Johany Jutras/CFL.ca
Teammates for two years in Winnipeg and in Edmonton for the last five years, Adarius Bowman and Odell Willis will be separated by two provinces when training camps open in May.
Bowman, 32, and Willis, 33, who won a Grey Cup together in 2015, will report to their new teams in Winnipeg and BC, respectively. With all due respect to Brad Sinopoli and Greg Ellingson, the strongest bromance in the league has become a long-distance relationship.
“He’s a brother to me. Odell will be in my life forever and I’ll be in his life,” Bowman said on Friday at Mark’s CFL Week.
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Adarius Bowman changes from green and gold to blue and gold in 2018 (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)
Bowman and Willis were roommates in Edmonton until Bowman was married last year. They roomed together on the road the entire five years they were together in Edmonton.
If you’ve seen Willis in media scrums or heard him wearing a mic in games, you know he’s a high energy person. There isn’t much he won’t say or do when he’s on the field.
“He is a character, everybody knows that,” Bowman said. “He’s a good person. You probably figured that out after a while. He’s weird and strange and crazy, he’s some other things too.
“Unique. I like to call myself unique. You gotta add character, he’s a unique character.”
His reputation on the field might set a certain precedent for him, but Willis at home is a little different.
“The cleanest, the chillest, most respectful. You would not see this in football, but when you’re home living with him he cooks, cleans, he’s chill. The perfect (roommate). That’s why I never switched him,” Bowman said.
On the field, Willis has helped Bowman through some of the more difficult in-game situations that Bowman has dealt with.
Odell Willis will be sporting the orange and black in 2018 (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)
“Odell’s the best person to talk to. Odell will give any offensive person (he’s playing against) the hardest time with drops, a fumble, because he plays defence,” Bowman said.
“I tell him sometimes, ‘Be real with me Odell, bro.’ And he’d say, ‘A.D., don’t tell nobody but I am scared to catch a football. If I was an offensive player I would not have a football career.’
“He said it scares him. So, as much as trash as he talks, I think he can see (how hard being a receiver is) at times.
“That’s why he’s one of the first guys on the sideline when I come over, saying, ‘AD, flush it bro.’ We don’t talk about the technique. For him, yeah he missed a tackle but it doesn’t hold as much weight as dropping a ball.”
When you make your way into a new country to play a game you love, you hope for some longevity, some success with your team and a paycheque. Acquaintances and friendships come, but a Bert and Ernie-type relationship is hard to come by. Bowman and his wife are expecting their first child, a baby girl, on April 4. Life is taking them in a new direction, but that bond with Willis will never change, he says.
“Me and the wife made a list, you know what I’m saying? We started something new, where we’re only going to bring in people that are on the same thing that we’re on. Married people,” Bowman said.
“So we start writing a list and I see her writing. She’s got maybe 13 couples written out and I’ve got one name. All I wrote was Odell.
“I told her, he’s going to meet somebody one day. One day he will, and we’ve got to keep him there. She started erasing all hers, saying she was thinking of this wrong. That’s my guy. A good dude.”
