Pre-Game - Malik Clements 0
Malik Clements takes a moment to survey the Winnipeg Blue Bombers clubhouse, just after team meetings have ended and following another practice session in scorching heat.
The joint is jumping with the music blaring enough to occasionally muffle the laughter and good-natured barbs. A few feet away the ping-pong table is about to come to life, just as Jermarcus Hardrick photo bombs an interview Dalton Schoen is conducting, taking a mini-basketball hoop and dunking just behind the Blue Bombers receiver – naturally, all caught on video.
“I’m truly, truly blessed. I’m grateful, man, to be on this team,” said Clements, the Blue Bombers weakside linebacker. “It helps so much to be around a group of guys like this. It doesn’t feel like a business in here, it feels like a family and that’s why I’m constantly smiling.
“It’s night and day for me in terms of my comfort level here now compared to when I got here last year. But I will say when I first came in it was instantly being welcomed with open arms. There was never a doubt that I could go to one of my brothers if I needed a question answered.
“It really is family-oriented here and I felt welcomed since Day 1.”
Clements is coming off one of his best games as a Blue Bomber, having registered five tackles and a sack in last week’s win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Regina. Through two games he has seven tackles, the sack, and a forced fumble.
“Right now he’s flying around like crazy, making plays all over,” said Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea on Wednesday. “He’s physical, he’s got an element of speed to his game and a toughness. He can hit ya. He’s playing really well, which is awesome…. Not that we didn’t expect that, it’s just he’s put together a couple really good football games. I’m sure there are plays he’d like to have back, too, but man he’s been fun to watch running around.”
Everyone has a how-they-got-here story in football and so in that respect Clements’ tale isn’t all that unique. A product of Danville, Georgia, he played his college ball at the University of Cincinnati and first heard of opportunities in the Canadian Football League from a former Bearcat and Blue Bomber – linebacker Kevin Brown, who played seven games for the club in 2021 after beginning his career in Ottawa.
But here’s the twist: before Clements came to the CFL he attended a Blue Bombers free agent camp in Charlotte, North Carolina back in 2019. He got a thanks, but no thanks note from the club after that session and ended up signing with the Edmonton Elks instead. He played seven games for the Elks in 2021, was released in February of 2022 and was scooped up by the Blue Bombers 11 days later.
“It’s a crazy story… I tried out for Winnipeg before I signed in Edmonton, but they didn’t want me at the time,” Clements explained further. “I went to one of their free agent camps first before I went to Edmonton. Looking back at it now, it’s crazy. I was joking with one of the guys and ended up showing him the old e-mail I got that Matt (Gulakow, Blue Bombers Director of Football Operations) sent – it was an automated e-mail – thanking me for trying out but that they weren’t going to sign me. I figure everything happens for a reason. That’s just another thing that gave me more drive and push.”
Clements continues to evolve at a position that was manned so effectively by Kyrie Wilson in 2019 and then again in 2021-22 before suffering an Achilles injury last July. He’s currently on the six-game injured list. In stepped Clements beside Adam Bighill.
“Whenever you’re in a new system it’s a little more difficult, a little more challenging to pick everything up and put it out there on the field right away… you’re still trying to learn the nuance of it,” said O’Shea. “I’ll say this: a lot of guys, when they play beside Biggie, you’ve got a coach standing beside you, so you’re more often right as games go along.”
“I feel a lot more comfortable, but that says everything about the entire group,” Clements added. “Everybody is out there talking and when you’re around a group of guys who know the playbook like the back of their hand you get well adjusted.”
Clements has worked as an orthodontist assistant in the past and has that as an excellent fall-back plan. But right now he’s all in on the gridiron, savouring every moment.
“Football is my love. The longevity isn’t there for football, but my back-up plan is down the road,” he said. “I just want to play football for as long as my body holds up.
“It’s a business. It’s about numbers, especially in Canada with the ratio. I understand that. That’s why it’s important to control what you can control and be in the moment. There’s a saying that you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. That’s why I try to play every down like it’s my last and come into the facility every day like it could be my last. You have to take advantage of every opportunity.”
OUCH UPDATE:
The Blue Bombers will release their depth chart for Thursday’s home game against the B.C. Lions Wednesday morning. Today’s daily injury report followed a closed-to-the media session and shows both receiver Dalton Schoen and dime back Alden Darby, Jr. as having practised, but listed as questionable.
RB Brady Oliveira (thorax) is listed as doubtful while CB Demerio Houston (not injury related) is questionable.
“I feel good,” said Schoen, who took some hellacious hits in the win over Saskatchewan. “I think that’s just football. You’re going to take some hits every now and then and credit to those guys, they made good plays, but I feel good.”
SALUTED:
The CFL’s new Honour Roll, as provided by Pro Football Focus, has once again saluted some Blue Bombers, including QB Zach Collaros, centre Chris Kolankowski and the O-line for their handiwork against Saskatchewan. More details here.
