Shannon Vizniowski/CFL.ca
In his words, Bear Woods had one foot in the real world.
The 32-year-old linebacker had been released by the Toronto Argonauts on May 16, right before the start of training camp.
It had been just over a two-month wait and while there’d been some interest from other teams, Woods was starting to feel the pull of a life beyond playing.
“I had my resume ready, I was starting to reach out,” Woods said on Tuesday. “Transition. That’s a terrible thing, man, transitioning.”
RELATED
» Wilder: ‘Every guy in our locker room believes we have a shot’
» The Weekly Say: Which September addition will help most?
» CFL Simulation: Bombers favoured to win the West
Woods is a personal trainer at home in Wetumpka, Alabama. He worked odd jobs over those two months, things that would let him drop what he was doing in case a Canadian area code showed up on his phone.
While he inched one foot into the real world, he kept looking at that other foot and thought about how much he loved having it in cleats, heading onto the football field. With the Argos reeling in their season, GM Jim Popp finally called with an offer. Woods returned to Toronto but spent almost another six weeks on the practice roster.
“I ended up coming here knowing that my role wasn’t going to be the all-star, player of the year guy coming in and playing right away,” Woods said. “They were trying to do something else but I humbly came in here because I wanted to be a part of this.
“I know the team was struggling, there’s no doubt and I knew that I could help in many ways.”
Woods spent those six weeks getting back into game shape and mentoring the team’s young linebackers. With Micah Awe going to the six-game injured list, Woods finally got his opportunity to get back on the field for the Argos’ Week 13 game against Ottawa. In his first on-field action since Sept. 22, 2018, Woods was prolific. He had a game-high eight tackles and, like any outstanding linebacker, it felt like any time the defence made a big play, Woods was in the middle of it.
With Woods in the lineup, the Argos snapped a three-game losing streak and picked up their second win of the year.
“The biggest thing is that experience, that calming effect when he steps in the game,” Argos head coach Corey Chamblin said of Woods.
Chamblin didn’t doubt that it was hard for Woods to wait the way that he did, first at home in Alabama, then on the practice roster.
“We all have wants, we all have emotions where we want to play this game or coach this game but like anything else, it’s about timing,” the coach said. “I felt he came in at the right time when we needed him.
“We’ve had some pretty good linebackers play for us early in the season and we’ve had some guys go down and he stepped in. I think it gives us a renewed sense of (optimism) coming in off the bench and doing what he needs to do to help us get to a win.”
With almost a full calendar year between games, Woods was more than ready to play again.
“Just being able to hit somebody, I love it. I’ve loved it my whole life,” he said. “That’s probably the most fun thing to do. Then as far as getting back on the field, I mean I’ve loved this game since I was a little kid. And I was just a big kid out there, getting to hit people.”
Argos quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson spoke earlier in the season of letting things slip through his hands like a bar of soap you hold too tightly. The way the Argos’ season has gone, the team has fallen into that too, letting second-half leads or tight games get away from them. Woods spoke to his teammates after their win against Ottawa and told them this was the kind of energy they’d need in their final seven games.
“He brings his level…he kind of has to keep it in the cage a little bit when he’s not allowed to put a helmet on,” Bethel-Thompson said. “But when Bear Woods gets to put a helmet on and run somebody over he lets his full power come out. It’s an awesome spectacle and it definitely spreads to people.”
“He changes the whole locker room,” Argos running back James Wilder Jr. said.
Toronto Argonauts linebacker Bear Woods runs off the field during the 105th Grey Cup game against the Calgary Stampeders (Alex D’Addese/CFL.ca)
At 2-9, the Argos have a steep hill to climb. They’re four games behind Montreal for a playoff spot with just seven games left to play. They’ll also have to keep an eye on Edmonton, who at 6-6 is eying up a crossover spot in the playoffs.
Woods will do everything he can to try to make a miracle happen this season with the Argos.
“We’ve got a lot to get better at if we’re going to make a run of any kind,” Woods told his teammates in Ottawa after that win.
“We look at it as we’ve just got to win out. We have seven games left, a seven-game season for us,” Wilder said. “We’ve just got to take it game-by-game and do what we have to do and control what we can control.”
