Join Ed and CFL All-Star Pat Neufeld as they talk about the CFL Combine, Pat’s experience and what it means to young athletes hoping for a shot in the pros.
And here we go welcome to episode three of the Huddle our new show on the boo bomber’s YouTube page I’m Ed Tate your host from Blue bombers. comom joined by three-time CFL All-Star guard Pat newfeld and we’re coming to you live from the Winnipeg soccer Federation
North complex here in Leela on day three day two of the CFL combine uh we’re going to kind of chop up all the things that are going to go on here tonight we’ll talk to Patty about his experiences in this and just what the point of all this is for the league and
The prospects that are gathered here for all nine CFL teams to take a look at so uh let let’s let’s talk let’s chop that up right away Patty about the combine and the point of this so there’s 80 90 guys here Global players national players all eligible for the draft that
Comes up at the end of April testing interviews that you and I came from the hotel Fort Gary where a lot of stuff going on uh we saw the bench press today we saw the vertical there’s I sat in on a one-on-one interview the bombers did there’s an
Awful lot of information gathering at that that’s what this is all about right absolutely it’s to see what kind of athlete you are it’s to see what kind of person you are it’s to see if what the football operations people and the coaches see on tape mirror up with your
Athleticism so they’re going to go through a series of tests and basically measure what kind of athlete you are and see if it Cor Ates with the film this part is Fun the onfield part let’s talk about what we saw this afternoon the kind of the sexy events of this are
Probably the bench press because it’s for you know the pure power and then the 40 yard dash which will start here at about 7 or so um but there’s a lot of other ones in there so let’s kind of break them down and from your perspective what they are and why they
Matter to the coaches so much yeah so the first one that we saw today that I saw today was the bench press and it’s a straight 200 25 lbs as much as you can but there’s people there it’s a kind of a surreal thing isn’t it the way it was
Done today talk about that yeah today I mean at the hotel Fort G beautiful old hotel um but they had it in this intricate old ballroom with a big stage it looked like there was going to be a like a Shakespearean play going on afterwards it was unbelievable and they
They put the bench press right up on the top of the stage and they had rows of tables with all the coaches all the football men people Scouts media ‘s probably 200 people in that room and you walk up on stage and you see how many
Times you can clang off 225 um coaches and football people want to see how strong you are basically have you been training have you been in the gym I I mean benching 225 is a pretty generic thing to do in the gym but I think it’s
Generally a way to see if you’ve been training do you have power output and um go from there yeah there was one guy that got hurt today or couldn’t finish and it was kind of excruciating to see what did you see on that you hate to see
I don’t know it almost L like he kind of had maybe his his hip had cramped or something and he tried to readjust and his shoulder went back and uh just not good so uh you never want to see that kind of stuff especially at a scouting
Combine hopefully he’s going to be okay and hope for the best for him and then right away they take down the bench they get the weight off the stage and they bring out the thing to do the vertical jump too same stage same stage uh and let’s just talk about that’s pretty
Straightforward too I’m I’m former basketball coach so I know what that’s all about but you know what what is an old line what do you I need to see is vertical yeah exactly people think well why would why would you need see an offens alignment or a quarterback jump
But uh the vertical is a great test of explosiveness um it it measures your lower body explosiveness from a static position basically how high can you jump is going to measure how how strong your legs are um there are some techniques that guys use they used to they used to
Put your arm up to measure kind of your reach and then you would jump from there and they do the the subtraction but guys would always their shoulder down or they’ wear baggy shorts and bend knees now they don’t have that now they’re just jumping up and down so I saw some
Really impressive jumping a lot of guys jumping over 30 in a couple guys in the high 30s uh pretty cool to see and then right away they they come all the way out here to the Winnipeg soccer Federation North to do the 40 they do the three cone shuttle the side shuttle
The broad jump yeah let’s just run through some of those the 40 I mean everybody that’s kind the offens aleman’s you know Main Event no the the 40 uh the sexy event at the combo what everyone loves to see just a couple things they want to see if you can run
Fast like plain and simple they want to see if you can run fast but for positions like offensive line interior defensive linemen what really is going to matter is your 10 your 10 yard split um they want to see how fast you can accelerate past 10 yards because realistically as an offensive lineman
You’re not running really more than 10 yards same as an interior defensive lineman usually if you’re running more it’s a screen play or something went wrong so they want to see that um for other position players like receivers they want to see accelerate all the way
Through your 40 yard dash and see what your top end speed is going to be after the 20 yard dash or the 20 yard marker um running backs and linebackers they want to see your hitting your top Bend speed um acceleration and your 10 yard
Split is huge broad jump I mean I we were doing that when we were in elementary school what’s the deal there yeah yeah kind of broad Jump’s another measurement of power it it’s another explosive lower body movement where um it it’s derivative of your lower body
Strength and see how how your hips are working how how strong your legs are uh another thing for landing is balance and and your your impact so um a great way to measure that I’m I’m reading from the CFL site because they explained all these here three cone drill it says here
