Although the Ottawa Redblacks fell to 3-15 in the 2019 CFL season, the team saw a lot of talent come through to help the team. Whether it was a veteran player like Brad Sinopoli who’s been in Ottawa since 2015, or Jerod Fernandez who was signed mid-season by the Redblacks and is off to a great start to his career, the Ottawa Redblacks have a solid roster put together and going through the next season the team will see a lot of improvements.

Usually improvements to professional sports teams include blockbuster signings, and big trades but in Ottawa there’s a different way to make improvements. Through the years the Redblacks have been able to take the “next man up” system to the next level. From Trevor Harris taking over for Henry Burris to Avery Williams helping fill Damaso Munoz’s role, the Redblacks’ front office has done a great job of finding the right players to fill certain holes.

That doesn’t mean the team doesn’t sign or trade for players, as this off-season the team ended up bringing in big names such as Nick Arbuckle (Quarterback), Cleyon Laing (Defensive line), and Anthony Coombs (slot back), but in all the guys coming back from previous years play big roles in the depth chart.

For instance, this coming season the team will see a group of receivers play the “next man up” role after watching Dominique Rhymes and Caleb Holley walk in free agency. Among the receivers to watch out for in 2020 is both DeVonte Dedmon and Jerminic Smith. Coming back for their sophomore year of their professional careers and after playing 8 games as a pair, catching a total 12 passes for 145 yards the two receivers will be big pieces to the Redblacks offensive system.

When asked about the two receivers, Ottawa Redblacks director of player personnel JM Edmé says, “(Jerminic) Smith is a guy that is a really polished receiver. He moves really well, he has the speed to stretch the field and from watching him play a bit last season, being active in his rookie year we think highly of him to be a force on the team.” And for Dedmon he mentions, “He’s going to make a big impact (on the team)… If you ask really anybody I work with in Ottawa everyone can agree on how special (DeVonte) is. Last year he was able to open eyes on the success he had and being coached by Bob Dyce on special teams is another part to his success, but on the offense too with Paul (LaPolice) coming in he can really change the game and be a game changer on the field and when he’s on the field we have high hopes for DeVonte.”

Of course many would say that the offense is the most important part of a team, but along with the offensive players returning to Ottawa in 2020, there is a great group of defensive guys too. Last year, the Ottawa Redblacks defense suffered some injuries in the secondary. Losing both Antoine Pruneau and Jonathan Rose for the majority of the season gave opportunities to younger guys on the team and coming into the next CFL season, the younger guys are set to play big roles on the team.

In the defensive backfield for the Redblacks, both Brandin Dandridge and De’Chavon “Gump” Hayes are making their ways up on the defesnive depth chart. Filling in the holes on the defense the young duo (Hayes 27, Dandridge, 23) tallied 34 defensive stops as well as 3 interceptions coming from Hayes. Considering Hayes played just 7 games while Dandridge payed just 4, theres a chance the two DBs play big roles on the defense in future years and the future starts now. Starting the future now, the defensive duo will be coached by CFL great Mike Benevides, who will be thrilled to have the two on his defense.

Also on Benevides’ defense in 2020 will be Darius Jackson and Kene Onyeka. The two are young defensive linemen from the Ottawa Redblacks 2019 roster, Onyeka is a 23 year old from Carleton University in Ottawa and as a rookie last year he appeared in just 6 games, mostly playing special teams racking up 3 tackles on the year. Onyeka’s defensive line partner Darius Jackson on the other hand played a lot on the defensive side of the ball in the 5 games in his rookie year. As a rookie he was able to get 12 total tackles and 1 sack.

In total, the Ottawa Redblacks have a lot of talent in each position on the team, but out of all of them the linebacker position for the Redblacks must be one of the strongest and youngest. Along with Unamba and Mulamba who were brought in this off-season the team has Avery Williams who was Ottawa’s MOP candidate a year ago but if ever they need a backup to play a role, they have a list of great players to play. At linebacker, the Ottawa Redblacks discovered a good group of young players last year, one being Jerod Fernandez and the another being Shaheed Salmon. In 2019, the two combined for 60 total tackles and 3 forced fumbles. Staring of the two was Fernandez with 53 defensive tackles and 2 forced fumbles in 11 games. Going into the 2020 season, Fernandez will be one of many great players coming to the defense, but is without a doubt a favorite behind Unamba and Williams on the depth chart.

