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News September 8, 2021

Quick Hits | Week 6 — Day 1

@EdTaitWFC

5 Quick Hits from Wednesday — Day 1 of the Blue Bombers practice week — closed to the media, FYI — leading up to Saturday’s annual Banjo Bowl matchup with the Saskatchewan Roughriders at IG Field:

1. B.A. SALUTED: The CFL announced its Week 5 Top Performers and among them was Bombers safety Brandon Alexander, who had two interceptions, four tackles and a special-teams tackle in the 23-8 Labour Day Classic win over Saskatchewan.
It was Alexander’s first multiple-interception game and the two picks led to 10 Winnipeg points.
“I just got told (of the honour) before I got in here,” said Alexander as he began his media Zoom call on Wednesday. “It’s definitely a big thing and I really appreciate it. But to be real with you, if we don’t get the win or anything else, it really doesn’t matter to me. I just want to go out there and play for the guys and the guys right next to me. I really appreciate it, but we’ve got a task ahead and we’ve got to continue what we’ve got to do.”

Harris, Adams Jr., Alexander named Week 5 Top Performers

2. THE 33 TRAIN ROLLING AGAIN: He’s played only two games, but Andrew Harris has moved into seventh spot among the current CFL rushing leaders with 176 yards along the ground in his two starts since returning from injury.
It’s about more than that, of course, as he a tone setter for this club both on the field and in the locker room. That’s no slight at all on Brady Oliveira or Johnny Augustine, but a tip of the hat to Harris — a future Canadian Football Hall of Famer.
Centre Michael Couture was asked after practice Wednesday if he it was surprising at how good #33 has looked in his two games since returning.
“No. Not at all,” he said. “Andrew is a great teammate and an amazing running back. I’m not surprised. Andrew coming in off that big break was big for us. He’s great in pass protection and knows where to be at all times and he really brings the intensity. He’s been great to have him back.”

4. FYI: Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said the team will stick with Marc Liegghio as the team’s punter and placekicker this week. New K Ali Mourtada is here, but still in quarantine. “(Liegghio) had a couple blips in the last game, he’s watched the film and he knows exactly what he did and what he needs to do differently,” said O’Shea. “It is part of his process he’s going to go through, to just tighten up all the little details he goes through and make sure he hits those details on each and every kick. I’ve got a lot of confidence in Marc. He’s very accomplished coming into this league and I don’t know that a miss here or there is going to dictate his career. It’s pretty early and I know he’s committed to being better and I know he takes it very serious. He’s a young pro, but he’s a pro nonetheless and he’s going to work on that and make sure he’s better.”… We called the Labour Day Classic a ‘street fight’ in our game recap on Sunday and it’s a term that was used a couple of times in Wednesday’s media calls. Here’s Drew Wolitarsky: “When you’re coming into a battle and the energy is around and both teams are fighting that hard you have to meet or you will fall. I would say ‘street fight’ is a great way to put it. Any boxing match… and now we’re about to back into the ring with someone we just beat up four days ago. That’s an intense fight, man. It’s going to be intense man and it always with this team.”

5. WELCOME ABOARD: The Bombers added to their DB depth on Wednesday with the signing of Greg Ducre, a 29-year-old product of the University of Washington who has moved around pro football over the last few years. Ducre has 10 games of NFL experience to his name with Washington and San Diego after initially signing as an undrafted free agent in 2014.
Ducre was also with the B.C. Lions (2016), Pittsburgh Steelers (2017), Montreal Alouettes (2018) and the San Diego Fleet (2019) of the Alliance of American Football. He was most recently with Calgary but was released in late July.