Evaluates a player’s change of Direction balance and ability to get to speed quickly yeah what is the three cone drill super awkward so it it it looks like an L drill so they have cones lined up in an l and they you start in a static position and you run around the
Shape of an l and back so with coaches and and football Scouts want to see is how can a player accelerate through these cones Flex their lower half keep their balance and keep accelerating all the way through they they don’t want to see stop stopping movements they don’t
Want to see rigidity they want to see nice flow accelerating all the way around this this conr yeah 20 yard short shuttle is another one to me that’s a great one for agility so you start again in the middle of two cones um it’s an explosive lateral movement and they want
To see you transition so it’s they don’t want to see slow deliberate movements they want to see you explode out of your trans transitions um great for seeing for DBS receivers but offensive line defens linemen too you have to move really quickly in a short amount of time
So um just seeing you transition in athletic position what I find fascinating about all this is that tomorrow Friday Saturday and Sunday they’ll put the helmets and the pads on and they’ll do football stuff yeah right and so if I’m a coach I’ve watched your film that’s why you’re here as a
Prospect that’s the part I want to see and so do you think sometimes that we can over obsessed on oh he only did 22 reps and his his 40 was a 478 when it should have been a 463 like are we they get too wrapped up on this sometimes I
Think sometimes too I I mean people like to nerd out about numbers and they make they make a career out of this kind of stuff and they’re scouting and and all these different things but I’ve said all the time if you can play football it’s going to show up when you’re playing
Football so this is something new that I never got to do this is I think relatively new within the last couple years that they’ve started doing actual practices with plays and coaches there in meetings and seeing if they can take information from a classroom in a quick
Amount of time in a brand new football language that they might might not have heard before and then go and execute on the field so that’s something I’m really uh excited to see um always excited to see offense in defensive line get after it especially um in a competitive period
Like that and um yeah it’s just something new and cool I think the CFL is doing for their combine I’ve seen guys obsess on this stuff the players because I think I’ve been to four or five evaluation camps over the year now are combines it’s what they call them
Now and guys will get they’ll be like really angry that they their bench wasn’t as much as they or they’re 40 they’re arguing with the guy that’s doing the timer I’ve run 4 four like they and they get angry and you start to wonder again even the players are
Obsessing on this and what really matters is your film already and then what like I want to see how you do against the DB if you’re a receiver I want to see how you block a lineman right so it’s the stress I don’t think a lot of people understand the stress that
A player is under here too for for sure I mean it’s it’s the Pinnacle of job interviews for a football player and you spend a tremendous amount of time preparing your body to be essentially at your Elite most athletic form you can possibly be so when you spend the amount
Of time that these athletes do in the gym and training and and learning Sprint mechanics and learning how to jump properly all these things that you kind of take for granted being an athlete you’re learning how to do it the proper way from from your trainer for for
Wherever um and you don’t get the time you want it does kind of take take a bit of the wind out Sals cuz you’ve put that much time in but I think like in everything football is a game where you have to have a short memory and um if
These guys bring that kind of bad energy onto the football field it might affect them some guys have great performances some guys have some mediocre performances some guys don’t perform as well as as they want to but like I said ultimately if you can go and play football really well they’re not going
To care if you bench 22 reps compared to 24 reps or if you run a 46 compared to a 452 I don’t mean to undermine the importance of because I’m nerd not on this like everybody else I love this stuff I mean I watch the NFL combine and
TV too because this is cool but sometimes you just wonder remember you remember Jason Claremont the receiver of course yeah I played with him he I went to one of the combines that he was at and he did not test well and apparently dropped him down a little bit I think he
Still went in the first round but he Jason clar one like if you watched film he was just he would eat people up toughest one of the toughest dudes I’ve ever played with yeah so anyway um let’s talk you went to the CFL Invitational Camp last year as part of the mentorship
Program maybe explain a little bit about that yeah so we got the full meal deal the the 4:30 a.m. wake up to go to the waterl indoor football complex and set up the combine first thing first time I’ve ever done that setting up a 40 time and making sure everything’s put in
Place and and the CFL staff did a tremendous job of um making sure everything was running as smoothly as possible as you can at 5: in the morning um a little groggy not a lot of coffee in you yet um and basically getting everything set up for um athletes from I
Think Ontario Quebec and Eastern Canada uh to come out and get a chance to perform at their highest level and and hopefully get an opportunity to come to the the national cup yeah you they the league had you and Shane goce speak to the prospects last last night right yeah
Really cool what what was the point of that or what was your message to them yeah so I think it was just a way for the league to have a couple guys who had been through the combine before who’ve made a bit of a career and kind