Since 2014 when the Ottawa Redblacks came into existence, the team has always had a number of local players on the roster. The talent in the Ottawa/Gatineau region has constantly been growing since the team came into existence as young athletes get to see a professional team play in their hometown and build inspiration to work harder at the game they love most.

2014 was a big year for the city of Ottawa obviously because the city was back in the CFL and the region was loving the Redblacks, although when things really started coming together for the Redblacks organization was in 2015 when Marcel Desjardins and the front office drafted Alex Mateas. Watching an Ottawa native go number one overall in the CFL draft, let alone go to his hometown is a big motivator for the younger athletes in Ottawa and since then the talent has never stopped growing.

To see Mateas comeback to Ottawa, where he grew up opened eyes for Redblacks fans to see who else from the area is on the team. Moving into 2020, the Redblacks have a list of players from the Ottawa area. Of course the team still has Alex Mateas, and along with Mateas Ottawa has Brendan Gillanders who mostly grew up in Orleans and went to Ottawa University to play for the Gee Gees, Ettore Latanzio who also played for the Gee Gees following a childhood in Barrhaven, also among the Gee Gees alum is Brad Sinopoli and Lewis Ward who grew up just down the highway from Ottawa (Ward from Kingston, Sinopoli from Peterborough). Ottawa also has a group of players from the other side of the Panda game rivalry from Carleton like Justin Howell, Nate Behar (free agent), Nate Hamlin, Dan Omara and Kene Onyeka.

All in all, from that list you can see just how important local talent is for the Ottawa Redblacks and when asked about it, Redblacks’ director of player personnel Jean-Marc Edmé mentions, “Ottawa talent is a big part of who we are as a team. Being from Montreal and seeing the talent in Ottawa, for some reason the talent just gets better every year.” He comments, “The talent in the area, whether its high-school, college or any other level its very strong. This year the city will have an Ottawa native going first round in the NFL draft. The big defensive lineman Neville Gallimore from Oklahoma is just one of many Ottawa guys to play college football and go pro.”

Going pro is the last level to go to for athletes and to get there they go through some great organizations, “Ottawa has a great group of high school programs, and I really think we’re going to see a lot more local guys not only with us in Ottawa but all over the CFL and in the NFL also just because of the rising talent here.”

In a 3-15 season the Ottawa Redblacks didn’t get a lot of great news coming into the front office a year ago, although thanks to the help of scouts and general managers the team is back on track for a Grey Cup run. One of the major names in the Ottawa Redblacks front office is Jean-Marc Edmé, after being hired by the team in 2016 Edmé has found himself playing a big role in the Redblacks front office.

On paper, Edmé is listed as the director of player personnel but in reality he does a lot in the Redblacks organization, Edmé mentions, “At director of player personnel, I’m involved with both sides of scouting which means I’m in charge of scouting professional and college players.” He explains, “For professional players, I scout NFL guys for possible cuts, we look at the indoor leagues, XFL guys and of course we like getting a look at all of the CFL players that play in our league and for those guys (CFL players) we like to put a grade on the players to see where they are talent wise.” Edmé also adds in, “When I jump on the college side of things, we look at all of the players, Canadian and American. We as a team try to put a grade on all of the players in college to prepare when they are making their way to Canada for the CFL.”

Playing a big role in the Ottawa Redblacks front office Edmé has been able to make a name for himself in the league for finding a list of great players, just to name a few: Sherrod Baltimore, DeVonte Dedmon, Corey Tindal, Avery Williams and Avery Ellis. In the past few years of being in the scouting department of football JM mentions, “In the time I’ve spent with my job here in Ottawa and even in Montreal ahead of time one of the best things that come with my job is the Marriott points. All the other scouts would give you the same answer. When you travel as much as I do, looking at different games, we as scouts do a lot of traveling and our hotel points build up over time.” He goes on to say, “That would be one of the best perks in the job I have, but my favorite part of the job would be the relationships you build with the people you work with. Whether its another scout with Ottawa or a player I meet at a college, all of the people in football have different stories from where they are from to what it took for them to get where they are. The people you meet as a scout and the relationships I’ve built with people around the CFL is pretty cool and is for sure a favorite part of the job.”

