By Nic Sgaggi
Stampeders.com

It’s been a wild ride at running back for the Calgary Stampeders, who once again found a different leading rusher in Week 7.

One you wouldn’t expect.

Rob Cote, Stamps fullback of eight years, led the charge in the Red and White’s rushing department after Martell Mallett went down with a groin injury on Saturday night and a banged-up Jock Sanders was held out for precautionary reasons.

The bizarre thing is Cote didn’t even get his first touch until the third quarter. It was a beauty, though — a career-long 11-yard dash. Late in the contest, he added a 10-yard carry.

“It was a lot of fun,” Cote said. “It’s unfortunate when I’m back there because that means we’ve lost a couple guys. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a little fun to go back there and carry the ball a couple times. I’m just glad we were able to get the win.”

The Stamps displayed a wealth of options on the ground in Saturday’s win over the RedBlacks. Although Cote led the team with just 32 yards rushing, the offence still managed to muster up a total of 94 yards between seven different ball-carriers.

Cote wasn’t expecting to go in at tailback but considering the Stamps have been plagued by running back injuries this season — Jon Cornish and Matt Walter are also out — he was ready for the challenge.

“Expecting – not really,” Cote said. “I’m kind of an emergency guy at a couple positions. I don’t ever expect it but I’m always ready if my number is called, just like everybody else. If you’ve got to step in there and do it, they don’t expect you to miss a beat.”

He joked about being able to play any position because he has experience in them all — even quarterback.

“I was kind of a jack-of-all-trades, master of none,” Cote said. “I’ve played all the positions. I’ve played every single position on the field in a game in my football life. It’s been a long time since I was a tailback — that was more of my peewee youngster days. But you know, it never leaves and you’re always excited to get a shot at it.”