During each training camp there are surprises. Some come from newcomers who get a chance to shine, others from veterans acquired from another team who perform at a higher level than expected.
Then there are guys like Llevi Noel.
Noel is a known commodity; his 70 games played with the Argos is the second most on the team, trailing just long snapper Jake Reinhart. But this year there’s something different about the Toronto native. Physically, he looks exactly the same, but his production has been unlike any year we’ve seen the receiver, now in his fifth training camp in Double Blue.
The obvious question is why?
“I feel the same as last year,” Noel told Argonauts.ca after Thursday’s practice. “I just feel like I’m in a position right now where I can highlight what I can bring to the table.”
Simply put, if you’ve attended an Argo practice this year, you’ve noticed Noel. On Thursday he was catching so many passes in offence vs. defence drills that defensive players were joking about how often he was getting thrown to.
There’s also a difference in the type of passes he’s been catching. If you were to describe Noel’s career to date, it would be as a tremendous special teams player, and a back-up pass catcher who essentially acted as a check-down receiver when utilized in a game.
This year Noel is catching hitch passes, short passes, intermediate passes, long passes, sideline passes and passes between the hash marks. He’s also catching everything thrown to him.
His confidence level is as high as it’s ever been.
“It definitely feels good to contribute to the team every day,” he said. “It makes me feel good as a teammate and as an individual. Any time you get the ball in your hands and make a play with it, it feels great, but honestly, this year I told myself I’m going to put it on the table, put it all on the field and get what I get from the game.”
To say the Argos are deep at receiver would be an understatement. Established American CFLers were brought in and were complemented by a talented crop of first-year players.
In terms of Canadians, the talent level is also exceptionally high. The group of Noel, a more confident Kurleigh Gittens Jr., rookies Dejon Brissett, Tommy Nield and Sam Baker is headlined by Juwan Brescacin, the former Calgary Stampeder who signed a free-agent deal with the Argos in 2020.
“I feel like over the years the team with the best Canadian depth usually ends up in the Grey Cup and usually wins,” explained the Mississauga native. “Llevi is out here making plays, Dejon’s making plays, Kurleigh’s making plays, we all can make plays on the field. I just think that makes us way more versatile on offence.”
In many instances, CFL teams will play a Canadian at the “Z” spot, the outside receiver to the wide side of the field. It’s a position that’s not targeted often and is often a wasted offensive space as some teams use it to simply help fill its required number of Canadian starters.
This group is different. Brescacin at 6’3”, 230 and Noel at 6’1”, 205 are best suited to play inside, and the goal is to eventually see what 6’0”, 208 Brissett can do in the slot.
The camaraderie of the receiving corps is good, but there’s an extremely healthy competition underway right now. There are in all probability just one or two starting spots available for the Canucks, which has led to a friendly, albeit high-stakes battle.
“I feel like even if you’re a starter you can never be too comfortable,” said Brescacin. “The guys behind you want that spot, so you have to be on your “A” game all the time, but the biggest thing is we all help each other. I’m really familiar with the offence, but just because Llevi or Dejon are out here making plays doesn’t mean that I’m not going to help them on the details of the playbook.”
With the days until the season opener in Calgary getting fewer in number, this is a competition to keep an eye on as camp progresses.
DOUBLE BLUE NEWS
Thursday was time for a two-a-day, held mon the upper grass field at Guelph.
If there is one group having more fun than any other it’s easily the defensive line. That’s not unexpected from any unit that features Charleston Hughes, but the individuals are all starting to feel a little more at ease and more comfortable being themselves.
As he does every day, Jake Reinhart was working with punters Boris Bede and Toshiki Sato. Staff members were timing the punt, from the time the ball was snapped to the time the ball left the punter’s foot. The goal was to get it to 2.1 seconds, and the overwhelming majority of the punts were at, or under that number.
During “skelly”, Henoc Muamba looked like, well, Henoc Muamba. On one play he dropped back into coverage, read the play perfectly, and picked off a pass, sprinting some 50 yards to the end zone.
Did you ever have to have a tough conversation with your family? You were changing jobs, breaking up with someone they really liked, or decided to move to Winnipeg. (The last one may or may not involve this humble typist’s stepdaughter, but that’s another article altogether).
One of those difficult discussions was instigated this June by Argonauts linebacker Eric Mezzalira. He signed a free-agent deal after spending the first two years of his CFL career in Calgary.
He had to explain his move to Toronto to his family; a group of die-hard Hamilton Tiger-Cat fans.
“They definitely had mixed feelings at first,” the Hamilton native said with a smile. “Honestly, they’re just excited to see me play close to home. I know the whole family is really excited to get out to BMO Field and watch all the Argos games and us beat up on Hamilton.”
The smile got really big when he said that last part.
“They were season ticket holders (in Hamilton), they will be with the Argos now. They’ll switch over. It will be nice to see them in blue.”
Now the smile was getting even bigger. Mezzalira also realizes they’ll have to change their wardrobe slightly.
“The house is full of Hamilton and Calgary stuff all over the place. Now I’m sure it’s going to be swamped with Double Blue. I know my nonna is probably rolling in her grave because she was a die-hard fan from, like, 1930 for the Ticats, but I’m sure she’s just happy to see me back on the field.”
Aren’t we lucky to be involved in such a great rivalry?