It was earlier in the week – a good 15-20 minutes after the Winnipeg Blue Bombers had completed another practice session – and there was Dalton Schoen in the corner of the end zone catching tennis balls from a contraption that spits them out in rapid succession one after another.
It’s a small thing, an attention to detail all players spend time doing, but it also represents so much about what makes Schoen the talented receiver he has become. The daily process matters as much as the end result and without the work from that grind, there is no pay off on game day.
And it’s why there has been absolutely no indication whatsoever of a sophomore jinx for the CFL’s Most Outstanding Rookie in 2022, as he is among the league leaders in targets (42), receptions (23) and yards (365) through the first five weeks of the season.
“If you don’t love the process of this and what you have to do day in, day out, week in, week out I don’t know how you can do it,” said Schoen in a chat with bluebombers.com. “It’s all about that for me. Osh (Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea) is always preaching that, and a bunch of guys do the same: it’s about how you attack each week. Here’s what I do on Day 1 to prepare, Day 2, Day 3 and so on. It’s that meticulous process and that intentionality of working to get better every day that I really enjoy.
“That’s my whole career. When I was starting at college and then a couple years later people would say, ‘Wow, you’re a completely different player.’ For me it was about getting a little bit better each and every day and stacking all those improvements that allowed me to get better.
“That’s where I find the joy in this. And, of course, it’s about setting a goal – like winning the Grey Cup – and how can I get better to help my team achieve that.”
Schoen’s story – and how he used his ‘Street Dawg’ mentality to first crack the Blue Bombers roster and then quickly morph into a star – was one of the CFL’s most compelling tales from a year ago.
His goal of finding a football home and CFL stardom now since achieved, we asked Schoen about how he keeps his edge – still fuels the Street Dawg, so to speak – without the same obstacles piled up in front of him. His answer, again, says everything about his approach.
“It’s tough. It’s something I really thought about,” he said. “You definitely lose a bit of that edge when you’re coming in and you know you’re not at the bottom of the depth chart and you have to fight and claw every day. So, that’s a great question: where do you get that from now?
“Well, for me it’s just been that I’ve always had that edge ever since I was a walk-on at K-State. You never really lose that feeling that you had to pay your way here. I had the same feeling back then: if I don’t do my job, I’m going to lose my spot – not only on the field, but on the team.
“I’ve carried that with me into this year. Besides, that Street Dawg mentality is internal. It’s not what other people are saying about me or saying to me, or even from the fact we lost the Grey Cup. The anger from that moment, for example, will fuel you for a little bit. But it’s my internal drive that’s going to fuel me forever. However last season went I was going to approach this season the exact same way and that is to work just as hard no matter how I did, or the team did last year. That’s what I try to get back to: my process and my intrinsic motivation without letting the external factors be the motivators. Plus, you’ve got all the guys in the room with you that have been there and done that and they know how to get everybody moving in the same direction.”
Schoen’s natural abilities are evident, from his ability to pull in passes anywhere in his catch radius, to his route running to his toughness in latching on to Zach Collaros strikes in traffic. One of the skills which can get lost in the highlight catches and the stats he churns out is how he thinks and studies the game and how defenders are now approaching him – especially compared to last year at this time when he was emerging from unknown to CFL star.
“He’s not a surprise anymore,” said O’Shea. “I think teams have an understanding he will run by you – he ran by a lot of guys last year and some guys were surprised. He still gets by guys, but now everyone understands how hard he Waggles and how hard he works to put himself in those spots.”
Schoen said he has benefitted already this season from being in the same offence for the first time since his junior season at Kansas State. There’s a comfortability that comes with familiarity, after all, as well as adding to a base of knowledge rather than starting completely from scratch.
He had goals heading into the offseason – “there’s a handful of things I identified I wanted to get better at, but I’m not going to tell you all of them and give away secrets,” he said with a grin – with most of them based on one simple message to himself: ‘stay humble, and don’t get too comfortable.’
“As a receiver you have to be a perfectionist,” Schoen said. “Maybe you got open and maybe you caught the ball, but there might have been something you could have done to get even more open or get a teammate open. But I also had conversations with the quarterbacks about what we have to get better at as a group.”
“What you maybe lose in not having that edge you had the year before you make up for because your starting point is so much higher. Last year my starting point was the floor, and I was going to get however high I did during the season. Now I’m coming in for year two and I already have a knowledge of the game and how it works up here that my starting point is so much higher and hopefully we can take it even further.”
That’s a scary-good thought based on the numbers he posted a year ago. And the notion of Schoen getting comfortable and taking his foot off the gas, well, that’s laughable to those in the building who see him still putting in the work, still grinding every day.
To that end, O’Shea was asked Thursday if he could recall what he said to Schoen in their exit meeting after last season – occasionally a time when the head coach offers words of encouragement or advice on what a player can bring to camp the following year.
“Nothing really,” said O’Shea with a chuckle. “I said, ‘See ya next year… hopefully.’ I think I probably said, ‘Hopefully not’ because a guy like that deserved (NFL) opportunity I don’t think we had much of an exit interview. I think I probably thanked him.”
FYI:
Thursday’s Blue Bombers daily injury status report has ruled out ace kick returner/receiver Janarion Grant from Saturday’s game in Ottawa against the RedBlacks. Also of note: guard Pat Neufeld and LB Tanner Cadwallader, both of whom missed Wednesday, were back at practice. Receiver Nic Demski has missed the last two days and is listed as ‘questionable.’
Thursday’s practice was closed to the media and so there is no answer yet as to who may handle the return chores in Grant’s absence. Greg McCrae picked up the torch admirably in the win over Calgary, with Demerio Houston, Abu Daramy-Swaray and Demski all taking reps, too, this week.
