MONTREAL – The B.C. Lions left Montreal today with renewed expectations and a new player on the way in offensive guard Jesse Newman of Powell River.
Even before the Lions lost centre Dean Valli with a suspected leg fracture in Friday’s 38-17 win over the Alouettes, Lions head coach and GM Wally Buono was working on a deal with the Calgary Stampeders for Newman, who turns 28 later this month. In return, the Stampeders will receive a second-round pick in the 2011 CFL draft as well as a conditional fourth-round pick in 2012.
The 6-4, 302 pound Newman could make his Lions debut as early as next Saturday, when B.C. plays host to the Toronto Argonauts at Empire Field.
"We wanted to improve our offensive line and when you can get a quality non-import I think it’s a must that you try," said Buono, from the team’s Surrey offices on Saturday. "If I’m optimistic I’m saying we’d like to use him next week because one, Kris Sweet, who has been his offensive line coach in Calgary, tutored under Dan Dorazio here at training camps. So I think there’s a lot of similarities, which is critical. Secondly, the terminology thing shouldn’t be hard because the protections we run are probably very similar. The way we call them might be different, but with four or five days he’ll pick that up fairly easily."
Newman, who played junior in Victoria and college football at Louisiana-Lafayette, was a first-round pick by the Stampeders in the 2008 draft, third overall.
"I kind of had a feeling it was going to go down just by the way it happened," Newman told The Calgary Herald. "Huff [head coach John Hufnagel] called me into the office, and it’s the feeling you get when you have to talk to the head man. I told Huff that if he was going to trade me, B.C. would be a great place. I was born in Vancouver, lots of my friends and family are out there. I told you before that I knew the situation. They’re (Stampeders) pretty stacked on the O-line and I wasn’t going to be surprised to be traded. So it’s not surprising at all."
As rookies, Newman and guard Dimitri Tsoumpas, the No. 2 overall pick in 2008, were an integral part of Calgary’s Grey Cup championship team, although Newman didn’t become a starter until a few games into the ’08 season.
"Jesse Newman started right out of college, helped Calgary win a Grey Cup and has, I believe, been a good left guard in our league," said Buono. "We wanted to get him in here, he wanted to be here and at the end of the day we want this to be a successful process."
While he’s not in game shape, Newman hopes to be by the time the Lions play his former team at McMahon Stadium on Sept. 25. Calgary has won nine straight games against the Lions, the latest a 48-35 win at Empire Field on August 27.
"It’s always interesting," Newman said. "It’s such a small league that you see a lot of guys that you know on each team, and there’s going to be a lot more than usual that week, that’s for sure. It’s going to be great seeing these guys again."
Even more interestingly, Newman has yet to complete a full CFL training camp, He was injured in the Stampeders’ 2008 rookie camp, missed all of the main camp, and didn’t participate in 2009 after injuring his ankle in an offseason mishap.
This year, Newman. abruptly retired a couple of days before the Stampeders’ 2010 training camp, much to the shock and dismay of Hufnagel and many of his teammates. Newman returned to Powell River for the summer but got an overwhelming itch to come back to the front-running 7-1 Stampeders while watching CFL games on TV.
His impulsive decision to rejoin the Stamps, however, did not sit well with receiver Nik Lewis, in particular.
"No comment. I don’t like Jesse," Lewis told reporters last week. "I’m not going to talk about somebody who has retired and come out of retirement. I will talk about people who have been here and put in the work. I won’t talk about anybody else."
Newman, however, said he’s leaving Calgary "certainly with no harsh feelings towards anybody. I’m excited to go back home (to B.C.), but also disappointed to leave, for sure. There are a lot of thoughts going through my head this morning, but it’s going to be pretty cool to go home."
Newman adds to the Lions’ depth on their youthful and inexperienced offensive line, which has received more than its share of disparagement during the team’s seven-game losing streak that was interrupted in Montreal.
He joins seven-year offensive line veteran Joe McGrath as recent add-ons to the Lions. McGrath was picked up a couple of weeks ago after being released by the Edmonton Eskimos. McGrath became the fourth different Lion to start at right tackle this season in Friday’s game.
With Valli’s injury, veteran Angus Reid will return to full-time duty as the starting centre.
Buono didn’t rule out the possibility of more additions to his 2-7 club as the week progresses.
Never say never," said Buono, who admitted it was a lot easier driving into the parking lot on Saturday than it has been of late. "Professional sports is always good, it’s just a lot more fun when you win. It’s a tough business win or lose, but it’s always more pleasant when you win."
– With a file from Ian Walker
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