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Stamps will push for more from Labinjo
Courtesy Calgary Herald:
The indispensable forced fumble of an end-zone-bound Jarious Jackson, those two vital stuffs of running back Ian Smart at the goal line and that pivotal eight-yard sack on B. C. pivot Buck Pierce that in accumulation denied the Lions at least 11 points during the West final?
Old news, lectures Chris Jones.
The sight of No. 42 slouched on the bench, head all but lost in the recesses of his shoulder pads in the sweltering hothouse of Olympic Stadium, stricken with flu and ready to hurl, but still the most influential player, either team, either side of the ball, with three tackles, four pass deflections and that rabid hunt-down of the glacial Anthony Calvillo to put the 2008 Grey Cup to bed?
A nice scrapbook memory.
“Last year,” lectures Jones, the Calgary Stampeders’ demanding defensive co-ordinator, “is just that. Nothing more.
“He’s a tough man to block. He causes a lot of problems for an offensive line. He made some big plays, some very big plays, for us at the end of last year.
” . . . last year.
“This is the benchmark season for him. This is when he has to make the statement, ‘I am one of the better guys in this league.’
“Great players do it a second year. And a third. And . . . ”
Twelve months ago, Mike Labinjo was anything but a household name in this town. Merely one of the faceless mob who had arrived late from a National Football League camp the year before; a prospect (and there seem to be hundreds of ‘em) coming back from a torn tricep muscle, who had yet to establish himself as an everyday player for the Stampeders, at either defensive end or in a linebacking role.
Just another auditioning hopeful at camp trying to catch the eye of the new head honcho, John Hufnagel, and an open-minded defensive architect, in Jones.
Fast forward to Sunday morning, 8:45 a. m., Mike Labinjo is a proven commodity, a profile player. One of the most recognizable faces on the roster. He now has a Grey Cup ring to display. A three-year contract extension to prove his value. His head-spinning turns in both the West finale and at Montreal against the home-standing Als have duly taken their place in Stampeder lore.
He’s come a long ways.
“A lot,” he concedes, “has happened in a year.”
Away from the football field, too, in landing a job with a local oil company. As a post-championship present to himself, he toured Europe.
“For about two and a half weeks. My Big Brother, Frank Giffen, and I. We went to France and visited some of the WWII battle sites, like Vimy Ridge and Juno Beach. Until you make that trip, someone of my generation cannot understand how much Canadians are appreciated there, for what our soldiers did. You see Canadian flags everywhere. Only then can you realize how many people lost their lives and how much we owe them. It’s quite an eye-opener.
“We went to London, too, and to Amsterdam. To Spain, Malaga, and lay on the beach. It was a great time.”
This Sunday morning is anything but a day at the beach. The opening of training camp, 2009. The first go at scraping off rust built up over six months. The days when muscles scream out in protest.
“Yeah,” smiles Labinjo. “I am a bit sore.”
The dynamics have certainly changed for Mike Labinjo, a 280-pounder with welterweight quickness coming around the end. He’s gone from the bench to the heights, and a part of that bargain is added responsibility.
“We lost some of the older guys on the D-line, so I’m one of the older guys on defence now,” he says reflectively. “So I guess they’re looking for more of a leadership role from me. I’m looking for more of a leadership role from me.”
The natural skill level is beyond dispute. He set the bar in the organization’s two biggest games in years. If it seems high, well, he’s the one to blame.
So in the wake of the havoc he wreaked on both the Lions and Als when the spotlight was at its most intense, Labinjo can expect infinitely more notice from crafty offensive co-ordinators and mammoth left tackles entrusted with the physical well-being of their glamour-boy signal-callers. He started to get a taste of extra attention during the Grey Cup game, when the ever-desperate Alouettes tried to defuse him with a double-team, manoeuvring a running back in his way, as well.
It can only intensify, beginning July 1, when the Als arrive in search of retribution; when the Stampeders open defence of their title.
“People say we didn’t make a lot of moves in the off-season,” Labinjo says, shrugging. “Why would we?We’ve got a really good, young team here.
“Being the Grey Cup champions, though, we know we’ve got bull’s-eyes on our backs.”
So, make no mistake, does the guy who peels around the corner like some runaway streetcar.
What the Stamps expect is the Mike Labinjo edition so utterly dominating in the West final and Grey Cup game on 18 occasions during this regular season, and then beyond. That’s why the organization ponied up the three-year contract extension.
Just as he doesn’t expect to give quarterbacks any rest this year, the tutor obviously doesn’t plan on allowing his pupil much relaxation time, either.
“Oh,” laughs Labinjo, “(Jones) was pretty hard on me last year. I’m sure he’ll be just as hard, maybe harder, this season.”
Yes, he’s come a long ways in a year.
But that doesn’t mean there’s not a lot of road left to travel.
