Eight days ago, while the CFL family was digesting news of Mylan Hicks’s tragic death, one of his teammates made a simple request. When meeting with the media on Sunday afternoon, Calgary Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell asked the media to forgo the traditional narrative of how the team would rally around their fallen brother. Instead, Mitchell asked for us to tell Hicks’s story.

Remembering Mylan

It was such a refreshing thing to hear from Mitchell. He’s right; talking about how a team reacts on the field is a very easy and common narrative to tell after tragic things happen. It’s Mitchell’s request, though, that we’re going to heed.

Hicks was a versatile player during his four year stint at Michigan State University. Joining the Spartans initially as a cornerback, Hicks would transition to playing safety and finally linebacker in his senior year. In fact, Hicks started the final game of his college career at linebacker when he helped Michigan State to a thrilling 42-41 win over Baylor on January 1st, 2015.

Hicks finished his college career with 32 career tackles, including 19 in his senior season. But, much like his new family in Calgary, his measurable statistics weren’t what left a lasting impression. Hicks will be remembered by all his teammates for his personality, drive, work ethic, and sense of humour.

We heard last Sunday from Stampeders teammates Mitchell and Josh Bell. We heard about how easy Hicks was to like and how infectious his personality was. They weren’t alone, because his college teammates and coaches echoed the exact same sentiments. 41 current Spartans were proud to call Hicks a teammate, too.

“He was genuinely a good person to be around,” Michigan State teammate Chris Norman told the Lansing State Journal. “I enjoyed his company. I enjoyed his jokes, laughter, energy. He was full of life. I’m really going to miss the kind of person he was.”

Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio called Hicks a “great competitor and teammate” while his primary defensive coach in college spoke glowingly about his intensity.

“He was intense on the football field. The kind of guy that you want,” Michigan State co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach Harlon Barnett said. “I always talk about that ‘other guy’ coming out (in you) on the field. His other guy came out on game day or whenever you practiced. He went a thousand miles per hour.”

Hicks got a look from the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers following his time in college before eventually finding his way to Calgary. Scouting reports talked about Hicks’s superb speed and footwork for a defensive back of his stature. Most importantly, though, Hicks was a family member away from football.

Hicks was a son and is survived by his parents Renee and Reggie Hill. He was a brother to Jazzmine and an uncle to her two sons Kaiden and Carter.

It’s senseless when you think of what happened last weekend in Calgary. It didn’t need to happen and now we wait and hope justice will be served. But Bo Levi Mitchell had a fair request when he asked the media to tell Hicks’s story, because it’s an important one to tell.

Watch yourself

With Hicks very much on their mind Saturday afternoon, the Stampeders were dominant once again in a 36-17 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The win clinched a home playoff berth for the Stampeders and improved their record to 12-1-1 with four games to play; winning the West Division is just a formality at this point. But things can’t be this easy for the rest of the season, can they?

When Marshall Ferguson and I debated the biggest threat to Calgary’s Grey Cup hopes just over a week ago, a few people on Twitter made a really good point. I chose Winnipeg as the biggest obstacle for the Stamps while Ferguson leaned towards the Ticats. The point made on social media, though, was simple: the Stampeders’ biggest threat right now just happens to be themselves.

Watching the Stamps win as resoundingly as they did in hostile territory this weekend was emphatic for me. While I think both Winnipeg and Hamilton could pose a threat, I don’t see anyone in this league beating Calgary straight up if the Stamps are playing at, or close to, what they’re capable of.

That’s why I’m deferring to the point made by a number of our CFL.ca readers. The way things are shaping up, the Stampeders are going to have to have an off day to be knocked off by an opponent playing some really good football. Calgary would probably need to get into penalty trouble and would have to hurt itself with some unforced errors.

We’ve seen things like that happen before. Good teams have bad games and sometimes those bad games happen at the worst possible times. That said, it would be quite a surprise to see the Stamps lay a post-season egg.

This group is too focused on the task at hand. Head coach Dave Dickenson has done a masterful job in his first year at the helm while Bo Levi Mitchell looks better than he’s ever looked at quarterback, and that’s saying something.

The Stamps boast the league’s highest-scoring offence and have allowed the fewest points defensively. They have a highly respected coaching staff, which has demanded and received the right buy-in from the group.

Calgary isn’t guaranteed a Grey Cup title come November, because football doesn’t work that way. However, it’s going to take a herculean effort to knock that team off right now and even still that might not be enough. It’s likely the Stamps will have to hurt themselves at the same time.

Secret weapon?

The defending champs have looked good the last couple weeks and have knocked off a pair of West Division rivals in the process. Wins over BC and now Winnipeg have made things a little more interesting both in the west and when you start looking at the crossover. Coming off a 40-26 win over the Bombers on Friday night, I want to focus on one player in particular.

While Mike Reilly, Adarius Bowman, and Derel Walker have understandably gotten most of the attention for the Esks this season, it was John White leading the way against Winnipeg. The Edmonton tailback ran for 104 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries and was at his best in the first half as his team built a 24-10 lead.

BUY WEEK 16 TICKETS



» Friday, 7:00 p.m. ET: Saskatchewan at Ottawa

» Saturday, 4:00 p.m. ET: BC at Winnipeg

» Monday, 1:00 p.m. ET: Edmonton at Montreal

» Monday, 4:00 p.m. ET: Calgary at Toronto

White has been a factor at different times this season but I wonder if we might see him used more and more heavily as the Eskimos enter the stretch drive. Remember, White missed the entire 2015 season with a ruptured Achilles tendon.

While he’s been at full strength all season long, it can take some time for things to get back to normal when it comes to comfort and confidence for both the player and the team. With a game like Friday under his belt, one thing has been driven home if it wasn’t certain before: White is still a dynamic runner in this league.

With one of the league’s most vaunted aerial attacks, Edmonton has the capability of being a handful any given week. But if the Esks start using White a little more, this offence has the chance to be even more dangerous.

White has only gotten 14 or more carries twice this season, and those two games just happened to be his most impactful outings of the year. With an average of 4.5 yards per carry right now, White can be a very useful too for the Eskimos if they choose to use him a little bit more. His performance on Friday could very well convince them to do just that.

Quick hits

We’ve written about it before, but I really don’t know what’s going on in the East Division. After Toronto’s loss to Montreal on Sunday, Argos head coach Scott Milanovich expressed his frustration his team couldn’t take advantage of teams ahead of them losing. The fact is, though, no one in the East Division is taking advantage of the situation presented.

The division is right there for the taking! Despite all the hype, Hamilton is two games below .500 and has lost three of its last four games. Ottawa leads the division but has won just two of its last five games and has done anything but pull away. Both the REDBLACKS and the Ticats have potential to be really good teams, but consistency continues to elude them. It’s one of the more head scratching storylines of the 2016 season thus far.

PHOTOS OF THE WEEK: WEEK 15

Photos of the Week: Week 15 [1 of 32] (Adam Gagnon/CFL.ca)

The only East Division team that did win this week was the Montreal Alouettes, and they did so in impressive fashion. In game one under new head coach Jacques Chapdelaine, the Als crushed Toronto 38-11. With Chapdelaine at the helm, things seem much more positive in Montreal which is a much needed change.

Because they’re three games back of Edmonton, the playoffs might be an unrealistic scenario for the Alouettes this season. That said, these final games have a ton of value regardless. Chapdelaine is installing a brand new offence in Montreal and getting up to speed on it will be huge in the final weeks of the season. So far, so good, though.