“This is what we built it for.” Ottawa Redblacks receiver Nate Behar talks Firework app and recent on-field success

On August 7th the CFL’s Ottawa Redblacks kicked off their 2021 season. Defeating the Edmonton Elks 16-12 at Commonwealth Stadium, the Redblacks played their first game since November 1st 2019. Missing the playoffs in 2019 and losing the 2020 CFL season due to COVID-19, it was over 600 days without football for most CFL players, making the time from December 2019 through July 2021 difficult for a number of athletes, but for Ottawa Redblacks’ receiver Nate Behar it was 600-plus days of work, preparing for his future after his playing career.

Over the extended off-season, Behar worked on his app, Firework which is specialized to help athletes with brand exposure and to profit off of their name, image and likeness. The work surrounding the app started in December of 2019 following the 2019 CFL season which Behar spent with the Ottawa Redblacks, catching 16 passes for 169 yards in 17 games in red and black. He said in an interview with JZ Media’s Jordan Zlomislic earlier this week regarding the app, “Back in December of 2019 I had some businesses reach out to me about athletes they want to have tied to their companies and I kind of turned my thinking towards why they were asking me about them instead of the other guys they could have talked to. I ended up asking around to see how some of my friends and teammates go about getting brand deals, and a lot of them didn’t know the details of it or how they happen so I thought I would do something in my off-season that could help with that.” Starting off the off-season, Behar connected with some people with similar visions and goals as him and began to work on a platform which can connect brands and companies directly with athletes of all levels.

The platform was first created as “ATNMY” in November of 2020 after a summer he spent working on it and coaching with teammates Justin Howell, Dominique Davis, Sherrod Baltimore, Avery Ellis and more with Formula 11 but later transformed into “Firework”. The app launched in the summer of 2021 and is now available to download for all athletes and brands. With the 2021 CFL season also in full swing, Behar has found some of his Ottawa Redblacks teammates using the app themselves and looking to expand on their careers outside of football. “This is what we built it for,” Behar said, “To see athletes get it and see the worth in it is what it is all about.” On the Ottawa Redblacks’ alongside Behar is Micah Awe, Justin Howell and others that have already explored their options post-football, even creating apps of their own like Awe’s “Purpleshift” and Howell’s “Tappdin”. Asked about his ambitious teammates, he commented, “Its been great, we’ve had a few chats and I love what (Micah and Justin) are building. Its cool to see athletes that have the idea of what they are going to do after football because it has to come to an end at some point.”

Visit The FireWork App now!

Behar and his team at Firework have worked extremely hard on the platform and to help athletes off of the football field, but he has also been working hard on the field, even recently seeing some results, having caught 10 of 14 passes for 123 yards in the first two Redblacks home games of the season against the Alouettes and Lions. This is the first time that he’s had a primary role in an offence in the CFL, 257 yards being his season high coming into the 2021 season and “it feels good.” he said, “Its good to contribute to the team and make an impact to what we are doing out there. I haven’t really been able to do that much before but there’s definitely a lot left to do.”

The Ottawa Redblacks sit at 1-3 as they prepare for their second game of the season against the B.C Lions, led by former Ottawa coach Rick Campbell. After that is a bye week and a few home games. Leading into the big game, which now looks like a must win, to prevent going 1-4 to open the season Behar had commented, “A win coming off of a bye is always the best. You don’t want to sit the whole week thinking about some things that you could have done differently to win the game. When you win you can rest and prepare for the games ahead and thats what we want to do.”

“Its disappointing.” Canadian Jonathan Mambila talks about his journey to Bishop Sycamore, the reality behind the academy

Recently in the sports headlines was a high school football game which was featured on ESPN between both the well known IMG Academy from Bradenton, Florida and newly founded Bishop Sycamore out of Ohio. The game it self wasn’t too interesting, IMG Academy who fields dozens of division one athletes per season beat Bishop Sycamore 58-0 and for those that watched on ESPN it became unwatchable at some points because of the beating IMG put on Bishop Sycamore but the reason why the game was put into the headlines was because of some uncertainty whether Bishop Sycamore has a real football program or not. The team doesn’t play out of a certain school in Ohio and was started up as a post-graduate football academy where athletes from the age of 17 through 19 can continue to play football after high school and pursue the opportunity to play at the University level which is quite normal across the united states. IMG Academy even plays against a number of programs similar to what Bishop Sycamore was created as, the academy just had a lot of issues to it outside of the fact that people thought it was a made up school. The head coach that coached the team, Roy Johnson has since been fired by the program director Andre Peterson because of some problems from his past that came out after the game was played. Many began posting about the team being a “scam” which led to people worldwide doing research on coaches and players from the program and it came out that, according to multiple reports he has a DUI charge and has been exposed by multiple players from the program that have since moved on from the team regarding on campus problems.