Of speak their story and my story is a little unique compared to Shane’s and we can talk about that if you want you can bring up some old memories I think I’ve tried to suppress um but it was cool it’s it was great to be in front of a
Room of of the future of this league and and um yeah I get to tell my story and hopefully maybe Inspire someone or or make people laugh at my my expense so you know you see you’ve saw it maybe making them laugh is important because and I’ve referenced this earlier you
Walk through the hotel today and you just see guys like they’re St like we were talking about the bench press you could have heard a pin drop in there so for for me you know I it was a tense room I think people were nervous it’s the first first time everyone’s kind of
Together and I I’ll tell my combine story so I went I went to the combine 2010 and back then there was only 50 guys invited to combine and there was a list of extras that would get call if you weren’t if if guys would drop out
For whatever reason so I wasn’t on the original list of 50 and um disappointed obviously and you know kind of took the wind out of my sales thinking okay well I guess I’m maybe not going to be a CFL football player and if I am it’s going
To be a harder harder way to get there um so I didn’t take training as seriously as I should have and that’s on me um two weeks before the combine I get a phone call from my agent saying hey guess what you’re going to the combine
And I put down my beer and I’m like okay better get training so um showed up to the combine and and uh didn’t perform as well as I should have I uh didn’t bench well didn’t run as fast as I wanted to I’m not fast to begin with but the 40
Didn’t help I jumped pretty well um and then interviews were so so so the I think the interview process was probably the biggest discrepancy for me where I had some great interviews I interviewed wi theeg and I actually thought I was going to get drafted from Winnipeg I
Interviewed with uh there’s lapo Jamie bzy and there was another another coach in there and I had a really good interview with them um I had a great interview with BC interviewed pretty well with Hamilton and then I interviewed with the Argos and the snap Peters and my interview with the Argos
Did not go so well um basically I was in the interview room and the entire brass was in there basically picking picking me apart and forming an opinion of me um that I wasn’t strong enough to be a CFL football player because of how I benched and uh as we’re going through the
Interview head coach GM Jim Barker gets up walks and leaves the interview and I’m like that can’t be good okay I guess I’m not going to be an Argonaut let’s get this thing over with and we’ll move on uh had an interview with the S Peters
Same kind of thing um all their coaching staff’s in there um huffle was in there right across from me um and I’m sitting in a chair just like this and right next to me is the offens of line coach so I’m kind of sitting there and I had to turn
My head awkwardly and have this really just an awkward sitting position but same thing he kind of bered me about not being strong enough not taking the game seriously enough and deep down I’m like well no I I really do love football I just didn’t perform that well I know I
Can play um funny enough two two years later he was my offensive line coach with the rider so he he never brought it up thank God but uh interviews didn’t go well um but still knew I could play and ended up luckily getting drafted the interviews are a weird things so uh Mike
OA and Kyle Walters today were kind enough to let me sit on sit in on one for a story that I’m going to write for tomorrow on Blue bombs.com uh uh just about what the experience is like kind of a peak behind the curtain and and Kyle it was Kyle and Mike Miller
That were doing the interview that I sat in on some of the guys were they split it up because there’s so many guys to interview today and when the guy came in right away they tried to make him comfortable and it was about you know your injury history have you ever been
Arrested you know this kind of basic questions but it was and this is what k has told me over the years cuz I think this is his 10th or 11th draft with the bombers that it’s about making the player feel comfortable and find out a little bit about him but you hear
Stories about that where other teams have an approach where we’re going to make that guy squirm we’re going to put we’re going to make him sweat and then there was a story a few years ago when Ottawa when the combine was last in Winnipeg Ottawa put a box of donuts by
The door and when the guy came in he had to grab a donut and then they grilled him on what why did you take that donut and what does that represent that’s unbelievable yeah and so Dakota Shepley yeah who who’s an old lineman I think
He’s still in the NFL yeah he gave a great answer about he picked the most Canadian donut there was really leaning into the content yeah so it’s weird and and it sounds like you experienced the extremes of when you had your yeah I think so and I mean who am I to say
What’s right or wrong you know um I ultimately think with those teams who are tougher in the interview rooms is just they want to see you defend yourself they want to see what kind of character you have do you have your own back um can you be humble enough yet
Confident enough in yourself to go in there and say yeah I didn’t have the best performance but I can do this and this and this or that and that and that and um that’s what I told those guys at the at the combine when I spoke to them
I think ultimately you have to be yourself you have to be true to who you are um I think coaches can smell they’re really good at dealing with people and this this is a people business and they’re around a lot of different people all the time so they’re
Good at finding out kind of who you’re going to be be pretty quickly and um you just got to be yourself you can’t you can’t try to give answers that you think that they want to hear you just got to be truthful it it makes you wonder
Because it is a it’s a job interview but I you know if you’re trying to get hired by a corporation I’m not sure they’re going to abuse you like that yeah but that’s it’s kind of like the nature of the business right it’s it’s a tougher business but the whole doughnut thing
