A life experience. That’s how Reggie Stubblefield sums up being cut by the Montreal Alouettes before the start of the season, before coming back better and transformed.
At 24, soon to be 25, Stubblefield clings to his dream of living off professional sports for several more years. Looking at the way he played against the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Friday night, he has every reason to believe it. Continually, the defensive back intervened in a 41-12 victory, by a tight cover, to harm the opposing attack. And to think that he had been sent home at the beginning of June, to Texas, after the team’s last preseason game…
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“When I was cut, I was really frustrated at first, I felt the anger rising in me, but I finally took it as a life experience, he commented in an interview granted to the Journal. I wanted to understand why and use it to see what I had to improve.”
Reggie Stubblefield
Martin Alarie / Agence QMI
Beyond his game on the pitch, he also took the opportunity to settle certain issues in his personal life, such as the relationship established with his father.
“When I moved back to Texas, I needed to spend time with my dad, talk to him more, improve our relationship and that helped me a lot,” he said. So I went to Austin to visit it and I trained really hard, from morning to night. I did weights and ran outside.”
Inspired by LeBron James
When talking about the athletes who have always inspired him, Stubblefield, an ex-soccer player, quickly talks about Neymar. More significantly, it also slips the name of famous basketball player LeBron James.
“I admire LeBron James’ career because he lived in a single-parent family, like me,” said the Alouettes player. I identify with him, our stories are a bit similar. I was raised by my mother Neoma [Humphery]while having a decent long-distance relationship with my dad, but I was living with mom and my sisters.”
If he does not hide having experienced a feeling of abandonment during his adolescence, Stubblefield accepts his past better. He appreciates all the more what he has recently experienced with certain members of the Alouettes who have shown loyalty, including head coach Jason Maas and executive director of football operations, Éric Deslauriers.
“Jason and Eric had told me that they intended to bring me back, if an injury were to occur, detailed Stubblefield, returning to the painful ordeal of having been cut off. I appreciate the fact that they kept their word. I received other offers from the XFL, the USFL and other teams in the Canadian Football League, including Winnipeg, but I decided to come back to Montreal in an environment that is more familiar, with people I know. I wanted to come back here because I’m an Alouette. I am happy here.”
«Stubbs had been cut late when we had imagined him making the team, for his part summarized head coach Jason Maas. Someone else beat him to camp. He returned home, undeterred and he’s been fantastic ever since he’s been back. [à la fin du mois de juin]. He has the team at heart, he is a guy who works hard and maximizes his skills.
To prove himself
In terms of football, Stubblefield intends to prove their worth again over the next few weeks, whether in training or during matches.
“Coming back, I was happy, but above all I wanted to prove myself and establish myself as a better player,” he added. I felt like I should never have been cut, but I didn’t have full control of the situation.”
Currently, Stubblefield is in control of how he plays and how he prepares. And to help her, her ideas have never been so clear. He will have made peace with two Reggies at the same time, him and his father, who bears the same first name.