On the Bishop Sycamore roster this season, and someone that played in the game on ESPN against IMG Academy is Jonathan Mambila. Mambila is a Congolese-born, Canadian-raised defensive back for the football team. After moving from the Congo to Ottawa, Canada at 5 years old and then making his way to Montreal not too long afterwards he found himself on the football field. He played football at Dalbé-Viau in Montreal throughout his entire high school career and played alongside a number of great athletes including top Canadian player Edwin Tara-Kolenge who recently committed to Boston College as a linebacker and is on the Dick Butkus watch list this season. Mambila told JZ Media’s Jordan Zlomislic in an interview, “I’ve always wanted to play at the highest level. After high school I didn’t have the opportunities I wanted so I looked at other schools and academies to go to. Bishop Sycamore was where I decided to go.” The versatile defensive back who is also able to play on the offensive side of the ball, even serving as the team’s backup quarterback from his past experience at the position is the only Canadian on the team but is among a list of top players from their respective cities or even countries, playing with players from France and London, England even.

As boarding football program, Bishop Sycamore has some of the best athletes from cities around the United States and also other countries as mentioned. Mambila talks about his team, “We have players from everywhere, and we have the best of the best really.” he continued, “There are guys with division one offers, and are real players. We are all 17, 18, 19 years old just working on getting the opportunity to play at the highest level possible.” Bishop Sycamore players Teldrin Foster, Jeremy Naborne and Adrian Brown headline the list with offers from big name programs like Ohio State, TCU, Tennessee, Michigan, Syracuse and Oregon State. As for the Canadian, Mambila is still exploring his opportunities as he is a part of the 2022 recruiting class and sits with zero offers at the division one level. When asked about his future he quotes, “I don’t know what I am doing right now. I would like to play division one but I don’t have the offers so I will probably go the JUCO route but football does have to come to an end at some point too so I would like to get a degree no matter what. I want to be an engineer later on after football and I need to go to school for that to make a better life for my future family.”

As for football, the 6-foot, 190 pound defensive back’s 2021 season with Bishop Sycamore looks to be out of the picture as the following games on their schedule have been postponed. He explained, “Right now we don’t have any football on our schedule. After everything happened our games were postponed and we don’t know too much about what the rest of the season looks like. We are just getting all of our information from the coaches right now.”

To sum up Zlomislic’s interview with Mambila, Bishop Sycamore’s sole Canadian had said, “Its disappointing.” regarding the situation they are in and the game against IMG Academy, “We didn’t show who we are in that game. We are actually a really good team, we’ve got some of the best players and we want it bad but we’ve been put in a bad situation as a team.”

A full story on what has happened and the truth behind the program at Bishop Sycamore is expected to come out in a documentary format with the likes of Kevin Hart, Michael Straham, LeBron James and Rich Paul. Right now each of them are battling for the rights of the story and will be a large project when it comes time to put in the work.

Akheem Mesidor, John Metchie and Isaiah Bagnah headline opening week of NCAA Football season as Canadians

College football is back and so are your favourite Canadian players. The NCAA Football season kicked off late last week opening up with a big game between both Ohio State and Minnesota on Thursday alongside games like Boise State VS UCF and Costal Carolina VS The Citadel where we were able to watch our fair share of Canadian content from Boise State’s Isaiah Bagnah, and Costal Carolina’s Enock Makanzo. Opening weekend of the 2021 college football season closed out with an Ole Miss, Louisville matchup which also featured some Canadians in both Deane Leonard and Tavius Robinson at Ole Miss but really the entire weekend was filled with Canadian talent, a common theme in the past few years of College Football seasons as the game improves north of the border.

