Darnell Sankey knows what it’s like to win as an underdog. He did it just five months ago, albeit in a different league.

As a member of the Arlington Renegades, he won the XFL championship over the favoured DC Defenders. In the Division Final against the Houston Roughnecks, his Renegades weren’t the favourite either.

It’s a similar story now for Sankey, with the linebacker back for his second stint in the CFL.

He and his Montreal Alouettes defeated the heavily favoured Toronto Argonauts in the Eastern Final and now prepare for their biggest game of the year as the underdog, yet again, with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers awaiting to battle in the 110th Grey Cup.

“I feel like that’s been kind of looming over us as the Alouettes since I got here, (that we are) underdogs,” the middle linebacker said at Wednesday’s Grey Cup media day, as he prepares to play in his second title match this year.

“I look at the little predictions and sometimes we’re not the favoured in the majority of the games, which is fine. It’s okay because we believe.”

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What a feat that would be for Sankey, not only defeating the Bombers who’ve been in four-straight Grey Cups, but for him to hoist a trophy twice in a calendar year.

After winning the chip south of the border in May of this year, Sankey made his return to the CFL, signing with the Montreal Alouettes on September 11. Four days later, and with just three practices under his belt, he hit the field with his new team to play the Toronto Argonauts in Week 15.

He immediately made an impact in the middle of the Als defence, tallying five tackles in the team’s loss, the last time they’ve lost this season. Sankey was physically prepared, he says, when he arrived in Montreal, making the transition into a new system that much easier.

“I had meetings with Noel (Thorpe) and GQ (linebackers coach Greg Quick) every day,” Sankey said of his first week in the Alouettes building back in September. “All morning and after practice, that’s all I did. Especially as a MIKE linebacker, once you understand the scheme, it’s easy for me.”

Tyrice Beverette, who plays alongside Sankey in the linebacking corps, says it’s not surprising that he was able to fit into Thorpe’s defence right away.

“First and foremost, he’s a baller,” Beverette said. “It’s not that easy to just come out to a new system with new plays in new surroundings and go out there and play at the level he played. For him to do that, it shows you he’s a very polished player. He knows football, he flies around, he’s very physical.”

In six games in 2023, Sankey tallied 31 tackles to go along with a sack, an interception, and a pair of forced fumbles. His playoff resume speaks for itself, continuing to make impactful plays all over the field.

He led his team in tackles against the Tiger-Cats in the Eastern Semi-Final with eight and also tallied two sacks and an interception, one that turned into an Austin Mack touchdown, in the win. In last week’s Eastern Final against Toronto, Sankey had six tackles, an interception, and a fumble recovery, picking up a Chad Kelly drop that was forced by Shawn Lemon.

Those takeaways are nothing new for an Alouettes defence that was so good at forcing them in the regular season. They were second in turnover ratio at +14, with 48 opponent turnovers that turned into 128 points. The unit also had a league-leading 12 non-offensive touchdowns, including nine from defensive plays.

“That’s the standard that we set since the beginning of season,” said Beverette of Montreal’s see ball, get ball defence. “It’s something that we expect to do each and every game.”

“Ever since I’ve been here, it just seems like we’re just so hungry to perform, compete and beat everybody,” added Sankey, who was in Saskatchewan in 2022, leading the CFL in tackles with 120.

“We don’t want to just win, we want to dominate.”

The 29-year-old told CFL.ca in an interview after his first game against the Argos, “I believe we’re going to win every single game and we’re going to win the Grey Cup.”

Montreal hasn’t lost since.

The team is riding a seven-gaming winning streak, including their two playoff wins against Hamilton and Toronto, respectively. All that stands in their way of completing Sankey’s prophesy is Winnipeg.

Sankey wasn’t with the team when they played the Blue Bombers earlier in the season, with both victories goes to the blue and gold. He’s faced Brady Oliveira before though, going toe-to-toe with him when Sankey was Roughrider and knows just how difficult a task this game will be against a high-powered offence that runs through the legs of their tail back.

“I think he has good vision and he can find an open gap,” he admitted about the MOP and MOC nominated Bomber. ” I think us as a defence, if we’re not disciplined, in terms of our gap assignment, he’s gonna exploit it.”

Sankey’s had conversations with teammates this week about the underdog-wins-a-championship storyline that he’s lived already once this season. It’s simple: if he did it once, he can do it again.

“I think I bring that kind of mentality,” he said. “Like, ‘Hey, I just did it. I literally just did it so we can do it.'”