Reggie White, Jr. during Saturday's preseason game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders; photos by Cameron Bartlett
Not that he needed the confirmation — after all, Reggie White, Jr. had already given the thumbs up to his decision to join the Winnipeg Blue Bombers over the winter — but he did get a valuable endorsement on the weekend.
“I love it here, man,” said White, Jr. in a conversation with bluebombers.com this week. “I definitely feel I made the right call. Playing here my rookie year with Montreal I could always see myself here and so to be in this environment now is a dream come true.
“Then came the preseason game and being out there on the field for the first time in front of the fans, I had a lot of fun. I asked my family how it looked (watching the game) and they said it looked like I had a lot of fun. They said they could see me smiling a lot. As long as I’m having fun, it’ll be perfect.”
We first introduced White, Jr. to Blue Bombers fans in February in this story and through close to three weeks of camp and one preseason game it’s clear he’s come exactly as advertised — a veteran, big-bodied target who could bring some size and physicality to a revamped receiving corps featuring Nic Demski, Dalton Schoen and Kevens Clercius.
All that said, nothing is settled with the vacancies in the receiving corps heading into Friday’s final preseason game in Regina against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. White, Jr. is in a fight with a plethora of receivers, including Keric Wheatfall, Myron Mitchell, Jerreth Sterns, Dillon Mitchell, Jaylen Hall, Keilahn Harris, Reggie Brown, Kody Case, Bryson Daughtry and David Wallis among the imports in what is easily the most intriguing positional battle.
White, Jr. would bring a team first approach to his craft if he earns a spot, an attitude that was sharpened during his absence from the game. During a game in Thanksgiving of 2022 while with the Als he tore three of the four ligaments in his knee — an injury so gruesome he missed the entire 2023 season as he recuperated. He returned to the field last year — and it says something of his respect and popularity in the Montreal dressing room that so many were rooting for him — and finished with 23 receptions for 346 yards and four touchdowns in 12 games.
He believes he can get back closer to the numbers he posted before the injury — 53 receptions for 722 yards in 15 games — now that he’s settling in here in Winnipeg.
“I’ve talked to guys like Dalton (Schoen) and Jamal (Parker, Jr.) who have come back from ACL injuries, and we all know how it feels,” he said. “I know about those dark days, the days when you think you might not ever get back to yourself again. I really take it one day at a time because I’m still so thankful to be out here again and I don’t take it for granted because it’s definitely a blessing to be able to play the game I love.
“Coming back from a knee injury, sometimes people think about what you were like before. And so it’s almost like you’re creating a new person out there. I wouldn’t say it’s a new me, but I want to show I can be a reliable target who can help move the chains, make the blocks when I need to, block for my teammates on the perimeter and just have fun and bring some excitement for my teammates. I just want to win. That’s all I want — to win games. And I know I came to the right place to do that.
“It’s a great locker room with a lot of vets and young guys who have come here to work,” he added. “I’m still trying to get acclimated to everything and I feel like so far I’m adjusting really well. It’s the little things here that are different like the training room, the team, the locker room camaraderie — you see a lot of players hanging out with different guys — and there’s just a real family feel to it and that’s really big for me.
“We have a chance to be a very explosive offence. Zach loves to get the ball out. We have a great running game and a great O-line so once everything is clicking, we could put up a lot of points and win a lot of games.”
FYI: Not practising on Wednesday and making them unlikely to play Friday were RB Brady Oliveira, OL Eric Lofton, dime Redha Kramdi along with DBs Ethan Ball, Josh Hagerty and Jake Kelly… WR Dillon Mitchell was back in his gear after being excused from Tuesday’s session.
