Evan Daum
Edmonton Journal
Almondo Sewell is happy to be a part of the pack.
Getting an opportunity to play on a defence built on rallying around each other is the perfect second chance for the second-year Edmonton Eskimo defensive lineman.
“Coach Kavis, he always talks about that team mentality, like a wolf pack mentality,” Sewell said of the message delivered to the defence by Head Coach Kavis Reed during training camp. “He’s making us the central focus. Defence is the key and we have to win games.”
A star on the defensive line with the University of Akron Zips, where he became only the second player in school history to earn all-Mid-American Conference honours three times, Sewell is happy to be back with the Green and Gold this season.
After suiting up for only three games in 2011 before being released by Edmonton a third of the way through his rookie campaign, Sewell returns to an Eskimo team eager to prove the many off-season doubters wrong.
“We’re all hungry. Everybody in here is hungry,” Sewell said. “I thank the Lord for giving me a second opportunity to come back to Edmonton and go out there and show them what I can do on a good team, a good defence, with a great group of guys in here.
“We’re all here to win. We want to get that Grey Cup.”
Sewell’s desire and the defence’s ability to dictate the outcome of a game were both on full display in the Eskimos’ season-opening 19-15 win over the Toronto Argonauts on Saturday. He recorded a pair of late-game quarterback sacks in Ricky Ray’s return to Commonwealth Stadium as the defence held the Argos to a single major.
“It felt good,” Sewell said of registering his first sacks as an Eskimo. “It’s a team effort. If it wasn’t for all my fellow D-lineman pushing the pocket, bringing Ricky Ray up in the pocket, (it wouldn’t have happened). It was a collective team effort.”
Along with linebacker J.C. Sherritt‘s 13 combined tackles on defence and special teams, Sewell stood out on a night he didn’t expect to be a part of when training camp broke just over a week ago.
With fellow defensive lineman Julius Williams sidelined with a nagging injury suffered during training camp, Sewell got the chance to suit up and made the most of his opportunity.
“That’s what this team is made up of. They’re young men that no one knows the names of. They fly under radar, but they bring their lunch pail to work and they go to work very hard every day,” Reed said. “Almondo Sewell personified that. He goes out and plays hard every single play.”
With an offence that is admittedly a work in progress, Edmonton’s defence, much like it did a year ago, will be expected to give the Eskimos a fighting chance.
Up next for the Edmonton defence is a date with the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Regina. The Riders are coming off a 43-16 dismantling of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Friday and won’t be short on confidence in their home-opener in front of a boisterous Mosaic Stadium crowd.
Still, Sewell is confident the Eskimos’ tight-knit defensive unit has the mentality to bring the same bite to Riderville that stymied the Argos.
“We’re all close. Everybody in here is close and we don’t have a selfish person in this locker-room,” Sewell said. “A lone wolf doesn’t survive. Like Coach Kavis keeps saying, ‘We’ve got to be a wolf pack.’ Everybody together, everybody getting to the ball – we win games, cause turnovers and we’re good.”
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