Among the Canadians that had big games to open up the 2021 NCAA Football season was Alabama Crimson Tide wide out John Metchie. Metchie is a projected first round pick in this year’s NFL Draft, coming out of the wide receiver powerhouse at Alabama and is living up to the hype so far. The Brampton, Ontario native is coming off of a 916 yard, 6 touchdown season where he was a primary target for Mac Jones in the Crimson Tide offence. Now switching up the quarterback room a little bit and seeing both DeVonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle move on to NFL opportunities Metchie has become Bryce Young’s favourite target in the defending national champions offence. In his first game as the number one receiver Metchie caught 6 passes for 76 yards and one touchdown in a 44-13 victory over the Miami Hurricanes. He is in for a big game against Mercer this week and with New Mexico State University and Southern Mississippi University still to come it won’t be too hard for Metchie to rack up the stats this year, however the games that will count the most in his favour moving on and into the 2022 NFL Draft will be those against Florida, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, LSU and Auburn who each host a number of future NFL stars.

MORGANTOWN, WV – NOVEMBER 14: West Virginia Mountaineers defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor (90) celebrates after making a sack during the fourth quarter of the college football game between the TCU Horned Frogs and the West Virginia Mountaineers on November 14, 2020, at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, WV. (Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire)

Alongside Metchie, another Canadian that showed out big over the weekend was West Virginia Mountaineers defensive lineman out of Ottawa Akheem Mesidor. Mesidor played for the North Gloucester Giants and trained with Gridiron Academy in Ottawa before making a name for himself at Clearwater Academy International where he played for Coach Jesse Chinchar and received numerous offers from power 5 programs and now one year into his collegiate career it is clear that Mesidor was worth the hype during his recruitment. During his freshman season at West Virginia Akheem Mesidor was fast off of the edge and got to the quarterback for 5 sacks. He also made 32 total tackles and 6.5 tackles for loss over the 10 games played, being named a first team freshman All-American by ESPN and was recognized by coaches around the Big-12, being added to some of their All-Conference lists while accomplishing a lot in the classroom, finding his name on the Big-12 Conference Commissioner’s honor roll as he majors in sports management. In Mesidor’s opening game of his sophomore season, adjusting well to his new position in the interior defensive line he made a total 9 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss against the Maryland Terrapins. Mesidor’s defensive line coach Andrew Jackson was interviewed pre-season regarding Mesidor and how he thinks he can do in the new position. He said, “I think he’s going to be really damn good. I don’t know what the end goal of that is or what that means but I can see that guy playing on Sundays.”

One other top performer from week one of the 2021college football season coming from north of the border is on the defensive line as well in Isaiah Bagnah who previously mentioned suited up against the UCF Knights as a part of the opening kickoff of the season last Thursday. The Boise State edge rusher from Lethbridge, Alberta is coming off of a 16 tackle, 3 sack, 4.5 tackle for loss season in 2020 where he played just 7 games and looks to be on pace to match or exceed those numbers this season as we are just one week into the season. Bagnah, according to ESPN’s box score from the game against UCF made 4 tackles and 2 sacks in his first game as a redshirt sophomore. The game ranks among the top performances from Canadians in week one of the season and proves that he is able to play with the talent in the NCAA, giving him a good look moving forward as he is draft eligible next season.

Also worth mentioning from the first week of the 2021 College Football season are the outstanding performances of Syracuse’s Geoff Cantin-Arku who came up with 7 tackles in a win over Ohio, Jonathan Sutherland who shined with 7 tackles alongside Jesse Luke’s 5 tackles and quarterback hit in a 16-10 Penn State win over Wisconsin, Maine’s Michael Monios’ 4 catch, 58 yard, one touchdown game against Delaware, Jet Elad’s 6 tackles for Ohio, UConn’s Lwal Ugak’s 7 tackle game on the defensive line, Enock Makanzo’s 5 tackles in a 52-14 Costal Carolina win, Jared Wayne from Pitt’s 6 catch, 55 yard game, Ludovic Choquette’s versatile offensive game with 5 carries for 23 yards and 4 catches for 30 yards for Western Illinois and Fabrice Mukendi’s debut with Bryant University which features 2 carries for 19 yards and a score.

