By: Justin Boone
When the Grey Cup Festival shutdown, the awards were all given out, the Pro Player Parties stopped serving, and the bands at the team-run celebrations left the stage, Prechae Rodriguez knew his rookie season was officially over.
Leaving the warm state of Florida behind, the East Rookie of the Year and his younger brother Marcelino, braved the frosty late November weather in Montreal for a chance to experience the CFL’s championship week.
Sure the visit to Quebec would have been much more enjoyable if Prechae’s 70 catches for 1,099 yards and seven touchdowns had helped lead the Tiger-Cats to the Grey Cup game, but as it stood the two brothers were making the most of their time in La Belle Province.
I was out with both of them for dinner on Friday night at The Keg, or in this case, Le Keg. Sitting at a table in a darkened corner of the bar area, we were in the shadows. Not that anyone would recognize Prechae even under the afternoon sun. Not yet anyway. That was one of the most important reasons for his first trip to Grey Cup and I’m not sure if he realized it initially. Networking.
As a standout player and a Rookie of the Year, you would assume everyone would know him, but on those highlights shown at the party his face is hidden under a helmet. Grey Cup week gave him a chance to step out from under his Black and Gold gear and let people get to meet Prechae, the 23-year-old native of Tampa, Florida.
Over the course of the year, I’ve had a chance to get to know Prechae pretty well, so I knew he would get the humour in me asking when we should expect to see that inflated sense of self-importance begin to emerge in him. I mean after all he is a receiver. Sure this year he put in his time and was content to learn and develop his skills, but with a 1,000-yard season under his pads, it’s only a matter of time before he begins demanding the ball, like we’ve seen from other wideouts over the years.
“It could be any day now,” he joked, sporting a big grin.
He has the nickname already. He has a couple actually. Big Play Prechae and P-Rod have been the most used by Hamilton fans as they cheer him on as he out-leaps defenders, or sprints past the secondary. In a year where the CFL had plenty of miraculous grabs, Prechae’s season became one long highlight reel of spectacular catches. Never was that more evident than at the Maxim Party on Friday night, when the young receiver was rubbing elbows with party’s impressive guest list of CFL stars, TSN Personalities, Maxim Girls, some very lucky fans and one staff writer.
As Prechae and his brother occupied the edge of the dance floor, the projections screens in each room showed some of the best plays from the year of Canadian Football, including number 85 hauling in passes and breaking downfield towards the endzone. It was a surreal moment for the brother’s Rodriguez, standing in the middle of one of the most select parties of the week, watching big bro celebrate one of his scores by doing a dance their group of friends shared back home. He had arrived.
He executed flawlessly in his first Grey Cup week. The only thing that would have it better was if he was actually playing on Sunday afternoon.
