VANCOUVER – Jamal Parker knows it’s coming, even expects it to come. In fact, it may very well happen on the first play of the first series Friday night, just as he settles into his cornerback spot in the Winnipeg Blue Bombers secondary.
He’s the ‘new’ face in the unit, after all, a guy who is making his first start of 2023 in the biggest game of the year, a first-place throwdown with the B.C. Lions that could very well determine top spot in the Canadian Football League’s West Division.
And in the eyes of the opposition, that reads as ‘Fresh meat.’
Yes, as Parker slides into the starting role due to an injury to Demerio Houston you can bet the Lions will test him by lining up any one of their talented receivers opposite and then trying to exploit him.
As Blue Bombers defensive backs coach Jordan Younger put it this week about the Lions trying ParkerL “There’s no surprise there. They know it, he knows it, we know it.”
And you know what?
“I’m more than ready,” began Parker, the second-year Blue Bomber who started 10 games last season and was in contention for a starting gig this year before being injured in camp. “Last year, I grew leaps and bounds and starting in the Grey Cup – the games don’t get any bigger than that other than the Super Bowl.
“But with the team I’m on, with what I’ve seen and the players I practice against, there’s nothing I haven’t seen. I’ve been ready.”
Now, maybe it’s the perspective that comes from already having a full season under his belt, from the grind that comes to getting back healthy and then working against one of the best receiving corps daily at Blue Bombers practice. Still, Parker exudes a quiet confidence that can be contagious.
“He’s an easy guy to root for,” said Younger. “You know, there’s some players that come along and they just fit in. Wherever you put them, they’re football players. They’re not high maintenance, they don’t mind playing a number of positions and they’re versatile enough that they can fill where needed.
“He’s been that guy for the better part of two seasons now and a big part of it is his willingness to play that role. It’s not an easy role to play when you know you have the talent to be a starter and in a lot of situations he probably would – a lot of different teams, or even here if he didn’t get injured. But he handled that like a professional.
“Everybody has emotions and feelings. Some people know how to harness it, some players don’t and that’s why some excel, and others struggle. For him, football – in the right way – is just a game to him, so it doesn’t get too big. He approaches is that way. He’s prepared. He’s studied the film and asked questions.”
There’s also this: Parker went a couple of years without the game, graduating from Kent State and then having the door slammed shut on any opportunity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He kept training, working a side gig at Door Dash to help pay the bills. That’s part of his perspective, too.
“I kept the football bug because I never had a Pro Day… nothing,” he said earlier this week in a conversation with bluebombers.com. “What kept driving me is the fact that I never got my shot. No rookie camp, no minicamp invitation, all because of COVID. I knew I could play. One of my good friends is Darius Slay of the (Philadelphia) Eagles and I’d always work out with him because I was free unless I was Door Dashing. I kept getting questions about which team I was playing for. I kept getting compliments and encouragement to keep going.
“I learned a lot about myself over that year or two in separating myself from football. That helped me a lot. When I got that opportunity again, I looked at it like it was do or die. And so, when I got that call from Winnipeg three days into camp last year, I was ready. I was always ready.”
Still, making the leap from the NCAA to the Canadian game isn’t always a simple one. And that’s where the influence of his parents helped immensely. His mother is a principal; his father worked in the bookstore at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.
“My parents never played sports and so when I did that was a new world for them,” he said. “My mom pushed me to graduate. And my dad… I wasn’t a kid where he was getting me to go out at six a.m. to train. My pops was like, ‘Be humble. Work hard. Be a good teammate.’ I thank him for that part.”
Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea called Parker’s experience last year invaluable while praising his competitiveness and tackling abilities. Parker also thinks playing the sponge last year – soaking up as much info as possible – was critical in helping grow his ‘football intelligence.’
“It’s night and day for me right now compared to last year in terms of reading concepts, knowing the formation, knowing personnel and just confidence,” Parker said. “So much of it was more mental than physical.
“The key for me was not being scared to make mistakes. I never wanted to end a game with regret. If my instincts told me something, I’d rather shoot the trigger than not shoot it and then be in the locker room after saying, ‘Damn, I felt it. I should have made the play, but I didn’t.’
“I know now I belong.”
More on Friday’s big tilt with the Lions in the Game 16 edition of The Playbook…
FEW BIGGER:
The winner Friday night doesn’t lock up first place in the division but does put a stranglehold on first with two games remaining after that. The last two West Finals have both been at IG Field and while the Blue Bombers would be comfortable coming back to Vancouver to play at B.C. Place, they do feel there’s an obvious advantage to being at home in the playoffs.
“You look at the two top teams in the West right now, us and B.C., and you look at the beautiful climate they’ve got here, them playing in a dome, I think they would probably much rather us come here than travel to Winnipeg in November where it’s going to be our type of weather, where it’s going to be cold, probably some flurries in the air, snow on the ground – just how we like it,” said running back Brady Oliveira during the team’s media availability at their downtown Vancouver hotel.
“Of course, we want it in Winnipeg and I think it just makes it a little bit harder on opponents when they’re not acclimated to that environment and that climate where we’re out there every day and we embrace the cold.”
One more from Oliviera, on playing in a massive game like Friday’s:
“As an athlete you look forward and take pride in playing in the big game on big stages against great opponents. We’re excited for the challenge. It’s going to be a fun one.
“You want to win the West. You want to secure the West and have the West Final at home. We know how much fun it is when the West Final is at home. Playing in it last year it was good… an amazing football atmosphere with the best fans, the loudest football fans in the league.
The guys that played in it last year – which is the majority of this roster – know how special it is and how important it is to us and our fans. To get that again would be something special.”
JG RETURNS:
The man they call ‘JG’ – Janarion Grant – will officially return to the lineup for the first time since the fifth game of the year. And his presence breathes life into the club’s kick return game. Asked what he does different than other returners in this league, O’Shea paused for a moment.
“Hmmm…” he began. “I’m not sure what the differences are. Maybe he just some things better. One of the things all his teammates understand about him is he’s tough in there. If there’s a small crease, he’s going to hit it and take advantage of it and maximize his yardage. If there’s three (yards) to get, he’s going to get three. If there’s 17 to get, he’s going to get 17.
“It’s funny I saw some stuff about Chad Owens (the former Toronto Argonaut returner who will sign a one-day contract to retire as a member of the Boatmen) and I happened to go back and get down the rabbit hole there and Janarion’s got a lot more return touchdowns. Chad, of course, got put into the offensive side of it a little bit more a few years into (his career).
“Janarion is a prolific returner in this league.”
CRUNCH TIME:
Blue Bombers Drew Wolitarsky, one of the CFL’s great deep thinkers, offered up this earlier this week on locking in now and the appeal of going into enemy territory for a big game:
“These last weeks, you’ve got to give it everything, man. That’s something I’m trying to spread around as well – there’s that part of the season where ‘s game seven to 14 where it’s a grind, bro. It’s a grind. You’ve got to put your head down and almost put your blinders on.
“But once this time of year hits and the geese start making the V’s and leaving that’s how you know you’ve got to give it that extra little bit. You’ve got to tell your family, ‘Hey, I’ve got two families now, so I’m going to need to be giving equal energy to both.’ They understand that, but it’s that time of year, man.
“Winning in Sask on those Labour Days is really rewarding. Going into a violent terrain and overcoming not just the team but the atmosphere as well… personally, I love to play in B.C. It’s got the dome over it. There’s no wind, there’s no get the wind in the fourth, do this-that… it’s go in and play ball, man, because it’s like a California winter day.”