JZ Media; now your home for all Ottawa Redblacks content previously found on ‘Lil Z Big R’

In April of 2019 Jordan Zlomislic started writing articles and covering all Ottawa Redblacks stories on ‘Lil Z Big R’ a blog which he formed for fun and as a hobby, however after a number of articles written and interviews conducted with Redblacks players, coaches and people around the CFL he soon took the role as a part of the CFL media seriously and has ran with each opportunity since. Among those opportunities have been documentaries, podcast appearances and partnerships. Through the process he has launched JZ Media where he first started to use as his platform for all non-Redblacks related content because there was so much of it, having covered stories throughout the NCAA and NFL season in 2020 but with the CFL back in action and the Redblacks creating some buzz around the league Zlomislic has decided to build the JZ Media platform as his central spot for all of his content, including the Ottawa Redblacks coverage that was once on ‘Lil Z Big R’.

Photos from Ottawa REDBLACKS twitter

As a beat reporter of the CFL’s Ottawa Redblacks Zlomislic has covered transactions, storylines, game previews, game recaps, interviews and more. Expect to see a lot more content on JZMEDIA.CA.

Ottawa Redblacks prepare for first rematch of the 2021 CFL season against the B.C Lions

The CFL’s Ottawa Redblacks have opened the 2021 CFL season 1-3. Following the win over the Edmonton Elks opening up the season in week one Ottawa has lost three consecutive games against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Montreal Alouettes and B.C Lions. They look to get back in the win column in week 6 against the B.C Lions who originally beat them 24-12 in the Redblacks’ home opener at TD Place. Paul LaPolice and the Ottawa Redblacks have made some changes since their week 4 game against the Lions, and will continue to make changes for the better to win their rematch against them on Saturday September 11th in B.C at 10:00 eastern.

Photo of Ryan Davis from Ottawa REDBLACKS twitter (same as featured image of Dominique Davis)

Among those changes is the quarterback change. After the first quarter of the Redblacks-Alouettes game last week the Redblacks elected to put quarterback Dominique Davis in over Matt Nichols who started the game 2/5 for 23 yards and an interception. Davis started out the game hot, moving the ball 135 yards on two scoring drives in the second quarter alone and finished the game with good numbers as well. He was 23/33 for 291 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 38 yards and a touchdown on 8 rushes but threw two interceptions, one ending in a 72 yard Patrick Levels pick six. The turnovers can be fixed from watching film and continuing to practice but after watching Matt Nichols struggle over the first four games of the season, throwing for just 476 yards and zero touchdowns opening up the season it is clear that Davis was an improvement to the Redblacks offence and should be back in the lineup in week 6 against the Lions in Vancouver. Also in the lineup on offence will be receivers R.J Harris, Nate Behar, Ryan Davis, Daniel Petermann and DeVonte Dedmon who each made plays in last week’s game against the Alouettes and have stayed consistent throughout the season thus far. Nate Behar has caught 10 of 14 passes for 123 yards over the past two games, R.J Harris has 204 yards on 15 catches this season, Ryan Davis has generated 170 yards of offence on 25 touches, Daniel Petermann is coming off of a 77 yard, two touchdown performance and DeVonte Dedmon has been electric every time he’s touched the ball, whether that be on offence or in the return game. He goes into the week 6 game against the Lions with 787 all-purpose yards in 4 games, averaging 17 yards per touch and is coming off of a game against the Alouettes where he had 326 yards all-purpose.

The offensive weapons are bound to make an impact in the upcoming game against the B.C Lions and will need to make big plays as the Redblacks will look to go 2-3 heading into their second bye week of the season. Also some players that Redblacks fans would like to see have impacts on the game would come on the defensive side of the ball. The Redblacks’ defence was what kept them in the games early on this season, single handedly winning the season opener against the Elks and keeping both Saskatchewan and B.C out of the end zone on multiple occasions but early on in the last game they kept the Redblacks’ out of the game. Not completely, as they were still able to score points and see some success throughout the game, however after giving up 27 points in the first half, the game quickly became out of hand. Of course it wasn’t all of the defence’s fault as the offence did turn the ball over on 3 occasions, including a pick six and struggled at times to move the ball but there is definitely room for improvement and I’m sure R-Nation would love to see some of those improvements come in to play against the Lions this Saturday. Some players that need big games in the upcoming game on defence to get a win would have to be linebackers Micah Awe, Avery Williams and Don Unamba, defensive linemen Cleyon Laing and Praise Martin-Oguike and defensive backs Gump Hayes and Brad Muhammad. The group of defensive players have made impacts in the last couple of games, the linebacking core has been a bright spot to the Redblacks’ defence, generating over 70 tackles over the four games played together, edge rusher Praise Martin-Oguike now has three sacks in his two CFL games played and with another game against the explosive receivers in B.C the Redblacks secondary will need to make plays in order to stay in the game defensively.

