Justin Dunk
Ticats.ca
In Hamilton’s pass-catching corps, the youth movement has taken full effect.
Three rookie receivers entered training camp in 2011 just looking to earn a spot on the roster. Fast forward five months and the trio of first year pass catchers: Chris Williams, Bakari Grant and Aaron Kelly have become permanent fixtures in the lineup for now and the foreseeable future.
“It’s all about opportunity. Coming into camp looking at our receiving corps we had guys like Maurice Mann and Arland Bruce, some of the great receivers in the league,” Grant said after practice on Tuesday afternoon.
Of course the departures of Bruce and Mann allowed the talented trio to get into the lineup, a chance they all had been looking to get at the pro level.
“All of us went to NFL camps and didn’t really get a chance to play, to show our skills. So we got here and got a chance, and we just want to make the most of it,” Kelly said.
Making the most of their opportunity in Hamilton is certainly what the three rookies have done. Williams has been the headliner, making spectacular catches and beating defences over the top with regularity this season. Meanwhile, Grant and Kelly have steadily come along, with less fanfare, and are showing they too can be counted on to make big receptions for the Ticats offence.
“We love seeing Chris play well and we know it will give us opportunities to make plays,” Kelly said.
“When I see Chris break a big play, I’m running right beside him trying to get the last block so he can get in the end zone,” Grant said. “If Aaron has a great catch I’m going to be the first one there to chest bump him and congratulate him. It’s like a brotherhood.”
All being in their first CFL season, the trio has grown together through the ups and downs of a rookie year.
“Being able to come into a situation where we’re all in a similar boat helps,” Kelly said. “Sometimes talking to a vet he may glaze over different things because he already knows and just expects you to know, but we don’t know anything. We all know that we don’t know it so there is nothing too basic that we can’t go over with each other to learn and get better.”
“We all understand that we have similar situations,” Grant said. “We speak to each other, we make sure we’re talking on the field. I make sure if I see something that Chris or Aaron doesn’t see, I relay it to them or vice versa.”
Off the field, Williams, Grant and Kelly spend a lot of time hanging out together and keep the competitive juices flowing at the bowling alley.
“Between us three I’m the best bowler,” Kelly said.
“Whoa, whoa, pump those breaks real quick,” Grant said of Kelly’s assertion that he was the best bowler of the group.
“The bowling is pretty big, but I’m just going to step in and say the numbers don’t lie, the last time I saw Aaron’s score he was struggling to get to a hundred.”
All joking aside, who would’ve ever thought during training camp in June that three rookies would become mainstays in Hamilton’s receiving corps and grow their bond, inside and outside the lines, as tight as they would grip a football.