And I’ve heard are you a cat person or a dog person that one I’ve heard too and obviously I’m a dog person but uh you know it’s just it’s to me it’s like why even ask that yeah what’s like that Super Bowl question if you were a tree
What kind of tree would you be like you know right what is that what are we trying to do here I like I couldn’t imagine how they’re sitting in a room and coming to a conclusion like do they have a list of trees they arborists yeah they’re arborists I don’t if you’re o
Good if you pick something weaker than an oak and their team it’s a it’s again it’s such a surreal thing and I’m glad there’s fans coming to experience this because this is kind of more of the football part of it but what we saw today man I could just you could just
Feel the tension yeah cuz again you said job interview and guys are dressing up too um Kyle I’m going to write this in the story tomorrow Kyle told a great story about uh Tanner schmeckle oh yeah last year the bombers interviewed him he comes in in a Tweed suit that they said
Was way too tight and his shirt was too tight his face got all red like it was going to pop off but they loved him and you a teamm right yeah he’s a guy that’s pretty engaging and uh when I first interview him last year in training camp
Was the the ultimate just happy to be here guy but it’s weird you see guys you know in one moment they’re wearing a Tweed suit and then a half hour later they’re peeled down doing the thing they’re in the Mi Market it’s there’s an underwear Olympics part of this too we
Forgot that there’s the height and measurement thing it’s crazy where you strip down and people are looking oh look he’s got big cabs or it’s unbelievable if you were just a random civilian to walk into that room you think it’s the most insane thing you’ve
Ever seen in your life a bunch of people sitting around looking at a dude in his compression it’s like it’s absolutely insane and I I mean I I don’t know if it’s just they do it for tradition or if they just really want to see the
Physical makeup of of the player but uh man if you want to talk about being intimidated talk about going up in your underwear in front of uh a group of CFL teams yeah Josh do we need to take a break here we’re good to roll you want
Josh wants to keep hearing about us talking about guys in underwear okay well that’s right that’s what I’m here for sitting in the booth let’s talk about how even in so 2010 was your combine year right draft year the first combine I think I covered was
At the golf D in 1993 it was mik O Sha’s year and I mean it was so basic compared to this there wasn’t much football stuff and the thing that jumps out to me the most is that to feed the players they brought in one of those little kitty wagons and
They had those tiny little McDonald’s cheeseburgers all stacked up on a wagon and can you imagine you bring that in and say to about 50 guys at the time here’s your supper no that’s unbelievable and and now we’ve come to again hotel Fort Gary the timing the the
Stuff that’s going on here today it’s really changed it’s first class I mean they’ve done such a great job I mean I think as offensive lineman we wouldn’t mind a couple cheeseburgers maybe not right before the 40 where’s the wagon yeah pull up that wagon you guys but uh
To see how much has changed to see how high class it is you know first class top quality of everything I mean I was talking to you earlier about now that they’re including Force plates which I think is something really cool explain that what is that um so Force plates are
Plates on the ground that measure output from jumping from a or essentially from a a static position so you can press into it you can jump off of it it’ll measure and give you metrics on hundreds of different markers from the way you land how much pressure you land on one
Foot how much force you’re put putting through the ground the speed of your jump how high you can jump all these different metrics and uh I don’t think there’s a better way of really essentially measuring how powerful a lower half body athlete there is so the force of your Landing can can reveal
It’s it’s a it’s just another metric like how well you land how much force you can take and create and um you know as offensive line especially being static how much force output you have through the ground is insanely important so um really cool to see that and um the
The company who is running it shared some pretty cool statistics how I think the top 25 guys from the draft class this year were in the top 25 percentile of the NFL combine oh wow so seeing that is just proof that you know our athletes in Canada and then Canadian athletes
Playing football are world class you know it’s really cool to see him what do you remember from your combine about once you got through all that stuff and the team’s giving you a hard time in the interview about the onfield stuff how did you do a that that that was uh a 180
For me um again like I said before I knew I could always play football and that’s what we’re here for we’re here to play football we’re not here to bench press we’re not here to broad jump um so try to get after his best I could um we
Had I think the coaches from the argona were running it for East position group so we kind of went through a warm-up uh and then our individual periods and then we went into uh pass 101s and it was only pass 101s we didn’t do run 101s for
Offensive line defensive line and um it was awesome you know you got to go there and compete against guys from across Canada and um had some wins had some losses played some different spots on the line but that that to me is more important you know you know I know they
Don’t do that in the NFL combine but I think uh you know the CF was trying to be a little more Cutting Edge and and see actual football so for you when you win a rep and you’re probably so cranked up after the interview are you kind of
Did you see that sort of thing no I’m not like that I’m not that kind of guy cuz I I I don’t think I’ve ever done that but you know it’s a little F feather under your cap and it’s like hey like I can do this despite not