Through his time in the CFL, Edmé has done a lot of traveling as he mentioned and he’s got to meet a lot of people, but how did he get to into his role with the Redblacks? Jean-Marc says, “One thing I’ve learnt throughout my career is don’t be afraid to knock on doors. If you’re a player or a scout and you want to talk to someone about going into a job, just knock on the doors.” Knocking on doors doesn’t sound too efficient to get a job although Edmé comments, “Sometimes its just luck that comes with it, for example when I was at school at Laurentian University I had to have an internship to graduate. Given what I wanted to do, I reached out to all of the NFL and CFL teams hoping to get an email back from a few of them, but I only got rejection emails and phone calls until I got a call from Marcel Desardins who at the time was general manager of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. After hearing back from him, I was later a football operations intern with Hamilton which is what built my career. From that I learnt that a simple knock on a door or an email could go a long way, so my advice to anyone that wants to get into scouting or football operations is just to knock on doors like I did starting out.”

Going through in 2007 as an intern in Hamilton and then having an 8 year stint in Montreal, Edmé found himself back with his former boss Marcel Desjardins in Ottawa. In the past 4 years he has in with the Redblacks, hes found himself with quite the successful career and been put on the map around the league. On the CFL map, Edmé is looked on to be a future general manager in the league, although if that does end up happening he wishes on it happening with the Redblacks as he has already declined an interview with the Alouettes about the GM position. Edmé mentions, “I’m grateful to have that opportunity to be looked at to be in that such high profile job. Theres only 9 CFL teams and to be looked at as an option is great. It is a job I’d love to be a part of, but in life you have to evaluate everything and when I did look over it all I felt that my heart is still in Ottawa and that we as a team have unfinished business to handle so I thanked the Alouettes for the offer, but my heart wants me to stay in Ottawa.”

Declining the job offer in Montreal leaves Edmé in Ottawa for another year and he comments about Ottawa, “I love the city of Ottawa, being here for the last couple of years I really love how much support the fans and the city alone show for the team. Living in Orleans, I go all over the city and whether I’m in Orleans close to home or in Barrhaven doing some shopping, I always see a few Redblacks hats and shirts being worn and thats really what sets the Ottawa fans apart from the others is the support they have even when we aren’t doing that great in the standings we are always being cheered on by the city here in Ottawa.”

Featured photo and slideshow below all taken by Colton Lublink, Atlanta photographer

The 2019-2020 CFL off-season has been made much different than past years due to the Covid-19 pandemic which is happening world wide and giving people worries whether the season will start on time and so on, although Ottawa Redblacks receiver Shannon Smith has taken this self isolation time to get better at his craft. Smith comments, “We have to keep working, and when I talk to the guys (teammates) we all talk about training for a grey cup and this is really the best time to do so.”

Training for a Grey Cup is something all players try to do but going through with it all is something that not many do. In the past couple weeks Smith says, “I’m a team guy, so I’m putting the work in not just for me but for the team too.” Talking about the workouts he’s done in this pandemic he mentions, “Every day I go out for a run and go workout at a local park, and I’m in the best shape of my life right now so I’ve got to keep it up.”

Also Smith builds off and talks about the workouts he’s done, “In these times, I’ve also been blessed to be able to workout with some of the best players in the NFL right now.” he goes to say, “In Atlanta, there’s a good group (of NFL players) and I train with the same trainer as a lot of them, so going through this off-season I’ve been able to meet up with Cam Newton, Tyrod Taylor and Deebo Samuel.”

He talks about the workouts with them, “Working out with those guys is really cool, but in the reality of it I’m just learning and getting better from doing all of it. To get information from their perspective is great because of everything they’ve been able to do as a group, so I can see that I can still do what they’re doing from learning and working with these guys.”

