When you’re trying to pave the way for Jon Cornish and he has a big game like he did last week against Saskatchewan, I definitely take great pride in that.
Then add to that, he’s one of my good friends and I’m really happy for him as well. It’s a lot of fun on both ends when he does off for a big game.
We arrived with the Stampeders at the same time and we’ve been able to climb through the ranks together. I remember a couple of years ago, we were all out for dinner — me, Jon and Drew Tate — and I said to them, “You know, one day I’ll be pretty excited to see if this the starting backfield.” It’s a lot of fun to see. We started at the same time and now Jon is a big superstar!
He’s tops in the league in rushing right now and I really want to do everything I can to make sure it stays that way because I think that would be a big thing for the Canadian game and a huge accomplishment for Jon himself.
The only thing is that when the quarterbacks or running backs take the offensive line out for dinner, it seems the fullbacks don’t get anything. We don’t get any dinners from anybody. So I’m going to put that out there. That’s the only recognition I want — I want some free food.
Seriously, I like contributing on offence by blocking and by getting involved in the passing game. I’ve just had a couple of good opportunities this season to get out in the open field.
Towards the end of last year, I was starting to get the ball a lot more. Now this year, it’s kind of carried over. It’s never enough, though. You always want to get a couple more. It is fun when you can go out and run with the ball.
And once I get the ball, I don’t want the first defensive player to tackle me. That’s kind of my thing. I’m not going to outrun many people, but I don’t ever want to let the first guy get me.
Labour Day is another chance for us to get on a roll and build on last week’s win.
Everybody keeps saying we’re a young team and we need to find our groove. Whatever that is, we need to start stringing wins together and find our identity as a team. I think as soon as we do that, we could be a very dangerous club.
Rob Cote, #26
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