Article content continued

Pruneau, one of the more popular Redblacks with his happy-go-lucky attitude, said it wasn’t easy at first.

“The first week, I showed up every morning pissed off, but I knew I had to get the job done,” he said. “It was hard mentally. (I was pissed off) maybe the first week. Then it was, ‘We have some great football players here.’ Jerrell is playing there now and he’s one of the best players I’ve seen. I can’t take it personally, it’s a change the organization felt it needed to make. It’s been a very good life lesson. I had to adjust to what the coaches wanted from me — try to help the team the best that I could. I had to fight to get back on the field.

“My teammates were very supportive. The coaches helped me with the mental process. Stick with the plan and stick with the team. I feel good about the way I’m playing right now. I can’t doubt what they did and I don’t doubt myself either because I feel I’ve had a pretty good season.”

With a bit more than a month until the Grey Cup — a game the Redblacks hope to play in after a heartbreaking loss to Edmonton in 2015 — Pruneau said the players are getting a second wind.

“Every morning I wake up, I can barely walk to the stadium and I’m two minutes from here,” he said. “In the meeting room, I can’t sit for an hour — my back starts hurting. I’m sure it’s the same for the rest of the players on our team. But as soon as we step on the field and the whistle goes, we forget about all of that. We know what we’re playing for and if we can get there, we’ll forget about all of these things.