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Newsome and the line will be tested on Saturday by Hamilton Ticats quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, who is more nimble afoot that previous starter Zach Collaros.

“Masoli is a guy that can make plays off-script,” said head coach Rick Campbell. “If the play breaks down, or something happens, he’s a guy that can improvise and use his feet, and throw off-balance, and do those type of things. That’s what can make it tricky for the defence. You can line up and do everything right, and if the quarterback scrambles and makes a play, that causes problems.”

Said Newsome: “I look at it like, the quarterback is supposed to throw the ball. If he’s running, we’ve got to be doing something right.”

Newsome noticed a “winning culture” when he joined the Redblacks in July. He said it started at the top with Campbell, whose father, Hugh, was one of the greatest sideline bosses in CFL history.

“It’s in his blood and it just bleeds through the whole team,” said Newsome, who also gives credit to quarterback Trevor Harris for being “a great, emotional, physical leader, a championship-calibre quarterback.”

If the Redblacks are going to have another chance to play for a championship in November — they are still a pedestrian 4-6-1 — that could provide a dilemma for Newsome. His girlfriend is scheduled to give birth to their first child, a son, on Nov. 29.

The Grey Cup game is slated for three days earlier at TD Place.

“We’re going to have to figure it out,” Newsome said when asked what he’d do if the baby arrived early. “I won’t miss the whole game, for sure, but I at least got to go see him. I at least have to be there for the birth. After the birth, I might have to go, ‘OK, there he is, and get back to the field.’ ”

Newsome, who has one more year left on his current contract, plans to keep his “Canadian baby” and family in Ottawa during the offseason.

“It’s going to be a cold winter, but it just makes more sense,” he said. “I’m not so pressed on going back to the States when my job is here. My life is up here right now. Like coach always says, be where your feet are. I’m just where my feet are. Right now my feet are in Canada, so I bring my life up here. Adapt to this lifestyle for as long as I’m blessed to be up here.”