It is clear that the Ottawa Redblacks are a long way from perfect, however after four games in the 2021 CFL season they have continued to show improvements and can look like contenders in this league in a heart beat if they get in the win column over the next couple of weeks. They are a team that nobody should count out just yet as the coaching staff and players have accomplished a number of things over their respective careers and do have it in them to turn the season around. Watch the Ottawa Redblacks on the 11th as they take on the B.C Lions with the goal of going 2-3 into their second bye week of the 2021 CFL season.

Ottawa Redblacks continue to see improvements on the offensive side of the ball as they make changes in high scoring loss to Alouettes

Kicking off the 2021 Labour Day Weekend in the CFL the Ottawa Redblacks hosted the Montreal Alouettes. Each team came into the game 1-2 and it was the Redblacks first eastern conference game of the season after starting the season on the road in Edmonton and Saskatchewan before their home opener against the B.C Lions but they were fighting for more than just the 2-2 record. It is still early in the season, however the winner of the game would then have the chance to move up to first in the east pending an Argonauts loss to the Tiger-Cats.

The winner of the game ended up being the Montreal Alouettes. Scoring 51 points and only giving up 29 the Alouettes demonstrated dominance early on in the game and never faced any major setbacks. As for the Ottawa Redblacks, it is always hard to bounce back from early deficits. The Alouettes opened up the game 10-0 in the first quarter, and the 10 points at the end of the first quarter quickly doubled and kept being added on while the Redblacks were staying in the game, moving the ball and scoring points but just not enough points. At halftime the Alouettes led the Redblacks 27-13 and the Redblacks offence was just getting in rhythm. Dominique Davis entered the game in the second quarter and in a heart beat moved the ball 135 yards on two scoring drives, including a 5 yard touchdown pass to Daniel Petermann which was the first of two on the night. Davis continued to move the ball throughout the second half, finishing the game with 291 passing yards and 38 rushing yards, scoring three touchdowns but it wasn’t enough for what Vernon Adams, William Stanback and the Alouettes offence was able to do. Ottawa also lost the turnover battle, Matt Nichols opened up the game 2/5 for 23 yards and an interception while Davis threw two interceptions of his own, one ending in a Patrick Levels pick six, but despite the loss and the negatives that did come in the Redblacks’ first eastern conference game there were a number of positives. The Ottawa Redblacks defence wasn’t necessarily one of them, like they have been over the first three games of the season, having given up a number of big plays including two 30+ yard touchdown passes, one 44 yard Jake Wieneke completion and a 30 yard Stanback run but the Redblacks defensive line was able to get to the quarterback. It may not show too much on paper because of the great game Adams had, completing 18 of 23 attempts for 288 yards and 4 touchdowns on top of 35 yards scrambling but two of his four touchdown passes came under pressure, on the verge of getting sacked. He did get sacked once and so did Matthew Shiltz by Praise Martin-Oguike. In just his second game in the CFL, Martin-Oguike who played his collegiate career with Avery Williams and Avery Ellis at Temple and played in both the NFL and XFL he had two sacks, one resulting in a safety. In his first game last week he was also found in the backfield alongside Davon Coleman, sacking Michael Reilly so with him on the defensive line the Redblacks defence has been found in the backfield, something that defensive coordinator Mike Benevides would like to continue to see.

Sticking to the defensive side of the ball, eventhough William Stanback ran for 112 yards on 15 carries, and they struggled to stop the run game at times, Ottawa’s linebacking trio of Avery Williams, Don Unamba and Micah Awe have continuously showed up in the box score, week after week making tackles, again combining for 15 tackles against the Alouettes. The trio now have a combined 70 tackles in the four games together, averaging over 17 tackles together per game. The only thing that they need to do to improve is get to the quarterback on blitz attacks and turn the ball over. Ottawa has struggled to get turnovers since the first game of the season when they got three interceptions on Trevor Harris in Edmonton, to win games they need to win the turnover battle.