Performing as well as I did so for a guy like you are you lining up and let’s say there’s a guy from an NCAA school are you’re thinking hey this is they you know they’re I’ve heard about this guy they’re probably thinking I can’t me
Measure up is there a little bit of that n on yeah there there is that competition although I think I don’t think we had NCA guys offensive line defense line maybe one or two um but again it’s like we’re so comparable that I’m like well like what’s the what’s the
Hype on these guys for a lot of it I mean you see guys coming out of any school in Canada that are measuring up with guys that come out of big NCAA programs and you know it’s it’s damn near the same yeah you know when this
Start and the old lineman start to do the 40 I saw you training a couple weeks ago at the other so soccer yeah you you’re getting Speedy you Speedy get up and putting it down or whatever they say yeah yeah yeah that’s exactly it will
You uh keep an eye on the old lineman and their 40s or just 10 yard dash for offensive L you want to see them coming out of their stance and you want to see that 10 yard burst you want to see them accelerate and basically hit their top
Speed rate of 10 yards um anything more I mean it’s it’s yeah it’s nice to see a guy run a 49 or a five flat as an offensive lineman but really it’s not that applicable cuz like I said that’s not our job it’s not what we do on the
Field the only time I can remember some of you guys running 40 yards is maybe after a touchdown running into the end zone for the jumping up into the into the crowd so maybe maybe he’ll get back to trading 40 just for the Hop okay yeah we’ll do that yeah listen there’s
There’s part of this that I know fascinates you because I think you this could be something for you to do down the road right I think you’re a football guy would you say absolutely hopefully is there something for you here too that you’re kind of like in a way stockpiling for I’m trying
To information gather as much as I can so actually was talking with some some guys who used to play against that are now into coaching roles and and football operation roles uh JC shered who’s now the linebacker coach with the with the Riders and Larry Dean who’s now in
Football operations with the Riders um some guys who I chatted with and it’s just cool to see guys who had great careers transition into this league cuz this league is great and it’s it’s a a tremendous opportunity to keep keep involv football in the league that I
Love so hopefully I can keep learning I’ve been asking Kyle I’ve been asking o been asking Ted all sorts of questions trying to see what they’re seeing and kind of understand what they’re using out of this combine to help our team get better yeah one of the cool things about
It being in Winnipeg for the rest of the week here is the staff is way more involved than it would be at at combine in Toronto or Edmonton because Mike Miller is here new special teams coordinator Buck Pierce is here Marty Castell the old line Marty’s doing the
Old line stuff Ted gav assistant GM is here Mike and Kyle they would be at the combine regardless um there’s a lot of people involved here and it it gives the bombers maybe not a a an advantage but more eyeballs from our team watching prospects is not a bad thing can can
Always ask and and one one of the the cool things that I remember um Eric noville with the league talking about is everything’s kind of being evaluated how you treat all people how you treat staff how you if you keep a door open or if you’re picking up after yourself so you
Know I’m sure there’ll be people that’ll say hey this guy was an to me or this guy was polite or he was a good person that kind of thing so the more eyes in years I think is going to help yeah you know one of the things that
Came up kind of circling back to the interview thing and Kyle has talked about it a lot Mike as to you’re the guy that’s in the room but they talked about that’s a good dude that guy will fit that’s a good dude and we hear all the
Time about the culture in the room you know sometimes I think well every team’s going to have some kind culture why are we why is this different and yet I guess if you reinforce it all the time that guy might be a great player he’s not
Going to get along with our crew maybe talk about that because there have been draft picks in the past and I’m not going to name names that walk into the room and you thought that guy’s not going to make it through training camp yeah yeah that’s exactly what what’s
What’s the good dude factor that wiip pig looks at I I mean it starts with o it’s it starts with him every training camp saying we’re going to win with good people and I I mean it’s a people business no matter what you talk about it there’s athletes there’s front office
People there’s football operations but ultimately it’s a business about people so how you interact with people on a daily basis how well you get along with your co-workers essentially goes a long way so talking with O and other coaches it’s are they going to fit into that
Room where we we’ve been doing this for a long time and we kind of have that set core values that have kind of propelled us forward and the way we do things the way we handle things is there going to be a ruffling of the feathers are they
Going to come in and um um have a big ego and not back it up or are they going to you know do something that’s going to upset the herd kind of thing and and there is there is a little bit of that here and there and and what our I think
Our team does a great job of is allowing players to deal with that and not having coaches come in and infiltrate the locker room and and trying to put their hand at things it’s always is very trusting of us and afforded us the accountability to make sure hey like
This is your guys’ room this is the way we’re going you guys got to deal with this stuff too so um in trusting Us in that I think is a two-way street and I think as a core group of guys that we’ve had of veterans you know we’ve done a
Pretty good job of being like hey like this is a great dude Tanner schmeckle is a prime example yeah he’s a guy who came in from Regina um shout out Regina Hometown but not really um came in from ragina and wideeye bushy tailed like not knowing doesn’t know what he doesn’t
