WINNIPEG – Recently signed linebacker Adam Bighill joined his new Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ teammates on Thursday and it didn’t take him long to make an impact in his first practice with the team.
“Made a statement the second play he got in there,” Andrew Harris said. “Made a big play and he brings that thud.”
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Bighill, 29, is known for his competitiveness on the field and that drive started at an early age after he was born with a cleft lip.
“It really comes from having a chip on my shoulder when I was a young kid,” Bighill said.
“I grew up with a cleft lip and palate. I felt different than other people but I didn’t want to be different. So what I did was develop a natural competitive nature that I wanted to be the best at everything I did,” Bighill shared.
“I did want to prove to everybody that I’m no different than anybody else, and you got to respect me because I’m going to beat you at whatever we’re doing.”
Bighill was the CFL’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player in 2015. He played one year with the B.C. Lions the following season before he signed with the NFL’s New Orleans Saints. But he spent much of the season on their practice roster, only appearing in three games. He said he even turned down an NFL offer to join the Bombers.
“Sometimes the best players don’t always get to play,” Bighill said.
“It was frustrating. I felt like I had a good enough camp that I should have been on the roster the entire year. You look at my play, look at the film, you look what I did. Me and everyone else would have said ‘he’s on the roster for sure’.”
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“At the end of the day I decided to turn down an offer in the NFL to come back. Just didn’t feel like it was going to be the right fit for my family.”
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While he also considered going back to the Lions where he played his first six seasons in the CFL, Bighill saw more reasons to come to Winnipeg.
“We felt like this was going to be the best opportunity,” he said. “I have a good history with coach (Mike) O’Shea. I started my rookie year in the league and I really respect the guy.”
“Every time I came into this building the fans were packing the stadium and extremely loud into the game. That’s the football atmosphere you want to play in. In Vancouver it necessarily wasn’t always the case.”
The Bombers have been missing that dominant middle linebacker since the departure of Henoc Muamba, and the hope is that the four-time CFL all-star will be the missing ingredient.
“He steps on the field, he knows he’s going to beat you,” O’Shea said. “And when he says that, you believe him, and it gives you some sort of different feeling inside. He’s that guy.”
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Harris was a teammate of Bighill with the Lions and went up against him in practice every day for five seasons.
“He’s a guy that’s really smart,” Harris said. “He’s a guy that runs to the ball, has a nose for the ball and he’s going to help us a lot defensively.”
Bighill was wearing the number 50 at Thursday’s practice but that is expected to change. One thing that is certain — he won’t be wearing the familiar number 44 that he’s donned throughout his CFL career. That number is worn by linebacker Shayne Gauthier and Bighill said he couldn’t convince him to give it up.
“He was very, not protective of his number but he wants it,” Bighill said. “He earned his right on this team and he’s created his professional career in that number so I totally understand that he doesn’t want to give it up. So from that I’m going to work on finding a new number and create a new brand for myself. Obviously 44 has a lot of meaning to me”.
Bighill said the number dates back to his college days.
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The Bombers also announced they’ve released defensive tackle Ian Marouf. He was carted off the field with an injury on Tuesday.
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