Q: You won two Grey Cups with the Alouettes. As a free-agent this past off-season, why did you choose Hamilton?
AC: Defence. They’ve got a good defence here and defence wins championships. I could have went to Saskatchewan, but Hamilton’s defence was the reason why.
Q: As a six year veteran, do you find yourself switching up the way you prepare yourself for the season or the way you approach gamedays?
AC: I don’t. I try and keep everything the same because that’s what got me here. I try and stay in that routine.
Q: It has been mentioned countless times in the media about the level of leadership you bring to the locker room. Do you embrace this leadership role?
AC: That’s just me. If you don’t make plays, then you won’t be considered anything, so I just try and come out here and work hard and make plays. And let my play talk from there. Lead by example.
Q: You took your backup running back, Brandon Whitaker, under your wing in Montreal. What’s it like having Terry Grant as your backup in Hamilton?
AC: He’s a blur. And he’s tough. And that’s my one thing. I’ve got to have tough guys around me. Guys that aren’t scared to hit and aren’t scared to be physical. He’s that. He’s just the fastest dude that I think I’ve seen in a long time.
Q: What are you doing during the bye week?
AC: I’m going back to Jersey. I gotta show my baby off. My mom has seen the new baby, but my family really hasn’t seen our new son.
Q: Explain the origin behind your company Chill Son. Where did the name come from?
AC: It was actually someting from college. I used to write ‘Go to the Weight Room’ on my mouth piece. And then ‘Be Easy’ on my mouthpiece. Chill Son is just something that I can relate to, that I always live by. You can’t get too high or you can’t get too low on anything. It was that thing I did in college, but you can’t really do things like that in the pros. With Chill Son selling the mouth piece though, it’s the one thing that isn’t branded these days.
Q: You’re a pretty low key guy when you score a touchdown, you’re not one to celebrate excessivley. Why is that?
AC: I just want to be known for winning you know? I want everyone to be able to get a piece of that ball and a piece of that energy. It was something I learned in Montreal. They’d always say “celebrate with your teammates”. And it’s kind of true, because you need everybody to do their job for you to get that touchdown. So when I score, I give my thanks to God and just celebrate with my teammates, because without them you can’t do anything.
Q: Is talking to players on the other team on the field a strategic part of your game? Or does it just happen naturally as soon as you strap on the pads and step on the gridiron?
AC: It’s a little bit of both. Sometimes you need to get fired up. It’s strategic at times because you can get him off his game if you say the right things. But at other times, it’s more for me to get myself going, if my game is not going how I want it to.
Q: Things between you and Shae Emry got heated during the July 29 game against the Alouettes. Does that change the way you’re going to approach the Labour Day Classique when Montreal comes to town?
AC: Everybody is family there, but during that pre-season game he was talking crazy to me. I know him well and for him to talk to me crazy during the pre-season, that sort of set up the whole vibe I had against him going into that second game. And then for him to do the helmet thing, that just amplifies it. Him and I both know it’s going to be a battle every time. It’s only going to make me step my game up even more when we see them next.
Q: Jason Jimenez gave you the nickname Scrappy-Doo comparing the way you play football to the cartoon character. What are some other nicknames you’ve had along the way?
AC: In Montreal they called me Wombat. I don’t even know what a Wombat is (laughs). Scrappy Doo, Superman, Mighty Mouse. I don’t know man, I prefer to be called Mr. Cobourne and let my play talk for itself.
