:format(url)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/lescoopsdelinformation/NNS3PQZXFVGSXKH55T7GIKCLLE.JPG)
Franco-Ontarian linebacker Jesse Luketa and tackle Neville Gallimore will be on the main roster for the Arizona Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys, respectively. Both have wowed their bosses in the past month in exhibition games.
As for linebacker Luiji Vilain and Franco-Ontarian tackle Eli Ankou, they ended up on the practice squad of the Minnesota Vikings and the Buffalo Bills.
Ankou is the veteran of the group at 29 years old. This will already be his eighth season in the NFL, including his third alongside the “Bills Mafia”.
His challenge will be to stay healthy. The former Béatrice-Desloges high school student has spent a lot of time in the infirmary in recent fall.
This was also the case during training camp.
An injury also cost another product from the capital a position.
Defensive back Jonathan Sutherland shone for the Seattle Seahawks before hurting his thigh. The team submitted him on waivers earlier this week, but no club claimed him.
In his case, it could take six to eight weeks to heal.
Don’t be surprised if the Seahawks, who are currently negotiating compensation with him, bring him back to their nest in the middle of the season.
Sutherland, who made his career at Penn State in the NCAA, was a favorite to play special teams in Seattle.
One of his friends and former teammates at Penn State, Jesse Luketa, will start a second season in the NFL. He sealed his fate in Arizona in the last exhibition game, an 18-17 win over the Vikings.
The 24-year-old absolutely stole the show.
Where to start? Head coach Jonathan Gannon appointed him captain to represent the team in the “heads or tails”.
Luketa has seen action on defence, in special teams and even on offense!
We used him as a centre-back in several games in order to be the main blocker. Number 43 even caught a pass, which was however called off by the officials due to a penalty.
It all led to a new nickname, courtesy of the Cardinals’ game description team.
“The Canadian Swiss Army Knife. He can do everything”, we could hear twice during this last part.
The Cardinals’ communications team also featured him, releasing a six-minute video midweek about his performance against the Vikings, including a sack.
“The coach raised the idea of using me in attack. I was excited by this possibility. I decided to take it, ”said Luketa in the press scrum, admitting that he had already touched the ball on offensive plays during his years in school football in Ottawa.
For his part, Neville Gallimore has just experienced “his best training camp in four years with the Cowboys” according to the team’s official website. The third-round pick had played 14 games, including nine as a starter, in 2020. But he dislocated an elbow two years ago during camp, which limited him to five games at the end of the regular season in 2021.
Then last year, the 6′2′’ and 315-pound guy had to play with an elbow brace. He never seemed comfortable on the pitch.
“Once you can put the injuries behind you, you can focus completely on football…losing weight, getting back into sync and becoming a better player,” Gallimore said.
“I am still young. This is only my fourth year. I haven’t reached my potential. I want to show coaches that they can bet on me.”
In Dallas, Gallimore finds himself on one of the best defensive lines in the NFL. It will mainly be used on certain specific games at the start of the regular calendar.
“During the offseason, I tried to show how much I care about the success of this team,” he said.
An attitude he kept during training camp.
“At the very end, you have to get your games right and pay attention to all the little details.”
If all goes well, Neville Gallimore should face some of his Ottawa friends in the coming weeks.
The Cowboys meet the Cardinals at the end of September. In November, they will host the Seahawks and their penultimate game is scheduled in Buffalo against the Bills.
The coach had chatter. It’s normal. It was about his favorite sport but especially about players he saw growing up in the nation’s capital.
The interview with Jean-Sorphia Guillaume lasted 30 minutes.
“It warms my heart to see five guys like that in the NFL,” begins by saying the renowned football coach, who notably supported Jesse Luketa through his American career.
“You know, there should be a lot more in the NFL. You have to have an open mind. We need people who think “big”, who can guide these young people and push them so far.
People like him and Victor Tedondo, another local football player, who opened doors for local players. These young people were able to take the road to certain academies or private schools in the United States before being recruited by NCAA formations.
“For a long time, people here undermined coaches who dared to help young people go and play in the United States,” recalls Guillaume.
But the growing success of local players has “a domino effect”. American college programs are more interested than ever in teenagers in Ottawa and Quebec.
Several offers have been submitted in recent months to hopefuls.
The Luketa, Ankou, Vilain and company will not be the only ones to play in the NFL in the next decade.
“You will see more and more of it in five years. Ottawa could have 10. Quebec will also have many. It’s going to explode, ”predicts Jean-Sorphia Guillaume, who acts as an intermediary between the players and the NCAA training coaches.
Guillaume is still coaching the next generation in Ottawa. He is now at the helm of the North Gloucester Giants U15 team in the National Capital Amateur Football Association (NCAFA).
A former player of this program, Akheem Mesidor risks finding a taker in April 2024 during the NFL Draft. The tackle will play this autonomous his last season with the Miami Hurricanes.
Mesidor, whose mother is French-speaking, had 38 tackles and seven sacks last year. Before moving to Florida, he had shone for two seasons with the West Virginia Mountaineers, notably obtaining 9.5 sacks.
“Akheem and Wesley Bailey are the next two,” says Guillaume.
Bailey is also a defensive lineman. In his case, he evolves in New Jersey at Rutgers University.
“The more players from here who break into the NFL, the more it will inspire others. They will no longer say that it is impossible.
Jean-Sorphia Guillaume recalls that per capita, Ottawa has more active players in the Goodell circuit than certain states in the north of the United States, including Maine and Vermont.
“A lot of times in the past, guys were ashamed to say they were from Canada. A player like Jesse Luketa made it cool.”
Luketa, remember, has adopted the username “Ottawa’s Very Own” on social media. His involvement in the various communities even convinced the City of Ottawa to proclaim July 4 “Jesse Luketa Day”.
2023-09-02 17:00:00
#Ottawa #flavor #NFL #season