Know kind of thing but knew he wanted to be a a bomber yeah was doing everything he possibly could to fit in and by the end like by the end of camp gotten guys respect and guys knew that he was going to be a bomber because the way he
Practiced the way he played how he went up in front of the team and saying a song which we have rookies do and and um it’s just a way of endearing yourself to us as a group you have to sacrifice a bit of yourself to let us know that hey
I’m willing to do that on the field for you so it it’s uh it’s a great thing you know there’s there’s so much of this as as much as there it’s about information gathering there’s so much of this is an in exact science too isn’t it because what what what round were you
Drafted in third pick of the fifth round yeah so you’re three-time Allstar and there’s guys above you in that draft that aren’t in the game that maybe didn’t play a snap right so as much as teams focus on this stuff and the 40 times in the interviews they get it
Wrong too you get it wrong you hear it all the time you hear guys about hey like I love this tape we saw you know he tested extremely well like drafted him in the second round and then he shows up and it’s like where was that like where
Where is it like where’s y where’s that 40 speed on the field and why isn’t he playing like this and like you said it’s an exact science so I think as much information as you can gather on a player yeah because there there’s it’s a business side of it too there is dollars
And cents involved and you don’t want to be wasting money on a guy that’s not going to perform for you and and ultimately sometimes it doesn’t work out Josh I want to leave a little bit of a window here for fans to ask questions right yeah we still got time here we
Still got about uh we’re talking about 15 minutes 17 minutes okay um but that’s good it’s a good uh reminder so we’re actually going to take a minute here to to give away a pat newfeld Jersey what to someone hang out in chat we don’t
Have it here in the building but it is at the stadium okay I was going to say did you blow the dust off of that thing or what oh no it’s it’s fresh hot off the press oh nice um so if you’re hanging out in the Stream we’re going to
Be giving away a a pat newfi Jersey and uh all you have to do to enter to win that you have to be able to come pick it up at the bomber store um at the ticket encounter and all you have to do is on the live stream in the chat uh put
Newfeld in chat and then we’re going to pick someone uh randomly to win uh that Jersey and while we’re hanging out waiting for for those to start flying in um we had someone in chat talking about how um they wanted to hear about your experience in University compared to the
Pros yeah and how your coaches specifically got you ready for the pros just based on you you know how you played in in college uh so why don’t you talk a little bit about what it was like uh playing in college and then how did that translate over to the pros so I
Played a university skatan um I got there in 2006 and they kind of gone to a bunch of vanet and hadn’t won any so so um still kind of the upper estron of college football then um we actually lost the 06 vanue to Laval that year and our running
Back coach Jason Hogan yeah was the backup quarterback right so I will never forgive him for that but um uh back then that’s when they never had the the new seven-year rule for us sport players so we had guys that were playing five years of junior football red shooting year
Huskys and then playing five years of huskys so I was coming into a college football team where there was men who were 20 26 uh no I just had miss him I think his last year was 2005 and he was like 31 years old but we had we had an offensive
Lineman on our team who was 30 years old wow and I was 17 and I was like what the hell did I get myself into so very and I came from a small High School andina a small private high school where we we were good football team for one year and
Didn’t know what I didn’t know and came into the huskys and got like my ass kicked every day but um I want again I it kind kind of started my passion for football and our coaching staff was phenomenal um I played dline my rookie year actually and uh that winter our
Head coach Brian tus after my rookie year was like you know what you’re probably going to be better off if you become an offensive lineman so I said whatever what was the why would he say that what what happened that he did he see yeah okay I don’t maybe he saw
Greatness Ah that’s or maybe I just Su too much at D whatever it was uh it worked out so thank you BT um so he moved me over to offensive line and um yeah took some licks that year cuz I I’d never really played offensive line um
And then by my second year I started starting um third year I went to the East West game and uh it was tough man like we college football was tough we we practiced really hard we practicing pads every day full pads which was totally different than it was it is in
Professional football now um I remember two days in the August heat and Saskatoon was pretty hot and and harvest was coming around the corner so it’s getting a little Dusty out there and um it’s hot and we do the old school morning and afternoon practices so you’d
Practice at 9:00 in the morning for 2 and 1/2 hours couple hour break go back out there and practice warn out wouldn’t you you’re just tired and and you’re younger but you’re still tired and and um going against grown men who were 25 kind of kicking your ass was tough but
Uh taught me a lot about grit and and toughness and competition and um I remember getting drafted and going to Ridder camp and what blew me away mostly was the speed of American guys like there was not a lot of Canadian guys that could run like like American dudes and kind of
Like the shiftiness and quickness of defensive linemen I’d say they twitch um not a lot of guys were Twitchy like some of the dudes that I was in Camp with and guys weren’t even making the team but they were coming up and I couldn’t tell you where they’re from or who they were
But just twitch you guys I’m like I never played against anyone like this in the can West so that was the one thing that I learned really quickly is like you got to move your feet as an offensive lineman L to stay in front of
