Hecht’s wish for more playing time comes true

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This article was published 14/06/2019 (2327 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jeff Hecht is starting his 10th year in the CFL, and he still gets a thrill from being in the middle of the action. Tonight, it will be something extra special when he debuts as an opening-day starter at safety for the first time in his career.

“It’s exciting,” said Hecht, who joined the Winnipeg Blue Bombers as a backup defensive back and special-teamer midway through 2018. “It’s reaffirming that I made the right decision to continue my career. Everybody here wants to be a starter.

“A guy who plays special teams for 10, 12 years and is one of the best special-teams players in the league, still wants more time. He wants to play on defence. That’s why we play the game.”

During training camp, the 33-year-old Hecht beat out Derek Jones for the safety spot, vacated in the off-season via free agency by three-time CFL all-star Taylor Loffler.

Tonight in Vancouver, Hecht will have to match wits with Mike Reilly, one of the league’s elite quarterbacks. Reilly, the league’s most outstanding player in 2017, is well known for pushing the ball downfield, but Hecht doesn’t sound worried.

“It’s more exciting to play against a guy like that, knowing the ball’s going to be in the air,” Hecht said. “That’s what he does. He’s had tons of success throwing the ball deep. That’s where he lives and that’s where I line up, so it’s more opportunity to make significant plays. It’s a higher sense of urgency in preparation but, no, there’s no sense of dread.”

Hecht isn’t completely new to the starter’s role. He shared starting safety duties with the Montreal Alouettes as a rookie in 2011 and has had a handful of starts along the way during stops with the Calgary Stampeders and Saskatchewan Roughriders, while also filling in twice for an ailing Loffler in 2018.

Facing Reilly, who returned to B.C. in the off-season after six years in Edmonton, comes with a difference this time.

“I think there’s a little less traditional game-planning because it’s a new quarterback, new receivers, new co-ordinator to him, although (B.C. offensive co-ordinator) Jarious (Jackson) was the quarterbacks coach when they won (the Grey Cup in 2011),” Hecht said. “So, there’s familiarity there. We went to watch a bunch of B.C. stuff (from) last year when (Travis) Lulay was playing. They’re more similar than (Jonathon) Jennings and Reilly, and we want to watch stuff from when he was in Edmonton, how he reads the defences and how certain looks affect where he wants to throw the ball.

“So, we have a combination of those two. And then, primarily, we want to focus on our stuff. We want to be able to play a sound game, read our keys properly, get our alignments properly and not give him anything free.”

VETERAN SAVVY: third-year man Brandon Alexander, pencilled in as Winnipeg’s field halfback for Week 1, has a comfort level when he surveys the field these days that he didn’t have in previous seasons.

“The game has just slowed down,” Alexander said. “I’m actually able to look and see where people are going offensively. It looks like The Matrix. It looks like slow-motion. I think that comes with time and it comes with getting used to people running at you with the waggle.”

The Blue Bombers are breaking in three new starters in the secondary — Hecht at safety and Winston Rose and Chandler Fenner at the corners — and will depend on Alexander to be a stabilizing force. But even he is feeling some nerves.

“If you’re not nervous, that’s not normal,” Alexander said. “Nervousness is a sense of energy, you know something big is going to happen. It’s the first game, it’s the first part of the season. You wanna see what’s going on. Those are the type of things that are in your head.”

MAKING IT WORK: today will also be a momentous day for three young Canadian Bombers linemen.

Michael Couture, 25, will make his first regular-season start at centre in place of the retired Matthias Goossen, while second-year man Cody Speller and rookie Geoff Gray will line up at left and right guard, respectively.

Goossen, who lives in the Vancouver area, is expected to be in the crowd to watch his former teammates.

“I’ve had two starts before this, but to go through a full training camp and getting all my reps in one spot is a first for me, so I’m fairly confident going into this game that we’ll do well,” said Couture, who hails from suburban Burnaby, B.C.

Couture has an important job as a play-caller for his fellow O-linemen.

“I have to be confident in my calls, and loud,” Couture said, adding the Bombers must be prepared to go with a silent count when necessary. “Especially in an opposing stadium, where we’re not going to have the silence of the crowd when the offence is on the field.”

NOTEWORTHY: Bombers newcomer Lucky Whitehead is scheduled to start at slotback, and second-year man Charles Nelson will return punts and kickoffs in B.C… The Blue Bombers also placed wide receivers Chris Matthews and Rasheed Bailey and offensive lineman Patrick Neufeld on the one-game injured list in preparation for Week 1. Defensive lineman Jonathan Kongbo and defensive back Dexter Janke were placed on the six-game injured list.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14