Dale MacMillan
Point at city on a map of Canada and there’s a good chance Matt O’Donnell has been there.
“I’ve moved a dozen and a half times in my life,” says O’Donnell. “I’ve lived in B.C. from Comox, Prince George, Chase and Nanaimo. I’ve lived in Barrie, Kingston and Edmonton.”
Throw in Red Deer and several other stops along the way.
His father, Jim, was an RCMP officer. Regular transfers have seen the O’Donnell family move across Canada from coast to almost coast.
His journey began in Comox, where the six-foot-eleven offensive lineman was born. The town is little more than a military base O’Donnell says. The population sits at roughly 13,000 people, with 1,500 personnel and civilians on the Canadian Armed Forces Base at any given time. It is the type of town that caters to a pretty service heavy lifestyle — an O’Donnell family lifestyle it would seem.
“My brother is in the Air Force in CFB Trenton. My grandfather was Air Force and my father is in the RCMP,” he says.
Being surrounded by men in uniform introduced O’Donnell to many of the qualities he would need football.
“They both take a lot of the discipline. You have this core of guys with one goal and a hierarchy of who’s in charge,” says O’Donnell. “The work itself is a quite different. We get lucky. We get to play football for our careers. They are the real heroes.”
O’Donnell’s upbringing made him no stranger to ever-changing situations, but he is hoping that his latest stop is his last.
The 26-year-old is ready to set up shop in the Eskimos trenches for the long term after re-signing with the team on September 9.
“Being a nomad is fun for a while, but I think once you start getting over 25 you’re like ok, it’s time to start relaxing a little bit instead of running around place-to-place,” he says.
The Queen’s University graduate previously spent three seasons with the Green and Gold after being acquired from Saskatchewan in 2012. Earlier this year, he attended training camp with NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals — a team he had spent a year with on the practice squad before his CFL career.
When he became a free agent on September 5, teams were clamoring for his services.
Edmonton was where he wanted to be.
“I feel most at home here,” says O’Donnell. “The first time around they treated me like family. I liked the coaching staff and the front office.”
After dealing with the “mad scramble” of his arrival (It was less than 72 hours from his signing to his first game.), the tallest player in CFL history has found himself a place to put his feet up, and of course, hook up his PlayStation.
O’Donnell still needs to find all the light switches in his new place, but it appears the lineman can finally think about staying put for the long haul.
“I’m back to feeling comfortable again,” he says. “I got to unpack my stuff and not worry about moving around anymore.”
