Strong competition to replace Hardrick on Bombers’ O-line

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This article was published 10/05/2024 (487 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

How are the Winnipeg Blue Bombers going to replace Jermarcus Hardrick?

“Carefully,” responded head coach Mike O’Shea after the third and final day of rookie camp.

“I think you try to find as many opportunities for guys to show what they can do so you make a good decision. It’s very difficult, obviously. He was a very good player for us for a long time.”

Hardrick, a finalist last season for the CFL’s Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman award, was a mainstay at right tackle for seven seasons before signing a lucrative deal with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in free agency. The club spent three years developing Drew Richmond, an intriguing tackle prospect from USC, but he unexpectedly retired in the winter to leave the Bombers without an heir to the throne.

While it’s too early to declare who the favourite is for the job opening, the Bombers do have a few contenders with strong resumes to consider.

The most familiar option is 31-year-old journeyman Eric Lofton, a backup in Winnipeg in 2022 who went on to start 14 games in Saskatchewan last season on a lacklustre O-line.

Then there’s the three players who attended rookie camp who might offer a higher upside: Chidi Okeke, Larnel Coleman and Chris Ivy.

Okeke, 27, grew up in Nigeria and earned a basketball scholarship to a high school in Florida. He decided to take a different path after arriving in the United States in Grade 11.

“I never touched a basketball when I set foot in America. I saw football and I had seen it on TV and in movies so I went, ‘You know what, let me put my talents over there, forget about basketball’. So, ever since then until now, I’ve been playing,” said Okeke.

The gridiron game has taken him all over the place as the LSU/Tennessee State product has been under contract with four NFL teams: Washington, Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was also the first offensive tackle selected in the 2022 USFL Draft and the second overall pick in the 2023 XFL supplemental draft. The 6-6, 315-pounder has signed with eight different clubs but he’s hoping his ninth — Winnipeg — will be a long-term fit. Prior to coming up north, it was made clear to him that there’s a glaring hole at right tackle.

“I feel blessed for somebody to bring me in to compete. I take my job seriously, I didn’t leave my country and my family to come here and relax,” said Okeke, who now resides in California.

“It means a lot to me to be a part of the Winnipeg family, for real.”

Coleman, a 6-6, 310-pound blocker out of the University of Massachusetts, has also bounced around since the Dolphins used a seventh-round selection on him in 2021. He spent his rookie campaign on injured reserve but did suit up for Miami in one game the following year. From there, he had a stint with the Carolina Panthers before getting picked eighth overall by the Birmingham Stallions in the 2024 UFL dispersal draft. Birmingham cut him two months later, and then the Blue and Gold swooped in with an offer to continue his career. After doing his homework on the team and watching videos online, the 25-year-old was all-in.

“The competition out here is really good. And honestly, just seeing the culture and the fans is probably one of the biggest things (that interested me in coming),” said Coleman, 25, who had never left the U.S. prior to this week.

“I really noticed the environment and I was like ‘Yo, there’s some real loyal fans over there.’ Especially coming from a smaller school, we didn’t have all that, so seeing that culture, it was like whoa, I like it over here. They got it going.”

Ivy had a better idea of what he was getting himself into this week as he was with the Bombers last season from May to August on the practice squad. The 26-year-old from the University of Tulsa is the smallest of the bunch at 6-2, 286-pounds and has experience playing in the Indoor Football League.

When the Bombers let him go, he returned home to Oklahoma to teach high school math. He’s in no hurry to return to the classroom.

“There’s kind of an unwritten rule with offensive lineman. We’re all part of the same family and we all kind of just get each other. There’s never any animosity or hating going on, we’re all trying to eat,” said Ivy.

“With this being my second year, guys been asking me a lot of questions and I’m going to answer them the best I can. There’s no sense in holding back information just because I want that advantage. If the job is going to be for me, it’s going to be because the work that I put in.”

Veterans report to training camp on Sunday.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

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