Large men with larger personalities

In the early days of the 2024 regular season, Chris Kolankowski was up to his old tricks.

Blue Bombers players are given crop tops to wear around the facility, and the team’s centre, known to be one of the pranksters of the locker room, decided to target quarterback Chris Streveler for an early-season gag.

Once a week, Kolankowski would trim a small piece of fabric off the bottom of the shirt. Slowly but surely, the crop top, which started at Streveler’s stomach, ended up only covering his chest by Week 4.

“He was like, ‘Man, this must be shrinking in the dryer and it was just me. Every week, I just stayed a little later and I’d cut an inch all the way around,” Kolankowski said through a few laughs.

“I do a lot of bits, so I have a lot of jokes I go with and keep them going. I like a good call back.”

It’s a great example of how the offensive-line room might be home to the most wide-ranging and interesting characters on a football team. These hefty fellas’ personalities can be as big as their appetite.

Offensive line coach Marty Costello agreed, having dealt with hundreds of characters over his decade-long tenure with the club.

“I think that’s a safe comment,” said Costello.

“I think part of it is you just got a large group of people, too. They’re large men, but numbers-wise, they’re obviously a pretty big group. The more people you have, the more personalities you’re going to have. Big guys, some of them tend to be jovial, some tend to be crabby, some tend to be a little bit different. I guess I’m just gonna say it like that.”

Kolankowski, left tackle Stanley Bryant, left guard Gabe Wallace, right guard Paddy Neufeld, right tackle Kendall Randolph and sixth-man Tui Eli are no different. They are road graders in the run game and protect the most valuable asset of the team (Zach Collaros) every week, but their differing personalities bind them throughout a season..

“Goofy. All offensive linemen are goofy,” said Bryant. “They might take it a little far sometimes, but all offensive linemen are goofy and very playful, in a sense. But when it’s time to work, work. But outside of that, just a lot of playful things going on, a lot of jokes.

“I’m pretty sure all offensive linemen are like that, especially as a group.”

With that in mind, the Free Press sat down with each lineman to find out which traits define the men who make up the Bombers’ offensive line.

Sixth offensive lineman, Tui Eli

“Positive spirit”

Eli wants to write a children’s book one day.

The loose idea is about five soldiers who protect an island from a sea monster — who could be named Willie Jefferson — and each of the main characters carries a defining trait based on his teammates.

“Chris, I would call him the stronghold because he’s highly defended,” Eli said. “Paddy, he’s the professional, and Stan, he’s the expert. And you got Gabe, he’s the behemoth or the juggernaut. And Kendall, he’s a switch guy. He flips the switch, and it’s like, ‘Are you still Kendall?’”

With a child due this winter and a background in human development and family studies, Eli, who likes working with kids, thinks it could be his off-season project.

It’s yet another example of how the 29-year-old attacks each day — with an enthusiasm and an energy that lifts whatever room he’s in.

“He’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met,” said Wallace. “You can ask him anything and he’ll do his best to accommodate.”

Wallace, who was born in Salmon Arm, B.C., grew up in New Zealand, where Eli has family. That bond connected the two immediately upon meeting each other last year. Eli took it upon himself to help Wallace with everything that entailed moving to a new city and beginning a professional career.

“He was a huge help. He helped me kind of figure out my way around from apartment stuff to getting here, and how the process is,” Wallace said. “Great football player, better guy.”

Left guard, Gabe Wallace

“Wild card”

The youngest member of the Bombers’ offensive line, Wallace is also the character of the group. The 25-year-old recognizes the stress of the job, so he’s quick to bring some levity to a situation with a joke, a smile or a grin.

However, at 6-6, 340 pounds, Wallace has also been known to have a nasty streak in between whistles.

“He’s low-key funny. He’s a sleeper funny guy. He catches you off-guard,” said Bryant. “That’s Gabe, he’s learning and learning, but I’d go with sneaky. Not sneaky in a bad way, he’s just a sneaky personality.”

Right tackle, Kendall Randolph

“Quiet worker”

If there’s one player along the Bombers’ offensive line who has an alter ego, it’s Randolph, who on game days is known as ‘Dolph.

The 26-year-old sees football as a business, and he treats it as such. He is the least experienced of the Bombers starting five, but he works hard to make up for it.

Randolph is quiet and diligent in the meeting room, and while he knows how to have fun in the locker room, in between the white lines…

“He’s a dog on the field. He played in the SEC (NCAA Southeastern Conference), and that shows. As a teammate, he’s still young, but he’s very eager to learn,” said Kolankowski. “On the field, just sick him on somebody and he’ll kill them. That SEC comes out sometimes, he gets fired up.”

Centre, Chris Kolankowski

“Intelligent and fiery”

Every morning when Costello arrives at work, he asks if anybody has put a quarter in Kolankowski.

That’s because the centre can get fired up about any topic. While others bring a calming energy to the group, the 33-year-old is the rah-rah guy whose attitude can be a jolt to his teammates.

“He brings a lot of energy, but he’s also the guy that does a lot for the group,” Costello said. “He’s the one that I probably spend the most amount of time with.”

Kolankowski quickly proved he’s as fiery as he is cerebral. He is the central nervous system of the offensive line, who is expected — and usually does — have the answers to the test each week.

“He’s a thinker,” said Eli. “If you put any defensive front in front of you, and he’ll have a bunch of answers for it of how you could block it, and then he’ll tell you, ‘So how do you guys want to block it?’ But he has the answers all in his head.

“That’s why, when I think of him, the first word I think of is stronghold, because he’s highly defended. He’s an offensive lineman, but his defences are all up.”

Right guard Paddy Neufeld

“Effort and physicality”

Neufeld has been around football almost as long as anyone on the Bombers — or the CFL for that matter — and that has lent to a player who delivers an exceptional blend of effort, speed and physicality on each down.

As Costello noted, the seasoned vet remains the fire starter for the Bombers’ offensive line at 36 years old. Whether it’s chasing the ball, pushing the pile or understanding what the defence is trying to do, Neufeld is a leader who everyone follows.

“He sets the tone for the guys,” said Randolph.

“He comes out every day, he’s driving his guys off the line of scrimmage. He wants to get around the pile and push the pile. So seeing that type of energy is definitely something that uplifts the guys around him, and I feel like we all gravitate towards that and want to match that.”

Left tackle Stanley Bryant

“Laid-back veteran”

After every home game, players will stick around the locker room to indulge in a hard-earned cold beer.

Bryant tends to sit in his stall, next to the other offensive linemen, watching over the room while others mingle. At some point in the night, someone from every position group will wander over for an exchange and a few laughs. It’s not just teammates. Equipment room staff, members of the media, you name it — everyone wants some time with the man known affectionately as “Uncle Stan.”

“He’s like a gravitational pull,” said Neufeld. “Everyone wants to be around him. He can relate to everyone in the locker room, and he’s like the strong silent type, but he also has that side where everyone just wants to be around him.”

“I think it speaks a lot to who he is as a person.”

Some people tell Bryant he doesn’t talk enough, but that’s who he’s always been. In Year 15, he still never takes himself too seriously and is always the first to laugh when he screws up. However, no one will ever take the future Hall-of-Famer’s laid-back demeanour as a weakness.

“For me, I just sit back and observe things — listen. I try to say things when they need to be said, if I need to speak my mind, to a certain extent,” he said. “Other than that, I’m just vibing.”

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

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