For me personally, in that time between the end of training camp and the start of the regular season, I like to get back into the gym. I like starting to get my strength back up and improve my flexibility and start taking care of those little nicks and bruises that you can’t pay too much attention to during camp, because you’ve got to keep going.
So it’s that and just polishing up the game plan and making sure that we know our assignments, that we can play fast and that we’re not going to have any questions on the field.
This is my first year with the Stampeders and my first five or six days were pretty hard because this is a very different scheme from what we were playing in Toronto. But now that I’m adjusted to it, I like it a lot. I feel like this is really perfect for what I can do and hopefully I can just make some plays.
There were some familiar faces when I first arrived here with the Stamps. I remember Coach Jones from ’07 when I was in Montreal. DeVone Claybrooks was there as well. And Jabari Arthur I’ve known for about 15 years — we played minor football against each other. Marc Calixte and Randy Chevier both played at the same prep school as I did — Vanier College. So there was some familiarity there and it wasn’t too bad a transition coming into the locker-room.
Jabari and I run a company in the off-season called Athletic Academy where we go to our old neighbourhoods where we played football just to show the kids proper running and lifting techniques and maybe show them what type of intensity is required to get to this level of football.
I was just at home one day and I was watching some minor-league football in my neighbourhood and I just thought: “You know what? This is horrible.” The coaches are doing the best they can but where do they get the information from? So why don’t we make it available? Let’s try to help the parents and the kids out. We’ve gotten a great response, a lot of great kids have come out of the program so far and the parents are loving it. So we’re just going to keep working on it.
As things worked out, my first regular-season game for the Stampeders is going to be against my former team, the Argos. I’m going to be happy to see those guys. I spent four good years in Toronto. I always wish I could have gotten on the field more there but you know what? It taught me one thing and that’s to work hard every day and prepare yourself for an opportunity like I got here last year playing against Calgary in the season-opener.
So now to come full circle and to playing for Calgary against Toronto, I’ve got nothing but respect for those guys and I’m looking forward to a great game.
Adrian Davis, #90
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