Guys but I went back to school after my first year of Rider camp and going through that training camp made me a 20,000 time better football player I was actually I became an all Canadian That season um and I strictly uh relate it to being through Ridder
Camp and and getting my ass kicked and coming out on the better end of it so um the one thing that the ufs really help me transition with o was my technique um we had I had two offens line coaches at ufs who um were really adam- in about
Our offensive line technique so we would drill for hours each week on our individuals on proper technique and it was the Manu of it but it’s still stuff that I used today so that um that has really really helped me um still to this day yeah cool well I’m going to jump in
Here that was awesome that was such a such a sweet answer um but we do have our Jersey winner and it’s uh it’s Michelle pook p o l i n u k Michelle congratulations congratulations Michelle you won the pat newfeld Jersey so that’ll be at the uh the bombers store
Ticket encounter if you to pick up starting tomorrow um and uh that was such an awesome answer and we actually have a bunch of more questions that rolled in so we’re just going to hit some more some more fan questions really quick um and the first one is from uh
Someone by the name of Chris k i I don’t know is that Chris kenowski I don’t know I’m not sure but but his question uh is how does he get his beard to look so full oh man genetics goes a long way uh Viking stock uh maybe a little beard oil
And uh so you could be in Vikings we were talking about this before I think so Chris doesn’t have the hype for it co Kowski he’s got the beard and the look for it but like just on a mini scale so if Chris if you’re watching be in the
Same scene as you then well he could but they would have to do like the the the difference of space like they did in Lord of the Rings where they made people far away so they made them look small Chris would have to do the opposite
Where they make them look tall or he could have the Tom Cruz bench that he stand yeah or just massive platform shoes for Chris so Chris yeah he’s got a chance there our next question uh comes from bjr and and they say what’s your favorite Costco item to fuel the game
Day Costco item to fuel the game day I mean my all-time favorite Costco item is chocolate covered almonds but I wouldn’t use that to fuel for game day I don’t know probably like chicken you have to tell us again you said this on a podcast recently that we
Did yourself and Darren Cameron and I about your post game cheat me oh yeah the golden arches there’s nothing better than earning double cheeseburgers from McDonald’s much like they wheeled in on a wagon uh at the old combine but I it’s like man it’s a guilty pleasure you just
Went through like 25 car accidents in the course of 4 hours I’m going to like reward myself with a couple cheeseburgers and a couple beers a couple of cheeseburgers a couple maybe three this uh this this next one it’s it’s quite the doozy I mean you might
Have to get into this I didn’t know this was a calculus or algebra class but this is really this is a challenging one um this uh this fan says uh who has better ABS Zack keris or Stanley Bryant and that’s that’s from Stanley Bryant that’s Stan 100% that’s Stanley Stanley uh for
Years has said he will have abs by training camp and every year he follows through every year way to go Stan how has he managed to stay out of the camera Stanley yeah because that that’s not public that that hasn’t gotten out there and him being so large like physically
Staying out of the camera is pretty hard to do I don’t know how he’s done it that’s a that’s a tough question I’ll I’ll ask him later U Mike goodchild wants to know if you’ll be at the combine tomorrow because he has a camo Jersey that he wants to get your
Signature on I will be what kind of Jersey is it C Jersey oh yeah we were talking about the digi cam Jersey I’m surprised they still have those I thought like Wade set fire to them and we were never allowed to speak of them again but uh I kind of like those
Jerseys they were the most comfortable Jersey I think I’ve ever worn but um there was no gold on them no was so I don’t know whoever designed them kind of missed the whole blue and gold part of the Blue Bombers but uh hats off whoever uh made them comfortable but I will sign
It if if he’s around Beauty um this uh this next fan um Jake Thomas wants to know who you get confused with most on the team I actually have a good story about this okay did all these guys are chiming in here it’s Beau home my
Buddies so Jake Jake and I this happens all the time where people think I’m Jake and Jake is me really so I’ll give you two examples one time uh my partner and I Paul were walking into Ikea just to do a little shopping and this little chubby
Kid comes running up to me and he’s like oh my God are you Jake Thomas and I said no I wish I’m Pat newfeld and he went oh he walked away so that humbled me uh why did you tell him that story who you should not have told Jake Thomas that
Cuz people think Jake is me okay so Jake this happens to Jake call time so the second one was I was at the McConnell Irish dance evening on St p Church day a couple days ago or last week and I was standing up against the wall and a
Little fell walked past me and it’s a t Kenard on his bomber alumni Jersey I’m like oh that’s Trevor kard and then I was chatting I was standing there wearing a brown jacket with a bomber logo on it and he walks up to me and he
Says excuse me is your name Jake and I’m like no it’s Pat newfeld and he’s like oh I know who you are so it happens all the time even to bomber alumni and we’ll have to have Jake on to talk about times he’s been mistaken well maybe Jake and I
Should get a segment some sort of uh who’s who segment going on yeah well Josh make a note of that that will be a future show down the road I’m writing that down as we speak um Casey Jones wants to know how hard it is this is a
Little more a little more serious question um he wants to know how hard it is to adjust to a new member of the o line specifically with with Yosh leaving um what’s that like uh for the unit to adjust when you got a new person coming
