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BRADENTON, Fla. — The first time Danny McManus laid eyes on Brandon Alexander he knew he was seeing something special.

Same goes for Jovan Santos-Knox.

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He knew about them from their college film, invited both to attend free-agent tryout camps in the United States and when both seemed to fit the bill for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and their head coach Mike O’Shea, he got them signed to contracts.

From there, it was just a matter of the players taking the ball and running with it at the right times, in front of the right people.

“You’ve got to take it from there,” McManus said. “All we can do is open the door. What you do when you go past that door is up to you. We can’t control that part.”

Alexander and Santos-Knox are two of the better success stories for the Bombers’ director of U.S. scouting in recent years.

Both quickly made impressions on the Bombers coaching staff and became CFL regulars. Santos-Knox, a physical weak-side linebacker, parlayed that into a big free-agent contract with the Edmonton Eskimos, while defensive back Alexander has become an anchor in the Blue Bombers secondary.