Poblah’s week a whirlwind

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This article was published 05/06/2011 (5548 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It is not surprising that Kito Poblah’s head is spinning after a week that can only be described as a whirlwind.

“Actually, this morning, I forgot where I was to tell you the truth,” the star wideout at Central Michigan, who was selected by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers this week in the CFL supplemental draft, said Saturday.

Poblah described a week in which he was in Montreal last Sunday — where he was born and home-schooled before moving to the U.S. — and then in Mount Pleasant, Mich., on Monday, signing up for some online classes at Central Michigan, when he got word he’d been picked by Winnipeg.

Negotiations between his agent and the Bombers ensued through the start of rookie camp on Wednesday, until he got the news Thursday night that a deal had been done.

But instead of flying to Winnipeg, Poblah drove.

“It was a 16-hour road trip, listening to my music, and I got here (Friday) night… It was quite a drive, no stopping.”

Poblah is an anomaly — a non-import who hasn’t actually ever seen a CFL game live and by his own admission knows very little about the Canadian game, having lived much of his life in the U.S. “I’ve watched a couple of Grey Cups (on TV), but that’s about as much CFL as I’ve seen.”

He won’t completely be in unfamiliar surroundings, however — his cousin, and former teammate, is Carl Volny, who is also in camp with the Bombers. “That’s exciting — we’ve been playing sports together since we were little kids. To go from high school, to college to now — it’s a tremendous feeling.”

While the Bombers are heavily invested — they surrendered a first-rounder in next year’s CFL draft to select him — Poblah will still have to make the team. And that will be a formidable task on a club that has an eye-popping eight non-imports on the training camp depth chart at receiver, including another first-rounder in Jade Etienne.

“I’m here to compete,” said Poblah. “I’m just going to do my thing… may the best man win.”

Poblah said he’s comfortable playing at any of the receiver positions. “Just throw me on the field, throw me the ball… as long as it’s receiver, I feel like I can play inside or outside.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca