Cobourne Brings Championship Pedigree To TigerTown

Ticats.ca
Justin Dunk

A new season, new city, new colours and new teammates, but there is nothing new about Avon Cobourne’s football mentality. The two-time Grey Cup champion and 2009 Grey Cup MVP plans to bring his winning energy to TigerTown in order to continue his personal streak of CFL championships in 2011.

“I just try to bring my energy, hopefully the guys can catch it and I know they will because we all want to win,” Cobourne said. “This season has started how every other season started where I’ve been: talking about winning. Not talking about trying to win, talking about winning. That attitude is here so I’m just trying to keep it moving.”

Cobourne was impressed by the Ticats up-beat tempo on his first day of training camp with the Black and Gold. The six-year CFL veteran prides himself on being in shape and ready to hit the field each year, but he was surprised and excited about the pace of the Ticats practice sessions.

“I think I’m in pretty good shape, but it’s just the fact that they do things different here. I wasn’t ready for the two huddles,” Cobourne said.

Any time the Ticats offence comes together in practice to run plays there is one huddle receiving the play call breaking and heading to execute the play at the line of scrimmage. Meanwhile, another offensive unit is huddled calling the next play to be run and hustling to the line right after the previous play has ended – all players must be alert and well conditioned in order to run the high-tempo offence the Ticats are installing at training camp.

“We want to play fast and the only way to play fast is to have guys running around in excellent shape and going after the football,” Ticats head coach Marcel Bellefeuille said.

“We’re setting the tone, I love that about this team,” Cobourne said. “We’re not going to sit back, we setting the pace from day one. We’re going to go out and hit [the opposition] in the mouth and we’re going to tire them out and this is what we need to get in that type of shape.”

Coach Bellefeuille is certainly pleased to have a player of Cobourne’s calibre to help improve the play of the entire offence and focus on the details, no matter the size, needed to win.

“He’s a leader and already knows what it takes to win. He keeps people around him accountable and himself accountable,” Bellefeuille said. “He takes care of the little things, that’s something we sorely need on offence and he will be able to provide that for us.”

Number 22’s football skills are well known. He’s an-all around back who approaches football with a swagger and an unwavering passion for the game.

“I love to play this game. My energy is not fake, it’s real,” Cobourne said. “I love getting out here and grinding. I play with everything… all my energy. I play with all my heart.”

Unquestioned effort is one of the many ingredients Cobourne brings to the Ticats, but he and his head coach know how important a productive training camp is in setting the Tiger-Cats up to play at a higher level come the regular season.

“Training camp sets the tone for us to take the next step,” Bellefeuille said.

“For the offence that we’re running, training camp is very crucial,” Cobourne said. “We’re that team that is going to make the opposition do what we want. We are going to apply pressure to who ever we play.”

MULTIMEDIA

TRAINING CAMP NOTES

• Three new players – LB Marty Mohamed, DB Marcus Ezeff and OL Jason Thomas – joined the Black and Gold on the field today.  Veteran defensive end Justin Hickman was placed on the suspended list.
• Hamilton Mayor Bob Bratina was among approximately 200 fans who observed the action at Ron Joyce Stadium.
• Kevin Glenn and Arland Bruce III demonstrated that they haven’t missed a beat, as Glenn found Bruce for a long gain despite double coverage.  Earlier in the day, Bruce drew a reaction from the crowd by making a beautiful catch after losing Jerome Dennis and adjusting to an underthrown ball during one-on-ones. 
• Rookie defensive backs Terrence Lee, Marcell Young and John Destin had good days, proving they are capable of covering the veteran receivers after strong showings in rookie camp.
• While East Division Most Outstanding Rookie Marcus Thigpen likely has the team’s return specialist position locked up, he was joined by RB Terry Grant, WR Arland Bruce III, WR Marquay McDaniel, WR Chris Williams, DB Marcus Ezeff, WR London Crawford, RB Glenn Milner and WR James Swinton in kick return drills at the end of practice. 
• Spectators: LB Ike Brown (knee), DB Derek Douglas (ankle), Matt Kirk (foot) and Bo Smith (leg) did not participate in today’s practices.  Kirk and Smith have been placed on a newly-created list that allows two injured veterans to attend meetings and observe practice.