Bert Faibish
Ticats.ca
In a move that many may have been overlooked this off-season by people around the league, the Tiger-Cats acquired defensive back Jerome Dennis from the B.C. Lions.
However, Jerome has quickly entrenched himself as starter in the team’s secondary.
Dennis, a backup defensive back with the Lions, has made an immediate impact in TigerTown, earning himself a starting position and developing into a fearsome presence at the strong side halfback position.
This weekend he will take the field against a very familiar foe.
“I’m a little more familiar with Calgary than some of the Eastern teams so it’s helped me a lot in my preparation,” said Dennis.
“Looking at tape today, I’m seeing things that I recognize, I know which players are more physical and which players are more likely to try and use their speed,” he added.
Now that Dennis has solidified a starting position, his preparation has gotten quite a bit simpler.
“When I was in B.C. I had to prepare to backup three or four different positions but now I can really just focus on my assignments,” said Dennis.
In fact the only player Dennis now has to worry about is himself.
“With our veteran ‘D’ I don’t have to correct anyone, I’ll focus on doing my job and I know that they’ll do theirs,” he said.
Dennis is confident that his new teammates in Hamilton can match up well with what Calgary tries to do on offence.
“The thing about the Calgary offence is that they really like to try and confuse the defence and with our scheme, there isn’t a lot of hesitation or having a million checks to make,” he said.
Dennis believes that he will have to at least duplicate his performance from last week to match Calgary’s aggressive style of play.
“I was physical last week and I definitely need to bring that same physicality to this game because their receivers are very physical,” said Dennis. “Their mentality is to get in the DB’s head and try to out-physical them and try to have their way with them.”
If Dennis has anything to say about that, that isn’t the way it’s going to go down.
“I’m not that type of person so right out of the gate I’ll show them that you’re not going to come out and be more physical than our defensive backs,” he said.
“We won’t be intimidated.”
