Bestard’s stock on rise, better snap some up

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/06/2010 (5645 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ten days ago, shares in Adam Bestard were selling low on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers stock exchange.

"Paddling along the O-line" as he puts it, the 23-year-old out of Wilfrid Laurier wasn’t sure where his value was with the club. Even with the long-term injury to left tackle Glenn January, the depth chart remains deep and with a number of veterans still in the hunt for jobs — both as starters and back-ups — there was some personal doubt that he would fit in.

Then the Bombers played in Hamilton on Sunday, and everything changed.

"I feel as though my stock has risen in the past week," Bestard said following a gym workout Tuesday. "You’re eager to find out what the decisions are, but I felt on Sunday that I could show them I could play. Hopefully it made the decision on me a little easier for them.

"It’s a tense time for everyone these days."

Last week, the Bomber coaches asked Bestard, a fourth-round pick in the 2009 Canadian college draft, to take a few reps at long snapper, just as insurance, should veteran Chris Cvetkovic go down with an injury in the club’s final pre-season game. Sure enough, Cvetkovic left the 38-20 loss to the Ticats with a knee injury, pressing the 6-foot-4, 293-pound Sarnia, Ont. product into service in the middle of the line during kicking and punting situations.

"I was always told going through football that if I could keep long-snapping, I would get a chance to play," said Bestard, who was the long-snapper for four years in the CIS.

The lineman feels he’s made his case to make the Bombers.

"There are always the questions of ratio and how many players they’re going to keep on the offensive line and all that, but the coach has told us: Once you get that opportunity you have to take advantage of it," he said.

Head coach Paul LaPolice addressed the players Monday and singled out Bestard’s performance as an example of how to rise to the occasion when facing adversity.

With Cvetkovic’s status still a mystery, Bestard’s long-snapping talent is just another bullet point on his resume the Bombers have to consider when they trim down to the CFL-mandated 46-man roster Thursday. The club doesn’t have a true back-up long snapper to turn to and when you factor in Bestard’s ability to serve as a non-import back-up along an offensive line which needs to develop some young pieces (Bestard is most comfortable at centre and guard), keeping him around seems automatic at this stage.

Better to have a back-up who can do more than one thing, right?

"The more you can do, the better off you are," LaPolice said of Bestard’s rising stock. "I thought he had a better camp as an offensive lineman — he got better this year — but his long-snapping ability is what should keep him around if Chris’s injury is significant. We need somebody that snaps the ball back consistently."

adam.wazny@freepress.mb.ca