Learning to read the waggle

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This article was published 14/05/2025 (221 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Connor Shay is still learning the things that are common knowledge to Canadian football fans.

The “waggle” is a foreign concept to the Danville, Calif.-born linebacker, and he knows it will take a few practice sessions before he acclimates to the receivers getting a running start to the line of scrimmage. He’s already grasped that there are only three downs instead of the four he’s accustomed to playing, but he’s still trying to catch up to the speed of the pro game.

“It’s gonna take some time, for sure,” Shay said.

Cut the kid some slack — he only arrived on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old had also never been on a Canadian-sized football field until Wednesday’s training camp session with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

“It’s a big field, I noticed when I walked out,” said Shay, who has been north of the border one other time — Vancouver. “It’s massive, but I think that plays to my strengths.”

While Shay catches on to the three-down game, he certainly hasn’t forgotten how to catch.

The Bombers’ first-round pick, sixth overall in this year’s draft, made one of the biggest splashes of the day in his camp debut, intercepting a pass from Chase Artopoeus in the receiver-defensive period.

The 6-2, 232-pound thumper prides himself on a relentless motor that keeps him in position to make a play on every down. He’s equally confident in his hands, which he made known by coining himself a “ball-hawk.”

“Yeah, I was pumped. I kind of didn’t really know what I was doing,” said Shay, who was thrown into the fire. “I just read the quarterback’s eyes and dropped into the zone. Tony (Jones) was helping me out, actually, on where to align, so I kind of just listened to him and, shoot, I was in the right spot.”

The Bombers signed their top draft pick on Tuesday after he stayed south to attend NFL rookie mini-camps with the Green Bay Packers and New York Jets.

Head coach Mike O’Shea was pleased to see Shay start with a big play, which entailed many of the traits he saw on tape before the draft.

“I think he was pretty complete,” O’Shea said. “You check all the boxes off physically, and you watch the game film, and he’s all over the field. To me, he showed high-level IQ, a relentlessness to him — all those things that we like, that every coach likes, really. So, to us, it was pretty obvious.”

Shay didn’t start playing football until his first year of high school. He grew up dreaming of going pro on the baseball diamond, idolizing Derek Jeter before turning to the gridiron. He credits his varsity coach at Monte Vista High School, Matt Russi, for recognizing his talent.

“I had no idea what I was doing,” Shay said about his first experience in football. “We called it fifth quarter. It was the quarter after the game, and that’s what I played. My varsity coach in high school noticed me in fifth quarter, and he pulled me up to varsity as a sophomore. And he saw that I could run and I was strong, and it took off from there.”

He committed to the University of Wyoming, where he played mostly special teams his first three seasons while waiting for his turn to start. Most of his college career was spent behind eventual NFL draft pick Chad Muma and two-time first-team All-Mountain West Conference linebacker Easton Gibbs.

Last season, in his lone campaign as the Cowboys’ full-time starting weak-side linebacker, Shay recorded 76 total tackles — 45 solo and 31 assisted — eight tackles for a loss, three passes defended, two quarterback hits, 1.5 sacks and one interception, despite playing six games with a torn labrum.

The shoulder injury, he said, is well behind him now, but it could be a reason why he fell to the Bombers in the draft after pundits projected him to be the No. 1 overall pick.

In any case, the Bombers may have landed a player at a significant value. Also working in Shay’s favour is being a national player, owing to his father, Chuck, who was born in Charlottetown, P.E.I., and moved to the United States when he was one.

The team has already embraced Shay, but there’s no denying the future of the linebacker room is murkier than it was before. There are 12 players in contention for a roster spot currently, and the only ones who appear to have a strong grip on a seat are Jones and Kyrie Wilson — who are expected to start.

“It’s fun,” said second-year pro Michael Ayers, who is in the thick of the camp battle. “When you have a great group, you elevate the team. The linebackers are a core piece of the group, and when you have a lot of guys that could play ball and do it at a high level, it just makes it that much better.”

Ayers knows what it takes to make a roster. He did it out of last year’s camp, then went on to dress for all 19 games, including the West Division Final and Grey Cup. He shared the secret sauce to what makes a linebacker standout in camp, which happens to be more than who can hit the hardest.

“Being in the right spot at the right time. Being where you’re supposed to be, because it takes all 12 to be on the same page,” Ayers said.

“When you try to do more, you try to go above and beyond… that’s when you give up plays, because you’re trying to do more than what you’re asked to do. Just focus on what you’re asked to do, and the plays will come.”

Words that served the rookie well in his first camp session.

Shay, who watched a few game clips of the three-down game upon being drafted, has a host of veterans who can show him the Canadian way this spring. He can also turn to his head coach, who knows a thing or two about playing linebacker in the league.

“Put your hands behind your head and breathe,” O’Shea quipped. “The amount of running you’ve got to do, don’t bend over, it’s not going to do good.

“He’ll get used to it.”

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jfreysam