“The rule has been we don’t talk about last year.”
Toronto Argonauts right guard Dakoda Shepley didn’t have to live through the team’s 2025 running attack, or lack of same.
The first-year Boatman was busy wrapping up a five-year NFL career in Dallas but is aware of the struggles the Argos had in 2025. The historically poor output doesn’t concern him as his focus is on turning things around this season.
“It’s a whole new scheme, new coaches, new techniques” the Windsor native told Argonauts.ca. “We’ve been practicing for a month now and we’re excited to put it on tape.”
Also new in 2026, the players. He’s been added to the offensive line along with Kendall Randolph, late of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and CFL rookie Desmond Bland.
There’s also a quartet of new running backs, none of whom have CFL experience. Isaiah Smith and Weagbe Mombo – who is currently on the practice roster – were both draft picks, while Qualan Jones and Sam Hicks are newcomers to three-down football.
Hicks flashed the brightest in the two pre-season games against Hamilton, with a combined 9 carries for 76 yards (8.4 per carry) and 3 touchdowns. It’s quickly becoming a nice story for the Fort Worth, Texas native, who was completely out of football last year after wrapping up his NCAA career at Abilene Christian, where he was named a Second Team All-American as an all-purpose player.
Though it was a tough year for him, he didn’t give up on his dream of playing pro football.
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“Last year I trained every day,” Hicks told Argonauts.ca. “I trained kids on the side, but other than that I just worked out every day, having faith and waiting on that call. A year later, here we are.”
Camp opened with Spencer Brown and Peyton Logan getting reps with the first unit, but the other four backs won the audition, the Argos comfortable with how each one fits into the big picture.
Utilizing three backs isn’t a new thing in Toronto. En route to the Grey Cup in 2024 the club used Deonte McMahon and Dan Adeboboye, with the team’s current running backs coach, Ka’Deem Carey, as the lead back. Two years prior, in the 2022 championship year, Adeboboye complemented Andrew Harris and AJ Ouellette, with the latter two splitting most of the carries.
In those two seasons the backs became each other’s biggest fans. There was no ego involved, just a group of players thriving with a team first mentality.
Hicks sees a similar situation developing with this group.
“We know our role,” he explained. “We’re going to do our job, everybody’s doing their own job, everybody is complementing everybody. That’s what I love about the team, we complement the receivers, the quarterbacks, the offensive linemen, and they complement us. We all have skillsets, and we all know what we have to do, and that builds something beautiful.”
The tailbacks and o-line will also have another duo to add to the mix. Jack Cassar moves from linebacker to fullback/tight end, while rookie Sebastian Parsalidis is more of a pure fullback. Both have shown off their blocking abilities in camp.
It’s given first year head coach Mike Miller reason for optimism, knowing how important running the ball is in his style of football.
“The game within the game is a field position battle,” Miller told Argonauts.ca. “Being able to move the chains, a lot of that is on the run game. You want to be able to eat up minutes, you’re able to do that if you have a strong run game. Then comes the physicality part of the game. You’re always trying to impose your will on the defence and just wear guys down. You try to take some pressure off the pass protections too. It’s very important.”
Miller stressed the importance of his backs being able to pass block, one of the more underappreciated aspects of the position, at least by casual observers of the game.
He’s been happy with what he’s seen so far, both from players and coaches, but Miller admits his team is a work in progress.
“We’re not a finished product,” he said. “There are going to be bumps along the way. We’ve got to pull together through adversity and be able to figure it out together, move forward, and find the right answers. I think we’ve established that foundation. Now, it’s a whole other thing to be able to go out there each day and prove it, especially in our first contest this Friday.”