen in the position,” said Hurl. “That’s a reason for me coming here. I knew there’s a lot of Canadians who played in this league that are behind this organization, and that’s a big thing for me. This is the CFL, the Canadian Football League, and finally we have a team out here that’s got a Canadian coach, a Canadian GM. It’s exciting. As a Canadian kid, it’s great to see and fun to be a part of.”

There is a bit of a Canadian revival going on with the Bombers. CEO Wade Miller, GM Kyle Walters, O’Shea, offensive co-ordinator Marcel Bellefeuille, offensive line assistant Paul Charbonneau, receivers coach Markus Howell, linebackers coach Greg Knox and special-teams co-ordinator Pat Tracey are all nationals. Born and bred in the Great White North.

The Bombers even have a Canadian trying out at quarterback in U of M product Jordan Yantz.

The Bombers needed to improve their Canadian content on the field and signed Hurl as a free agent in the off-season. He played under defensive co-ordinator Richie Hall when the two were with the Saskatchewan Roughriders last season.

The word on Hurl coming from Regina to Winnipeg was he had all the parts but he was inconsistent as a player and difficult to trust as an every-down man in the middle. Hurl says experience and opportunity have sanded off those rough edges.

O’Shea says Hurl has the athletic requirements plus the needed instinct to start at middle linebacker.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Paul Samyn | Editor's Note

Wednesdays

A weekly dispatch from the head of the Free Press newsroom.

Sign up for Paul Samyn | Editor's Note

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

“Greg Knox talked about ‘instinctive pursuit,’ and I hadn’t heard it described like that. But that’s the ability of a player to turn and run without processing the information first. You see a lot of players, the ball gets passed, or a play happens, and they will stop and think after the initial burst, assess, and then sprint,” explained O’Shea. “Whereas Sam Hurl, it seems to me, like he’s an instinctive sprinter. He goes 100 miles an hour, and then he turns and goes 100 miles an hour, so he doesn’t ever have to stop to assess what’s going on.”

The Bombers were sorely lacking at middle linebacker last season, and it showed as Winnipeg had arguably the worst defence in the league. The Bombers need an answer in the middle.

American? Great. Canadian? With the roster rules and the potential of having a domestic at a high position, even better.

Hurl is right, however, in saying place of birth doesn’t matter. In the end, it’s all about whether a player can play. Hurl is going to get his chance. Let’s see what he does with it.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @garylawless