Learn now, be mean later

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/05/2015 (3777 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The way some folks talk about his mean streak, you’d think Sukh Chung would be going all MasterChef — have you ever seen Gordon Ramsay smile over soggy fish? — just two days into the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ rookie camp.

It’s just not going to work that way this early in Chung’s career.

In fact, it’s the furthest thing from the 2015 second-overall draft pick’s mind.

“Right now, I’m just learning a lot,” the 23-year-old B.C. product said after more than three hours on a rain-soaked practice field Thursday. “It’ll come out eventually. There’s a lot to learn and when I get comfortable, I’ll start playing the way I have.”

The Bombers are more than enamoured with Chung’s ability to snarl in action, and to back up the bark with some bite in his game.

Regarding the rookie offensive guard, Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea seemed to have a glint in his eye when asked about the 6-4, 303-pound lineman.

“What you find out is they can take a lot more reps,” O’Shea said, starting out generally about highly touted youngsters.

“They’re getting their action, which is good and you find out if they’re in shape. Once again, when we drafted these guys, you have a fairly good idea of what they’re going to be.

“Sukh hasn’t disappointed. He’s tough. He battles in there. One-on- ones, he’s going to battle and he’s not happy if he doesn’t do well on one; he comes right back up the next time.

“He wants to scrap it out. It’s what we expected of him.”

“But what about that nastiness?” O’Shea was asked.

‘Sukh hasn’t disappointed. He’s tough. He battles in there. One-on-ones, he’s going to battle and he’s not happy if he doesn’t do well on one; he comes right back up the next time. He wants to scrap it out’

— head coach Mike O’Shea

“Another way to describe it is finish,” the coach said. “He, like at the combine, he wasn’t just happy blocking the guy, he wanted to bury them. So it’s a little different here. He’s going to go against 6-5, 295-pound (players) and they’re a little harder to finish on. But it’s not preventing him from trying.”

Combines, draft and training are all done and Chung said now it’s time to start learning to be a pro.

“This is tough but it’s good,” he said after Day 2 of rookie camp. “A tough learning curve for sure. I haven’t put pads on for a while and that’s probably going to show on film. But I’m excited to learn from this. It’s the only way I’m going to learn, really.”

What’s he picked up so far?

“Maybe not that I didn’t know it but it’s more reinforced — that the little things matter so much. No matter what level you’re playing at, it’s always the little details. You can never forget those no matter what level you’re playing at. They’ll take you everywhere.”

One little thing Chung said he’s already starting to appreciate this week is staying in one place.

He’s been a man on the move since his Calgary Dinos’ season ended last fall, and it’s been at times a roller-coaster of emotions and energy.

“I’ve been travelling all over, and a lot, to the combine in Toronto, a combine in Arizona and a combine in Chicago,” he said. “Then the mini-camp in New York. I’ve been around and I’m still going.

“Now I’m in Winnipeg and it looks like it’ll be a little more settled down here, and I just get to play football again. That was a hectic time from January to May.

“I learned to deal with it. I hadn’t really done all that before. You just learn to take it day by day.”

While Chung builds his bid to become a force on the offensive line, he’s focused on the small steps and that one-day-at-a-time mentality, he said.

“I definitely want to show my knowledge of the game and show that I can pick up a playbook in three days and hang with the guys who have already been here for awhile,” he said. “You have to take the little things the coaches are telling you and keep sharpening up the details.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca