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He has about the same arm strength as Cody Fajardo. What's going to surprise a lot of people is that he runs like a running back.

I remember when the Bombers traded away Don Jonas to Hamilton & threw rookie Dieter Brock to the wolves thinking he was ready to start in a game against the Eskimos at Clarke Stadium in September of 1974. Brock got the **** beat out of him that game. Completing barely a third of his passes & serving up I believe 4 picks as well as being sacked over & over all game long. It really showed that Brock wasn't ready for prime time. He sat behind Chuck Ealey for a year until HC Bud Riley determined that Brock had surpassed ealey on the roster & was ready to play in 1975. The Bombers traded Ealey to the Argos in 1975 & made Brock the starter. For the next nine seasons, we had a qb who could set the air on fire throwing zingers to his receivers all over the field. The kid was ready & he became one of the CFL's greats but it took a year. What a difference that year made in this case.

While unfortunate that JSK went out with an injury, I really hope to see Shay and Smith get reps at LB throughout the season.

I will wait and see. I think that the riot act was read from above and we will see some different deployment this year.
Agreed. We haven't even played a game yet and have no idea what our roster even looks like yet. I get that we have nerves around here about what our roster/deployment might look like, but let's wait to see it before we go all doom and gloom. We have a lot more talent than we did last year.

Winnipeg Blue Bomber CHATTER 🏈
Brad H. Arrison  ·   ·
Above and beyond: Blue Bombers’ hopeful gives new life to six-year-old stranger
Paul Friesen
Growing up in Tucson, Ariz., Stevie Rocker, Jr., never thought he’d be playing college football in Montana or trying out for a pro team in Manitoba.
Those are mere footnotes compared to the impact the Winnipeg Blue Bombers hopeful is having on a young boy in Argentina.
Just over a year ago, the 23-year-old running back donated bone marrow to save the life of a kid he’s never met.
“I was told I was helping a kid who had a really bad bone problem, and I’m pretty much his last hope,” Rocker said in a chat with the Winnipeg Sun on Monday. “If nothing goes through, he’s going to have to live in a hospital for the rest of his life, which wasn’t very long.”
Rocker had signed up for the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) at the University of Montana.
It began with a simple cheek swab, putting him into a database that connects him with potential matches. A blood test to find a true match was next.
“Ninety percent of people, when they do it, they’re blood (stem cell) donations,” he said. “And blood donations for older people. So you expect that when you’re going in. But they were telling me, ‘You’re part of the 10 percent. You’re doing a bone-marrow donation.”
That meant more of a surgical procedure, being put under instead of simply being hooked up to an IV.
After completing reams of paperwork and having more blood drawn, Rocker and his girlfriend flew to Kansas City, where he had more blood draws the day before hitting the operating table.
Doctors were to drill into and extract the marrow from the hip bones in his lower back.
“They were telling me it was a 30- to 45-minute procedure,” he recalled. “And it ended up being two-and-a-half hours. Because they didn’t know that I was an athlete, my bone density is a little harder. So it took a lot longer for them to drill into the back.”
Rocker will never forget the date: April 26.
The pain – he compared it to being hit in the back without pads on – went away in a week or two.
The feeling in his heart isn’t going anywhere.
“This kid’s six years old,” Rocker said. “He hasn’t really had a chance to even see the world, have an opportunity to even live out his own dreams. I play football. I’ll deal with the back pain if it’s a chance to give this kid an opportunity to live, have a life, and not worry about having procedures and being in the hospital.
“Just an opportunity for him and his family to be together and get out of there.”
So far, the only thing Rocker knows about the boy is his age and that he’s from Argentina. He may eventually be told a little more.
“That’s all I’m hoping,” he said. “Just one day, I can at least reach out just to know they’re doing alright.”
Meeting his donor recipient would be the ultimate.
As for living his own dream, Rocker got that call four days before the Bombers opened rookie camp.
He knew the Canadian game had bigger end zones with goal posts in the front and an extra man on the field, and that was about it.
He was as naive about the country in general.
“When I was leaving Arizona, we were in the 90s already,” he said. “I come out here and I seen snow the first day of rookie camp. I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ Canada was something I always thought would be a visiting destination, not a place I’d end up living for a while.”
Rocker not only survived the three-day rookie camp, but he also hit Day 9 of main camp on Monday.
“And here I am. It’s an awesome opportunity,” he said. “Just feeling appreciated, knowing that somebody’s looking at you in a different light.”
Coaches will, of course, be looking to see how good the 6-foot-0, 220-pounder is as a running back, receiver, blocker and potential special-teams player.
Hearing his backstory, they’ll immediately get a handle on him as a person.
“We try to fill our room with good people,” head coach Mike O’Shea said. “That would obviously be the sign of being a great person.”
Asked about the origin of his willingness to go the extra mile to help someone he doesn’t even know, Rocker pointed to his upbringing in Tucson.
“You just learn about being kind to people in general,” is how he put it. “God always gives you an opportunity just to show the kind of person you are, regardless of how big or small. You never want to pass up that opportunity, because you never know how that’ll reach somebody else.
“Saying my story may reach out to somebody else who’s on the fence of wanting to do it.”
Rocker would love nothing more than to make this team and get to know Winnipeg a little better. He likes the little taste he’s had.
If he’s cut, though, he’ll take some invaluable things with him, like lessons he’s already learned from star tailback Brady Oliveira, along with tips from other players and coaches.
Something else he carries with him wherever he goes is a reminder of the selfless decision he made, an act he’ll hold closer to his heart than any football.
“I’ve got two little scars on my back,” he said. “I’ll have those forever.”

I had his number but I dropped my phone.

Stuart has soo much upside, sam/lber body with the athleticism and raw tools to run with wrs and cover. I’d love to have him on the ar early to play teams and develop as an actual db. He was a great sleeper pick.
Idk if we’d have to hide him. teams don’t usually poach rookie drafted canadians if you pr em. idr the last pr poach at all.
Pressure should be on both hallett and kelly. Ball really over achieved last year and had some flashes. Kid plays his heart out.

I like that he can play any of the Line Backer positions and Safety.

Agree - He won both agility drills at the cfl combine this year posting a 4.01 shuttle/6.82 3-cone which for a 223 lb’r is impressive.

You should root for him - I am! Quick feet and good eyes!

Link from my nephew re camp video Stuart #7
For anyone interested.
Not rooting for - just familiar with his play and think projects well.

My first post so go easy on responses:) I have to agree about draft pick Stuart (#7 - on D) - frankly surprised he hasn’t gotten more mentions from his camp - disagree with early comments he’s just a ST body. My nephew played with him at Mac so I’ve seen many of his college games and he’s a legitimate top tier stud - elite in coverage, in the box and he tackles like a beast.
Here’s a theory - because he’s a non counter - wonder if JY is hiding him with the 3’s until roster trimming is done. Apparently JY talks to him regularly - would be surprised if he isn’t rostered as he’s been taking reps with the 1’s on punt, and regular D reps with the 2’s and done well. With his size (220+) and movement he presents a ton of options - Boundary Safety, Half, SAM or WSLB. My nephew sent a great cut up of Stuart’s camp performance (pretty impressive: multiple picks/PBU’s and dominant in battle drills) - I’d post it but I don’t know how to upload video attachments?

Madden Create-A-Players are leaking into the real world.

We really need a 50/50 guy. Hopefully he's a guy that continues to impress since the highly touted other big man couldn't make the grade.

pace is a good get.

Homer Simpson made roster construction look so easy.
I am a failure.

He needed to drop weight and it should show up on the field. I think he will take a huge step forward this season.

Sometimes, as fans, we value backups more than starters until we see them play. Myron Mitchell was cut in camp? If you are asking if he should have been cut the answer is probably. Coaches always value vets, every coach ever, if all things are equal you go with the vet unless there is some serious cap savings, or the other players upside is so high that you just gotta let him take his rookie lumps. It is nonsense to say that MOS does not give young players a chance. There are a ton of guys that were year two starters on our team. There are even a few guys that were rookies with us and were starters first year. Just because we don't replace every player based on a TIMEX like they do with airplanes, does not mean we refuse to use young guys. To be the man you gotta beat the man. Sure OSH gives his vets a little more leash than most, but I think this board goes a little over the top sometimes when it suggests that MOS won't make changes if need be.

And likely wont be his role, or need to be really.
He will be speed off the edge, and a pressure guy but also prob has the ability to as well crash in on the line off the edge as a nice backside pressure hopefully getting to ball carriers before they get into second level.
He's a guy we haven't really had in a while...a pure speed rush end...Interestingly enough Bailey is prob just as fast off the snap...if not faster and also can bull rush his way in and actually overpower an olineman...He's very deceiving body wise with what he possesses and a lot of people are totally under estimating him and what he will bring....He's a unique player.
Gotta think we will see sets with Ceresna, WJ....Bailey and Gatkuoth as a 4 more man front and that will be a hard group for an oline crew to manage

Yeah, he got injured in 2019, hence bringing in Zach and re-signing him as opposed to Nichols.

Shawn Lemon. We may have been able to win in 2019 with Nichols but who knows. That one sack completely turned the franchise around.

I truly don't believe MOS is deciding who is on the field in which packages on O or D. I don't believe that is how the team is run from everything we've seen and heard from everyone involved right up through Walters and Wade Miller.
I believe he wields strong influence on who is on the bottom 1/3 of the roster for special teams purposes, Canadians and DI's. But of the guys on the roster, I believe from basically everything we've seen that his coordinators are designing the packages including WHO is on the field.
I think if you want to glean something from our deployment on D the past few years it's that Younger doesn't trust rookies. Even most of the guys we've brought in off the street into camp or due to injury and rostered had extensive experience in the CFL. Younger will only reluctantly put a rookie on the field.

Reps have to be earned. MOS will play a canuck over an American, we know that, so if he's playing an American while the NAT sits on the bench it's because that NAT ain't ready.