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The name of the game in the Canadian Football League off-season is balancing a strong veteran core with recruits that keep the roster younger and faster.

And there is one name in particular that indicates the Edmonton Eskimos are well on their way.

He came into the world as Devante Noil, but the manner in which he’s been making his way through it has brought about a different moniker.

“I go by the nickname Speedy Noil,” said the 23-year-old native of New Orleans, who was one of 14 free-agent acquisitions announced by the Eskimos on Feb. 14. “I was one of the fastest guys at our park. I represent Cutoff Park back in Algiers.”

It was there where the city-run facility offering organized sports led to one coach calling him Speedy early on.

“I was given the name when I was four years old and my mom, she just stuck with it ever since I was growing up playing the game of football,” Noil said.

So, never mind NFL.com lists the five-foot-11, 199-pound Texas A&M product as Speedy, but even his own mother has forsaken Devante.