Couture wants to hog a little bit of limelight

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This article was published 10/06/2016 (3403 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If his name is called, Michael Couture says he’ll be ready.

“It’s an opportunity to step up,” said the Winnipeg Blue Bombers rookie offensive lineman.

It’s not ideal, by any means. Head coach Mike O’Shea said earlier in camp he was happy to have a deep stable of hogs, depth that would allow for newcomers such as Couture and fellow 2016 draftee Zachary Intzandt to develop at a slower place.

But football cares little about draft and develop strategies, and with a knee injury to veteran offensive lineman Jeff Keeping sidelining him for up to eight weeks (six to seven regular-season games), Couture is another injury away from adopting the thrown-to-the- wolves method of learning.

“My goal right now is to be the sixth man,” he said. “I want to get on the field. I got to be prepared for that. I take the challenge head on, so I’m excited for it.”

Couture saw playing time in Wednesday’s game, largely at centre, a position he hasn’t played since his days at Simon Fraser University. He readily admits he got “whiffed on” during his first professional snap, and the size and speed of the guys around him caught him off guard, initially. But 35 minutes later Couture had his first notch of CFL action affixed to his belt.

“The competition is wicked so it’s only going to have my talent level go up,” he said.

O’Shea said Couture got a lot of meaningful reps Wednesday and that the team is hog-tied, pardon the pun, at the moment when it comes to signing another guy with camps going on across the league.

Is O’Shea comfortable heading into Week 1 with Couture at the No. 6 spot?

“We’ll see how he plays this week.”

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Given a chance to watch the film and digest everything that went on in Wednesday’s win over the Montreal Alouettes, O’Shea liked what he saw, generally speaking.

“I thought guys played with some good speed,” he said. “We talked about being a physical team and I thought they played with some physicality.”

O’Shea said prior to the game winning helps when it comes to correcting errors, and there were some to fix.

“Everybody’s been looked at and corrections have been made and we’ll see if they can apply the corrections,” he said. “It looked like we had a bunch of guys out there that wanted to be out playing football.”

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It wouldn’t be training camp without a barrage of injuries.

Wednesday’s game took a toll on several hopefuls, including receiver Addison Richards, who likely won’t be available to start the season due to a hand injury.

Linebacker Kyle Knox will miss six weeks due to a leg injury. Knox’s right leg was in a full brace on Friday. Defensive lineman Adrian Hubbard, who played well on Wednesday trying to lock down a starting gig, will miss Monday’s game against the Ottawa Redblacks, as will receiver Weston Dressler, who’s out with an undisclosed ailment. O’Shea said Dressler’s injury is not long-term. Linebacker Sam Hurl began practice Friday but pulled up lame early and descended into the locker room. His day was over. He didn’t play in Wednesday’s game and his availability for Monday is up in the air.

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @scottbilleck

Scott Billeck
Reporter

Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade’s worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024.  Read more about Scott.

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