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Turns out, he was a pretty good wrestler himself in high school — placing fifth in the state as a sophomore, then going undefeated through a season before losing in the state championship as a junior. He’s taken that wrestling mentality and adapted it to his football game.

“My whole game is based off that — my balance and my ability to take anybody down, whether they’re big or fast, I’ve mastered tackling,” said Munoz. “I use it to my advantage.”

With mini camp April 24-26 at TD Place, Munoz is anxious to step back onto the field for a team that went from a 2-16 record in 2014 to 12-6 and a spot in the Grey Cup (where the RedBlacks lost 26-20 to Edmonton).

“I’m super excited for what we’ve built,” said Munoz. “We fell a little short last year, but we still had a great season. We have the best coach, the best quarterback, the best defence, the best offence … there’s a lot to look forward to. There’s always work to be done, there’s always a rock to be turned over. We don’t want to leave any more meat on the bone, I want to help bring the city a championship.

“Guys didn’t really care about the individual awards and statistics, they care more about wins and losses. It’s about wins and championships, it’s not about doing it yourself.”

It’s been nearly five months since the Grey Cup and Munoz said it’s time to get going.

“Yeah, we were all kind of beat up after the season, but that kind of wears off after two or three weeks,” he said.

Some prominent players from the 2015 version of the RedBlacks are gone, but Munoz is excited.