Bulldogs Insider #3 - The old meets the new

Each week Bulldogs wide receiver and now running back Matt Gordon will be giving you an insightful look at the North Bay Bulldogs. Enjoy!

After a tough week three loss the Bulldogs (0-2) were looking forward to getting back on the winning track this Saturday night against the Oakville Longhorns (1-1). Unfortunately due to seven straight days of inclement weather in the city, the game scheduled for 7pm at Rollie Fisher Field will be re-scheduled for later in the season. This is the second postponement in the NFC this season along with a game in Kitchener/Waterloo last weekend. With Sudbury dropping out during the pre-season, the schedule was already re-tooled to a 7 game format; that along with the game cancellations has had schedule makers working overtime to accommodate. The Bulldogs grudgingly will use the bye weekend to heal up and get prepared for the Oshawa Hawkeyes (0-1) who will visit the North Bay in week 5.

This week’s insider will focus on the new and “old” additions to this year’s Bulldogs roster. During my tenure on the Bulldogs never have I seen so many different faces from the ones that ended the year before. Don’t get me wrong, there are rookies added each season and players that retire every year, but never this many at the same time. This along with some players making comebacks has made for a very large turnover from the roster that ended 2007.

When each season of Bulldogs Football ends there are always a lot of players left wondering if they will return the next and with an eight month off-season the decision toils around in the back of your mind the entire time. I know myself, even after what was definitely my most productive season for the ‘Dogs last year, I pondered for a while if I wanted to play and if my summer schedule would allow it. However just as I have for the last eight years, I quickly made the decision to play and started to plan for the 2008 campaign. One of the things that myself and some of the other veterans started to note during the winter was the amount of players that had stated they could not return for this year. At one point myself, and another veteran even contemplated if we would have enough numbers to field a team. Yet when the first day of camp came in May, not only did we have more than enough players, but I didn’t recognize half of them.

To give you an idea of the numbers I am speaking of, you only need to look at the program from 2007 compared to this year’s. Last year the team had a roster of 45 players and of those, 18 players did not return. That is an enormous amount for any football team to have to overcome and to make matters worse 11 of the 18 players held steady starting positions. Replacing 18 players was going to prove difficult, but 11 starters seemed almost impossible. In step the “new guys," no less than 12 players are now playing in their first ever season for the Bulldogs.

Many of these players have also stepped into starting positions in a sort of “trial by fire” initiation into NFC football. None have felt the pressure more than rookie QB Zack Moreau. Stepping into the most mentally demanding position in football Zack has quickly found out how much faster and more complicated the NFC game is in comparison to the NDA high school loop. However, there isn’t a player in the locker room that doesn’t admire Zack for his effort, commitment and bravery so far this season. Many veterans (including myself) have uttered the quote, “I am glad it’s not me!” when referring to Zack’s predicament. With the dedication he has shown so far in the pre-season and the first two games, Zack is setting himself up for a long and successful career under center for the Bulldogs. And if Zack ever needs a moral boost, I know there is a former Bulldogs QB (I’m not going to mention names) that could share horror stories of his rookie season at the helm and that QB has a few very impressive records and awards under his belt.

These rookies have injected a lot of life into a team that ended 2007 on a low note and was looking very pale when it came to roster size in the off-season. The new blood alone would have been enough to sport a very good football team, but the ‘Dogs also got a boost from some old faces as well. As of this week the team has five players on the roster whose last game action came prior to the 2007 season. Each of these players is helping to fill holes in the roster wherever they can. If you want to find out who these players are, you will just have to come out and see the Bulldogs play Saturday night.

There is no shortage of talent in our locker room right now, when you look around you see a lot of speed, strength and size. It is just going to be a matter of gelling the new players and the “old” players into the core that returned from last year for the team to be successful. Last week was our first road trip of the season and the trip down and back together will definitely help our team become one solid unit that works together to achieve a common goal. Football is game of structure and execution, without those no matter how much skill you have you will never be successful.

The best part about adding so many new people into the returning core is that our learning curve has been extremely steep. I know I have found it difficult so far this season, learning a new position has put me in the same predicament as a lot of the new players and I have made the rookie mistakes to show for it. Whether it is a blown assignment or losing your cool at the wrong time we are all learning together what we cannot do if we expect to be successful. The 2008 version of the Bulldogs is now starting to move on from their losses from last year, and as we gel together as a single unit I know you will see it transformed into better performances on the Gridiron.