Redblacks Notebook: Condell brings no bitterness to The Hammer; Laborn hopes he's 'home"

Ottawa can clinch a CFL playoff spot if it wins in Hamilton on Saturday afternoon.

Published Sep 13, 2024  •  5 minute read

Redblacks fans celebrate an interception return for a touchdown by defensive back Damon Webb against the Argonauts last Saturday. The Redblacks are in Hamilton to face the Tiger-Cats on Saturday afternoon. Photo by Justin Tang, The Canadian Press /ott

If Ottawa Redblacks offensive co=ordinator Tommy Condell felt a need for vindication, Saturday’s visit to Hamilton sets up as the perfect time and place.

Ottawa is coming off its highest scoring game of the season and has a chance to clinch a Canadian Football league playoff spot with a win against the last-place team that “parted ways” in a “mutual decision” with Condell, its offensive co-ordinator and assistant coach, 13 months ago.

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Tommy Condell is in his first season as Redblacks offensive co-ordinator. Photo by CFL /Handout

The split occurred after the Hamilton Tiger-Cats fell to 3-5, with the wins coming against Ottawa (two) and Edmonton, a pair of teams that would finish with 4-14 records.

Condell’s offence averaged 15 points in his last three games at the switch.

But the 53-year-old native of Utica, N.Y., doesn’t consider his first regular-season game back in The Hammer an opportunity for revenge or a chance to do a victory dance in front of the fans in Oskee Wee Wee-land who might have cursed his name.

Publicly, at least, Condell speaks like he’s more proud of the four East Division championships than any bitterness he has over the way it ended.

“We had so many great years there,” Condell said. “Being offensive co-ordinator in the CFL, you’re not going to make everyone happy. You win all the games and someone says you got to run more or pass more. It’s like my family. I’ve got four boys. We go to a good steakhouse, I’m telling you, someone’s gonna say, ‘Do you got chicken fingers here?’ Someone’s going to be disappointed. That’s just the way it is, right?

“So, great people there and that kind of thing, but, in saying all that, we want to go in there and perform and do what we need to do. We always want to come out with a victory. I could care less who it’s against. Right now it needs to be Hamilton. And then whoever we play next week, it’s going to be that. It becomes such a laser-like focus. So I’m going to be really satisfied this game if we come out and play very well and have a victory, and it’ll be the same next week, and it was the same last week. Yeah? And then I live it for what, maybe 10 hours. We get 10 hours and we move on.”

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That was what the Redblacks offence did so well the past two weeks, when they went from their lowest point production of the season in Victoria, B.C., to lighting up the board seven days later at home.

“We had to correct some things and we moved on,” Condell said. “It’s a process, and it’s the season. The proverbial mountain is not always a straight ascent. That’s just the way the season goes. You’re gonna have adversity. I think the best season I’ve ever been around was 15-3. You’re still going to face the so-called adversity and how you’re going to react to it is going to be important. And, so far, in any of those moments, I thought, as a total group, and then just offensively, just talking to them, is to be able to be resilient into the response. And they were able to do that, and they’ve done that throughout the year.”

Khalan Laborn of the Ottawa Redblacks breaks through the Toronto Argonauts defence for a touchdown run last Saturday. Photo by Freestyle Photography /Handout

A BIG HIT: Headline writers are just waiting for the opportunity to pounce when the Redblacks’ new running back has his breakout game, whether it be with ‘A Star is Laborn’ or ‘Laborn to Run.’ Khalan Laborn was good in his Ottawa debut last Saturday against the Toronto Argonauts, catching five passes for 30 yards and carrying the ball 10 times for 47 yards and a touchdown, but the scoring run was a 33-yarder, so there was room for improvement in his other nine rushes. The 25-year old Virginia Beach product, who two years ago had 1,513 yards in 13 games for NCAA Division 1 Marshall University, has been an immediate hit with everyone around the organization because of his big smile and pleasant personality, but going into last weekend’s game he was focused on impressing his teammates. “I wanted to make sure my teammates feel like they can trust me,” Laborn said. “The quarterback feels like he can trust me, like he don’t gotta second-guess me. The O-line, they make their calls, and I can say, ‘I got y’all, boys. Let’s go to work.’ Just doing my job, being where I’m supposed to be at and running hard, protecting the rock, protecting the quarterback. Stayed locked-in and bring positive energy.” All that, he did. Laborn will have a second chance to cement himself as the Redblacks running back of the present and future on Saturday in Hamilton, and, after spending the last 16 months trying to land a permanent role with the San Francisco 49ers, Edmonton Elks and Argos, he’s going to do what he can to make Ottawa his home. “I thank God every day (for the chance with the Redblacks),” he said. “I’m more grateful than anything because it’s hard for a running back to find a job. It’s hard for a running back to be looked at as someone like, ‘Oh, we can keep that guy, we don’t need to trade another piece in for another piece when we already got one.’ I’m very blessed, very grateful, very thankful in the O-line and the quarterback and the receivers that we have, just the whole overall team, the overall locker room, coaches that we have, from the owner to the GM. I’m thankful, very grateful.” That’s not hyperbole. Laborn loves his current job and for a while he thought he might have to move on to something else. “I wasn’t sure, but I talked to my family, my friends, my girl and her family, and we just said, ‘Just keep pushing, something’s gonna give. God didn’t lead you here for no reason,'” he said. “So I trusted it. Lot of long nights, a lot of lot of tears, lot of anger, a lot of frustration, a lot of wondering why, just wishing God would come down and I could have a man-to-man conversation with him, or more a man-to-God conversation, so to say, just ask, ‘What can I do?’ But I trusted it. I trusted him every day. Just let him lead the way through the tunnel. Now we keep the thing rolling and keep Him first.”

GOING DEEP: Changes for the Redblacks this week include the activation of receivers Jaelon Acklin and Keaton Bruggeling as well as offensive lineman Frank Centers, who starts at right tackle. Offensive tackle Zack Pelehos (ankle) and running back Jamal Morrrow (hamstring) move to the injured list, while defensive back Bennett Williams goes to the practice roster. Wide receiver Eli Stove replaces Brandon Dandridge as the kick returner.

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