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But the 75th player to wear an Eskimos uniform this year, Derel Walker, will be on that plane to Toronto and that makes it decidedly easier to look forward than backward in this fractured football season.

Walker walked right back into the lineup from his failed attempt to make the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the National Football League and couldn’t believe how he picked up where he left off.

Photo by Sam Greenwood / Getty Images

Not particularly talkative when he showed up three days after the NFL cuts, Walker was much more expansive in a one-on-one interview with your correspondent Monday after his eight-catch, 93-yard, one-touchdown re-entry game.

“It just felt great. It would have felt a lot better if we had won but to just come back to town, put the Eskimos uniform on and go out there in Commonwealth Stadium and make some plays, that just felt great,” he said enthusiastically.

“It’s hard to explain. I just like the vibe of the whole city. I feel comfortable here. It’s the only organization I know, and I didn’t really want to venture out. The fans here love me, man. It just feels like home. It really did feel like I hadn’t been away, man. It felt like I hadn’t missed a step and like I hadn’t missed a beat.

“There were a few things here and there in the playbook that were a little bit different that I had to learn, but everything was pretty much the same.”

And that was Mike Reilly at quarterback.

“It was nice to be back with a quarterback who likes to feed me the ball. I was just happy to be back with all those guys I won a championship with two years ago. I’m just so happy to be back with my brothers trying to win another Grey Cup.”