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There are two easy ways to get an abrupt answer out of John Hufnagel.

One is by bringing up a player who doesn’t pull on the Red & White of the Calgary Stampeders.

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“Not my player,” is the now president and general manager’s favourite response.

The other is by bringing up the past.

Never one to wax poetic about his days at Penn State, his time as a player in the NFL or CFL, and definitely not his pre-Stampeders coaching days, Hufnagel likely has an amazing array of stories that go untold.

In the general public, at least.

Recently, thanks partly to an outgoing CFL scribe’s likely-annoying habit of asking about the topic, Hufnagel’s door to the past creaked open.

It’s hard to understand why Hufnagel is so hesitant to talk about his days coaching some of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game, names that include Peyton Manning (2001), Tom Brady (2003) and Eli Manning (2004-06).

The reason, Hufnagel explains, is pretty simple.