Once again a bright spot of the Ottawa Redblacks team comes from Bob Dyce’s special teams unit, the best in the league. Kicker Lewis Ward continues to help the Redblacks score points when the offence cannot, adding two more field goals to the 8 he had going into the game while Richie Leone kept his punts deep in the Alouettes zone, and the punt team held speedy returner Mario Alford to a long of just 20 yards on the night, nothing close to what DeVonte Dedmon was able to do for the Redblacks. Dedmon as usual found himself helping out the Ottawa Redblacks offence get into good field position, returning 7 kickoffs and two missed field goals for a combined 258 yards, including a 75 yard kickoff return, one tackle shy of the end zone but Dedmon’s impact on the Redblacks didn’t stop at just his return duties like it has in the past. Missing out on Anthony Coombs, Jordan Smallwood and Charone Peake at receiver, Dedmon started the game at receiver for the first time of his career, making two catches for 52 yards and running the ball once for 16 yards, giving himself a total 326 yards all-purpose on 12 touches on the night. Dedmon’s 44 yard catch and run brought Ottawa to the 2 yard line, just one man away from a touchdown just like his kickoff return. The two big plays put the Redblacks offence in scoring position and resulted in a touchdown and a field goal.

Lewis Ward in Redblacks warmups Photo: Redblacks twitter

Averaging over 27 yards per touch in the game and with over 780 all-purpose yards in the first four games of the season it is proven that Dedmon is a playmaker and Ottawa needs to get the ball in his hands in any way possible to move the ball efficiently. Also moving the ball has been receivers RJ Harris, Ryan Davis, Daniel Petermann and Nate Behar. Harris, Petermann and Behar combined for 201 yards and the two Petermann touchdowns while Ryan Davis caught both of his targets for 32 yards. In the last two games Nate Behar has found himself in the highlights, catching 10 of 14 targets for 123 yards. On the season, RJ Harris has 204 yards on 15 catches but the offence will need to get the ball in the end zone more, like they did against the Alouettes to stand a chance in games moving forward. The first three games of the season the offence relied on Lewis Ward for the points and the defence for the stops but now as we see the defence isn’t perfect and can give up the big plays, Ottawa’s offence will need to rebound and make the big plays themselves.

Ottawa will travel to Vancouver for their next game against the B.C Lions on September 11th for a 10:00 PM game on Saturday which will be followed by a Redblacks bye week.

Ottawa Redblacks in what looks to be a must-win game at home against the Montreal Alouettes for CFL on TSN’s Friday Night Football

The CFL season is well underway, and we are heading into week 5 of the 2021 season. Around this time last year many didn’t know if we would ever see the CFL play again and it is great to have the league back in full swing but Ottawa Redblacks fans want to see their team back in the win column.

Ottawa is 1-2 heading into their labour day weekend matchup against the Montreal Alouettes and are in what looks to be a must-win game at TD Place in tonight’s game. They won their season opener on the road against the new looks Edmonton Elks and then lost their last two battles against both the Saskatchewan Roughriders and B.C Lions, but they are now set to play their very first eastern game against the Montreal Alouettes and with 4 Montreal games, 2 Toronto games and 2 Hamilton games on the schedule ahead of us, these eastern division games are a huge test for the Redblacks and will determine the outcome of the season. If the Ottawa Redblacks are to win the 8 eastern division games they would finish the season 9-5 and would likely find themselves close to the top of the division but that would all have to start tonight at home against the Montreal Alouettes.

To win the week 5 matchup against the Alouettes the Ottawa Redblacks will need to stick with what works and add to it. After the first three games of the season it seems as if R-Nation wants the Redblacks to make a lot of changes and pretty well turn the team upside down but thats not what needs to be done. The Ottawa Redblacks’ defence has played lights out to open up the season, they have kept the team in games while the special teams unit has been able to put points on the board and also get the offence in good field position but the offence has too often struggled to put the ball in the end zone. LaPolice and his offence have been able to move the ball on multiple occasions, using Ryan Davis, RJ Harris, Nate Behar and DeVonte Dedmon on offence alongside the running backs Timothy Flanders and Justin Davis but there has been a lot of inconsistency and struggles to score points. After seeing what Dedmon has been able to to in the return game and even the opportunities he’s had on offence it is clear that he can be a playmaker and be able to move the ball and score points so with him starting at receiver this week with Justin Davis and Ryan Davis there is a chance we see a lot of versatility and fast pace offensive snaps along with some consistent and reliable catches from Nate Behar, RJ Harris and Daniel Petermann. Last week the Redblacks combined for 278 offensive yards against the Lions, and after the Alouettes gave up 328 yards agains the Tiger Cats, we may be able to see a big outing from the Redblacks offence finally but if we do not, they are bound to be better than last week and Mike Benevides defence will be there to stop the Alouettes offence, keeping us in the game.

R-Nation will be getting their very first look at the Ottawa Redblacks’ red jerseys tonight at the second home game of the season and as they kickoff against the Alouettes at 7:30 PM they hope to see their favourite team back in the win column in a divisional matchup.

Ottawa Redblacks make number of transactions in preparation for week 5 matchup against Alouettes

After losing their home opener to the B.C Lions in week 4 of the 2021 CFL season the Ottawa Redblacks sit at 1-2 heading into their first in conference game of the season. They are set to play the 1-2 Montreal Alouettes at TD Place on Friday September 3rd and after two straight losses to both Saskatchewan and B.C the Ottawa Redblacks will look to get back into the win column.

To get into the win column once again the Ottawa Redblacks will need to focus on what has worked so far this season and continue to use it. As of yet the Redblacks defence, led by defensive co-ordinator Mike Benevides has been playing lights out alongside Bob Dyce’s special teams unit, but so far the Redblacks’ offence has been the problem. They have been able to move the ball here and there, however it has been very inconsistent. It has been tough for the offence to have something work and run with it, LaPolice and his offence has had to make numerous changes to the game plan since week one of the season against the Elks but will hope to stick with what worked in their home opener on Saturday against the Lions. Ottawa moved the ball well using dynamic receivers Ryan Davis and DeVonte Dedmon, with Anthony Coombs back at practice for day one of this week they will have three players with similar skill sets along with Nate Behar and RJ Harris who have been proven to move the ball down field in the pass game and Justin Davis did in the run game during his first start against the Lions, rushing for 43 yards on 12 carries and catching 4 passes for 14 yards. If they stick with what worked last week on offence and begin to stretch the field, throwing the ball deep the defence of the Alouettes will not bite so much on the short game and will open up a whole new level of offence for the Redblacks.

As for the defensive side of the ball, they have played lights out, having given up just the three touchdowns in the first three games of the season, the Redblacks will have back defensive linemen Cleyon Laing and Stefan Charles against the Alouettes and defensive back Gump Hayes by the looks of it. Ottawa will also have a group of new comers as they add a list of defensive players and wide receivers on Tuesday.

They have signed American defensive backs Ranthony Texada and Brandin Dandrige, Texada spent the 2019 CFL pre-season with Ottawa while Dandrige was with the team during the duration of 2019 and the 2021 training camp. Also brought in was defensive lineman Qaadir Sheppard who played his collegiate career at Ole Miss and Syracuse and spent time with the Stampeders earlier this year. The Redblacks also brought in receivers Ervin Phillips and Alonzo Russell. Phillips is a former Syracuse Orangemen receiver who played a versatile role in Eric Dungey’s offence, being found at running back sometimes. Russell is a 6-foot-4, big body receiver from Toldeo and has spent time with the NFL’s Bengals, Cardinals and Giants prior to the 2020 XFL season with the St Louis Battlehawks and 2021 training camp with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

The Ottawa Redblacks also signed Christophe Mulumba to their practice roster, a Canadian linebacker which they signed in 2020 during free agency from the Edmonton Football Team.

Ottawa Redblacks lose 2021 home opener to B.C Lions 24-12, now 1-2 heading into first eastern opponent

After winning their first game of the season in Edmonton 16-12 over the Elks, the Ottawa Redblacks have lost two straight. Week one’s battle was also the last time that the Redblacks defence had a takeaway. They have stayed consistent, holding offences to just 59 points in 3 games and only giving up three touchdowns, two being quarterback sneaks but it has been the Redblacks’ offence that has stayed inconsistent, they will need to find something that works for them and run with it moving forward.

