By Geoff Crane
Stampeders.com

Come Saturday night at McMahon Stadium, the Calgary Stampeders will welcome back a few familiar faces from the injured ranks including two who have travelled a long recovery road.

Micah Johnson is returning from a knee injury suffered early last season that prematurely ended his season for a second consecutive time. Having to deal with yet another setback, Johnson tried to not let his frustration get the best of him.

Having decided to leave the team and head home for his rehab efforts, the hulking defensive lineman felt  lot of pressure to ensure he did all he could to get back to full health and rejoin his brethren in 2015.

“It was tough,” says Johnson after his last full practice before taking the field this Saturday. “But if you know what you want to do, where your heart is at, no matter how tough it gets, no matter how frustrated I get, I know I still want to play football and keep going.”

After working hard for nearly a year to get back into the lineup, Johnson is champing at the bit to get into a meaningful game and start physically engaging in the gridiron battle once again.

Standing an imposing six-foot-two and 276 lbs. – the majority of which seems to have been deposited in his massive shoulders – No. 93 is itching to punish opposing offensive lineman.

“That’s the aspect about our D-line, you have to get physical contact on every play,” says Johnson. “Come the first play, I’m going to coil up and hit (the o-lineman across) in the mouth as hard as I can.”

Also itching to get back into game action is special-teams standout Ben D’Aguilar, who suffered a season-ending knee injury last September in a game against the Toronto Argonauts.

While on the mend during the off-season, D’Aguilar – recognizable by his tiger-striped arm sleeve – welcomed a man-cub of his own into his family. Having a little one to care for while also having to take care of himself caused the third-year linebacker to gain a lot of perspective.

“Raising a kid is probably the hardest thing I’ve done, so football is easy,” smiles the proud father. “The family helps. Having the little dude to kind of play around with helps to take the mind off my recovery. You just go home and see a laughing little baby and you can forget about all that stuff and come to the stadium the next day refreshed and say, ‘That really wasn’t so bad.’ ”

While no player wants to have to go through serious injury, D’Aguilar prefers to look at the situation from a glass half-full perspective.

Having a little extra time to devote to his son early on in his life allowed him to find a balance and provided a bit of an escape from the rigours of rehab.

Now that the knee is better, D’Aguilar can’t wait to get back out on the field with his brothers in the Red and White.

“It’s cliché as hell but the camaraderie, getting to hang out with all the dudes in the locker room . . .” he says. “Until you actually go to war with them, that’s what builds the brotherhood and the team mentality.

“I haven’t done that in a while. It’s almost been a year, so it will be good to get out there with the bros.”

Johnson echoes that statement. That yearning to be among his teammates, fighting side by side for the same goal was one of the things that drove him the most.

All the hard work, the literal blood, sweat and tears have built up to the moment these two athletes get to pull on that uniform and join their teammates on the field against the Ottawa RedBlacks.

“If something is going on, I want to be a part of it with them,” says Johnson with a wide smile. “That’s the thing I’m looking forward to most is getting prepared to go out there and be ready with them.”

“That’s why I really can’t wait just to get in there and get into a war with people.”