As Smith mentions, he is a team guy, and learning from these NFL quarterbacks is a great thing for him and his young career. In these workouts he’s also preparing for his next season ahead of him, “This year the Redblacks brought in Nick Arbuckle and Nick is a great quarterback. Watching film on him makes me excited to play with him, so working out with these guys recently have helped me prepare to play with Nick and I think we can do good things together if we work hard this season.”

Preparing to play with Arbuckle is only getting him better, and when Smith is on the field he tells Redblacks fans to expect a “nasty” receiver. He quotes, “I’m nasty on the field. With my size (6’4), being able to run good routes, go up and get it while being able to go deep with my speed (4.44 40-yard-dash) I can be a really nasty receiver and Ottawa has got to be ready to see it all.”

Shannon Smith. A lot of Ottawa Redblacks fans do not know that name and a few do know of him but by the end of the 2020 CFL season he hopes to be a household name for Redblacks fans. With the moves made this off-season surrounding the receiver position, there is a good chance Smith gets onto the active roster to make plays on game day, and before seeing him perform on the field R-Nation needs to know more about Shannon and his upbringing to Ottawa.

Coming out of a sports medicine class at the University of West Georgia and on his way back home, Shannon Smith was given reason to reflect on what his next step will be in football.

He got a call from Jeremy Snyder, the assistant general manager of the Ottawa Redblacks. Snyder had met Smith ahead of time at an Ottawa Redblacks open try-out in Atlanta, but this time Snyder brought business to the table offering him a contract. At the open try-out, Smith got more understanding of the league but most importantly a 4.44 40-yard-dash gave Snyder something to bring back to Ottawa and give to Marcel Desjardins.

Although he wasn’t signed right after the try-out, he wasn’t forgotten by the Redblacks. Making his way back home from that class, he was looking at the next step of his football career. Being signed by the Ottawa Redblacks, Smith took his sports medicine books and traded them for a flight ticket to Ottawa.

Shannon was signed by the Redblacks in September of last year, midway through the 2019 season. Smith mentions, “The day I was signed, I cried. I shared the news with my family and we reflected on what it took to get here, it was an awesome thing to celebrate.” Smith goes to say, “Even-though it wasn’t the NFL, I knew that it was still professional football and growing up I always had the vision that if the NFL didn’t work out the CFL would always be there.”

His first year with Ottawa was a great learning experience for whats next in his time in the CFL and he says, “It’s a blessing to be in the position I’m in. Everyday, I wake up and charish the moment and I’m thankful for the Ottawa Redblacks on taking a chance on me, and with the experience I have from last year I could put something special together in future.” Spending the majority of the 2019 season on the team’s practice roster, Smith also points out that he had a bit of trouble adapting to the Canadian game but with help from his veteran teammates he’s ready to be a starter on the team.

Being a starter is something very possible for Smith as he goes into his second season in Ottawa as the team has lost two starting receivers in both Dominique Rhymes and Caleb Holley. Losing those two receivers could be tough, although with Smith standing at 6’4, similar to Rhymes he could play a big role with the size he has at the receiver spot. Not only could he play that role, he does in fact believe he is bound to be on the teams starting lineup. Smith goes to point out, “I can play in this league and I really do belong in the league as a playmaker.”

If Smith is put into the depth chart, he without a doubt could make an impact on the teams offense and from his time in university, it’s proven that he can move the ball. In his University days, for the majority he spent at West Georgia University which was close to his home in Atlanta, but before transferring there in 2016 he spent one year at Middle-Tennessee as well as one year at Northeastern Oklahoma. Moving the ball in every opportunity he was given he is mostly known for his 559 yard season at NE Oklahoma in which he also scored 4 touchdowns on 39 passes. Seen in his college days, if Smith is given a chance with the ball he can put his team in a good spot on the field and even put points up on the board.

All in all at the end of the day, the Redblacks and every other professional team are always looking for a big receiver to put points up on the board, so if given the shot in year two in Ottawa, Smith has a chance to make a lot of his opportunity. He mentions, “I didn’t come this far for nothing, so I’m going to show what I’m made of.”