The game on Saturday night between the B.C Lions and Ottawa Redblacks was tight until midway through the 4th quarter when Michael Reilly found Jevon Cottoy for a 46 yard touchdown for the Lions. It was 15-12 at the time, the touchdown shifted it to 22-12 and after two rouges from Lions punts it was 24-12, putting the game on ice. Filling in for injured defensive backs Abdul Kanneh, Sherrod Baltimore and Gump Hayes as well as defensive linemen Cleyon Laing, Stansly Maponga and Stefan Charles, starters Justin Howell, Brad Muhammad, Marcus Lewis and Praise Martin-Oguike played very well. Muhammad, Martin-Oguike and Lewis made their CFL debuts and didn’t look new to the game at all. Martin-Oguike made a sack while Muhammad and Lewis combined for 6 tackles in the secondary while veterans on the defence Avery Williams, Don Unamba and Micah Awe combined for 14 and Randall Evans found himself in the backfield as well making a sack, adding to his interception in week one of the 2021 CFL season.

Going back to the inconsistency on the offensive side of the ball, the Redblacks were able to move the ball early in the game, actually generating 63 of offence on the second drive of the game, moving the ball into the redzone for a Lewis Ward field goal. On the drive, receivers Ryan Davis and Nate Behar combined for a total 42 yards of offence while Justin Davis contributed with 14 yards rushing. There were a few other drives similar to that one which showed flashes of what this offence is all about and what they can do but they showed inconsistency moving the football, having trouble sticking with what works and having to settle for 4 field goals, not scoring a single touchdown.

Redblacks defence making plays! Photos: Ottawa Redblacks twitter

What did work was exactly what worked on the second drive of the game where the Redblacks moved the ball 63 yards. Ryan Davis was able to move the ball, catching the ball 8 times on 11 targets for 70 yards and running the ball for 12 yards on 3 carries, and so was Justin Davis who ran the ball 12 times for 43 yards while hauling in 4 of 7 targets for an additional 14 yards. Nate Behar found his name on the stat sheet as well, catching 5 of 7 targets for 66 yards, making himself a possession receiver for Nichols in the home opener and possibly for the entire season as he played a similar role to RJ Harris who caught just the one pass for 16 yards. Harris is still battling the injury he suffered in Saskatchewan on a DeVonte Dedmon kickoff return which may have limited him in the home opener, and another player that has been limited in the Redblacks offence but should be fed much more outside of special teams is Dedmon. He brings a spark to the offence every single time he touches the football and he continues to prove what he’s able to do, last night he ran the ball twice for 14 yards and caught his sole target for 8 yards. On an 11 yard run on offence he brought light to the Redblacks offence which later kicked a field goal on the drive. Also from Dedmon on special teams was 7 returns, 3 punt returns for 25 yards and 4 kick returns for 117. He averaged 16.4 yards every time he touched the ball during the Redblacks home opener and if there is any offensive systems that include himself, Ryan Davis and Justin Davis being on the field at the same time the Redblacks need to jump on it as soon as possible. These three are electric when they have the ball in their hands and despite Justin Davis’ fumble late in the game during the downpour at TD Place they are able to move the ball to eventually score points. If they are able to feed this trio alongside Nate Behar, and RJ Harris as your possession receivers with sure hands they have proven to be good in those categories and with Anthony Coombs coming back from injury soon this offence should have no problems moving forward in the season.

Photo: Ottawa Redblacks twitter

Another large factor from the offensive side of the ball in Ottawa which the Redblacks will need to do this season is stretching the field. The offence has began to look predictable early on this season. Matt Nichols has had a great completion percentage and having thrown just two interceptions in the first three games of the season he doesn’t look bad my any means however he will need to be more confident in his deep ball. His 42 yard completion to RJ Harris in Saskatchewan remains as the Redblacks longest play of the season, the second longest would be a 21 yard completion to Nate Behar in the home opener on Saturday, and the defences aren’t even at the least bit scared of the Redblacks deep passing game, simply because they know its non existent. If the Redblacks are able to stretch the field some more, the defences will slowly adapt to it and will open up some room for other play opportunities like those explosive runs to Ryan Davis, or DeVonte Dedmon that we saw at TD Place.

Ottawa’s Mike Benevides has done an excellent job with the Redblacks defence, so if Nichols and LaPolice are able to match what he has done on the opposite side of the ball, Ottawa will be looking good moving forward, starting in week 5.

The Redblacks will be playing their first in conference game this Friday at TD Place against the Montreal Alouettes. They play the Alouettes 4 times this season and the Tiger Cats and Argonauts 2 times each. Those are the games that matter the most and if they are able to win the majority of them and excel on all sides, like they have on defence this Ottawa Redblacks team could be in a good spot late in the year.