Familiarity a bonus for Bombers’ Haba, Gassama

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Celestin Haba isn’t viewing the vacancy at the defensive end position as his job to lose.

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“I look at it as an opening,” the second-year CFLer said Saturday. “Nothing is secure. I can’t say that’s my job. Until training camp ends and we move onto the season, I’m competing every day. I’m never letting my foot off the gas.”

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The 24-year-old from Columbia, S.C., is the odds-on favourite to take over the vacancy left by Jackson Jeffcoat’s retirement from football over the off-season.

“Some big, big shoes to fill,” Haba said, now hailing from Plano, Tex, where Jeffcoat is from.

You could say Haba has a leg up on the competition, given that he played in eight games last season, recording 12 tackles, including four sacks and a forced fumble.

But nothing in football is guaranteed.

“He did a lot of good things last year and his personality fits really well with the group,” head coach Mike O’Shea said. “He’s generally a very happy, positive guy, likes being here, guys like being around him. He was very productive very early (last season) and then the roster shifts, he didn’t get to finish it off.

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“But I wouldn’t go that far, that it’s his (job) to lose. We’ve got a spot available and a lot of guys are competing for it. Haba is one of those guys we know more about and we really like what we know.”

Haba’s learned from two of the game’s best, Jeffcoat and Willie Jefferson, another Texan he hopes will line up opposite him on Winnipeg’s defensive line.

Haba, a product of Texas A&M University-Commerce, was a late camp addition in 2023, but quickly digested the material and dressed for a pre-season game three days after arriving.

He was thrown to the wolves in Week 1, but that didn’t faze him. He made four tackles in that game and his first CFL sack.

“I learned so much from those guys from then to now that my game has elevated, compared to last year, to a whole other level,” Haba said.

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There’s no late arrival this season, and Haba is taking advantage of both the familiarity around him and the next level that he’s achieved.

“I got one year under my belt, so I’m familiar with the Canadian football game,” he said. “I’m more understanding of what’s going on around me, the schemes, the systems. It’s the same mindset, just with more comfort.”

That understanding also extends to the intensity level required and set by guys like Jefferson and longtime Bomber Jake Thomas.

“Those are winners, those are champions,” Haba said. “You can’t have a different mindset. I feel like I bring some my own energy as well, because there’s no comparing to those guys. So I bring my own swag, to where I fit in what’s going on around there. I’m happy about that, because I want to be me.”

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On offence, Winnipegger and 2024 Bombers sixth-round draft pick AK Gassama is also leaning on what’s familair.

The Vincent Massey Collegiate graduate and University of Manitoba Bisons star has spent a lot of time at Princess Auto Stadium.

Now, he’s back to being a student again.

“Taking my time and making sure that I’m running my pace, my marathon, and not trying to skip steps,” Gassama said.

Spend any length of time talking about football with Gassama, and you’ll walk away knowing that guy’s a Bomber.

It helps that even going back to his college days, he was picking the brains of fellow receivers Nic Demski and Kenny Lawler, along guys he’d see around, including Jefferson and former Bombers defensive back Winston Rose.

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“We share the same stadium, so you’d see these guys every day, and they’d come out and watch games when they had time and we’d be at their games as well,” Gassama said.

“Those guys showed a lot of love coming up through my college career. Coach O’Shea, too, seeing him around and I’m good friends with his son (Mike Jr.).

It’s certainly an advantage, Gassama said, but like Haba and plenty of others who have come through Winnipeg, the buck stops on the field.

“I want to keep taking the right steps forward,” Gassama said. “I don’t skip steps. Right now, I gotta play my turn. I gotta be there and watch, listen and make sure when my name is called, I’m ready.”

As O’Shea put it, Gassama would never let comfort distract him from the work he has to do.

“He’s a pretty impressive human being,” O’Shea said. “The stuff he does, the things he gets out of himself in a day.”

And there’s room for Gassama to play a part.

“We’ve watched him for a ton of time… we’ve got a lot of information on him,” O’Shea said. “He’s working hard to compete for a spot.”

sbilleck@postmedia.com
X: @scottbilleck

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