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Pondering the question, he surveys the wall of cameras, the nest of microphones, the herd of reporters in front of him.

He can be gruff, but right now Jerome Messam appears at ease, even if he’s just been asked if he has something to prove.

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His response, when it comes, features no eye-rolling and little snark.

“I don’t know if there’s much proving to do,” Messam, smiling, says Monday morning at McMahon Stadium. “You guys haven’t been talking crap about me all year.”

He is right.

But if the press did tee off on him?

“It would just be worse for the rest of the league.”

As it is, CFL opponents paid a steep price in 2016, a career year for the ball-toting behemoth of the Calgary Stampeders.

Messam pounded out 1,200 yards, propelling his 255-pound frame up the middle over and over again en route to the rushing title. Nobody in the land got more touches, 206 of them.

No surprise, he is the West Division’s nominee for Most Outstanding Canadian.