In to start working with the unit that’s a that’s a great question that’s like a football operations level question um man where to start that’s uh there’s a lot that goes into that um first is is he physical our offensive line room Prides ourselves on being physical so
We’ll we’ll see that pretty quickly in individuals how they’re coming off the ball um how they’re hitting people 101’s and inside run are the big ones but are they a likable person did they fit into the room are they selfish or are they willing to make fun of themselves and
Put themselves kind of on blast to endear themselves to us a little bit more and and um understand kind of the dynamic of the room where we have some guys who’ve been in our room for a long time and not that we’re dictators or anything like that but um you know
There’s a certain hierarchy of our room and it’s just can you kind of figure it out on the Fly and and not be selfish and ultimately is it that was a good question I want to build on it a little bit because it was a very good question
You say you’re looking looking for a guy that’s physical yeah I watch thousand football games every Old Line tries to be physical what shows up on tape that you’d say it’s not what we’re after I mean what would that be a lot of times it’s it’s what we call
Finishing and it’s it’s seeing what happens when the whistle is blown are you are you shoving a guy as the whistle is being blown are you getting guys on the ground is there is their bodies on the ground we I mean for the longest time we would me me San and Yosh would
Be talking about hell in as hell WWE wrestling and I mean it doesn’t sound like football but there’s times where we go out with a mindset where it’s going to be like Hell in a Cell out there and we’re going to we’re going to go out
There and just try and get bodies on the ground and I mean you can’t you can’t make a tackle if you’re lying on the ground so we we just want to play physical we want to get under guys skin we want to be chippy out there we want
We’re going to play to the full extent of the law so we o does a great job of telling us the rules he also does a great job of informing us who the referees are and what kind of penalties they throw so um you know we’re very aware of who’s calling and who’s
Standing where and um yeah it’s it’s just it’s the Hallmark of what we’ve done over the last eight years with this program and um I think it’s it’s done some great things for us how we doing J great we’re doing great um we’re just wrapping up here I have one more
Question and then uh we’re going to hit the plugs and then we’ll hit the outro and then uh and then we’re going to be out but the last question um is uh who has a better Barrel Jake Thomas or or Chris K who asked this Chris
K man Chris is just feeling so left out I’ll give it to Chris Chris has the better Barrel that thing is unbelievably round and firm it’s like a turtle shell I don’t know how he does it uh the guy the guy eats more cheeseburgers than anyone really and that that stomach is
As hard as this railing it’s unbelievable so great question I get the feeling that some of these guys are gathered around the YouTube channel right now with a wobbly pop open I hope they are I hope they are so that’s uh that’s kind of all the time we got here
So I’ll throw it to you to wrap up Ed and then any plugs that the before we get to to our farewell sort of thing let’s just take one quick peek I know training Camp’s like less than two months away there are changes yeah but the core is still here what’s your I
Mean everybody gets excited at this time of year but this team’s been the four Great cups in a row uh I think a lot of people think it could be five in a row mhm talk to us about what you sense right now with this squad I think it’s
Going to be one of the more if not the most competitive training camp coming up in my opinion just because of like you said some open spots on our team uh we have open spots in defensive back back field defensive line uh offensive line so there’s going to be some serious
Competition which um is always a great thing in this sport so really looking forward to that and and being a part of it and especially in the offensive line with two pieces gone um it’s going to be interesting and it’s going to it’s ultimately going to come down to who
Plays and executes the best so uh Camp is going to be competitive and I think that’s going to fuel us going into the season um hitting things on high you know really looking forward to our offense and and some of the things that buck and Marty and Jay and and Bergs are
Going to come up with and uh obviously having Zach is always huge for us and having Brady back is huge plus our receivers I mean I could go on and on about the people on our offense so just as a unit really excited to get out
There and um we say it every year but we’re going to hit the ground running uh we’re a veteran group uh we know what it takes to get to that spot and uh we’re going to start playing fast and physical they’re just warming up out here at about 7:00 they’re
Supposed to start so fans that still want to come down they can probably come down here we got to be off here so that the cfl’s live streaming on their website cfl.ca can get going here can’t thank you enough Pat for helping people under myself too understand what’s going
On all this week in the combine it’s fun for kind of draft peeks like you and me and CFL fans so uh we appreciate fans for the for checking in on the the Huddle remember to like And subscribe on our YouTube page uh our next show will
Probably be uh April end of April around the draft we’re not sure if we’re going to do a Draft preview or a draft wrap yet we’ll have more details as we get close closer to that so thanks again for tuning in appreciate you Patty and uh
Thanks very much Pat you got any you got any plugs you got for the folks can’t think of anything uh McDonald’s if you’re watching in send a couple double cheeseburgers over I’ll always take that and a wagon yeah in a wagon let’s get a red wagon out and as always thanks for
The bomber fans for for supporting and watching uh best fans in the CFL and uh can’t wait to see Princess Auto Stadium rocking well done
