HAMILTON — Over the last three seasons, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats have had to work their way back from early-season slumps, proving their grit and hard work in the process.
This time around, they want to get started on winning ways instead.
There are new faces in Tiger Town from leadership to the on-field talent, and wide receiver Tim White has made it clear what the team’s expectation is with new faces ready to make an impact.
“Grey Cup, number one,” said White. “You know, winning games, that’s number one.”
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The wide receiving corps for the Ticats has gotten stronger with a marquee signing in free agent Kenny Lawler, as well as Shemar Bridges returning from injury ready to pass the century mark after nearly eclipsing it as a rookie.
For the Hamilton wideouts, their individual ambitions are the ones that benefit the team in achieving the overarching goal of creating a winning culture together.
“I really don’t get into all the individual stats, especially while I’m training, I like to keep that kind of to myself, but just know that when I do get on the field, it’s going to be explosive,” said White.
“It’s going to be efficient. I will share one goal, and that’s to be a great catcher of the ball. So that’s my number one goal. And then after that, it’s just continuing to be explosive.”
Bo Levi Mitchell will benefit from that strong wide receiver room along with some protection in free agent guard Liam Dobson.
For Mitchell, like many others, it all comes down to the glory of winning that Grey Cup, and being able to give that feeling of victory to others around him.
“I know it sounds cliche, but when I lost to Henry in the Grey Cup in his last game – Henry first, then same with Ricky Ray the year after, I got tired of guys going out on a win against me, and I want to return the favour to someone,” said Mitchell.
“Just [to] be able to return the favour to the young guys, give the guys in this organization what winning truly feels like, and what it can do for a team and the organization for years to come.”
Tim White hauled in three-straight 1,000-yard seasons, including 1,164 in 2024 (CFL.ca)
But to get to that point, the Ticats still have things to work on – utilizing their run game just as much as their passing attack, controlling the game defensively with the help of new defensive coordinator Brent Monson, and overall being a consistent football team week in and week out.
The statistics matter, and Hamilton’s pass game reflects that after leading the CFL in passing yards in 2024, but also being able to be a team that is balanced on both sides of the ball and can control the pace no matter where they are on the field is critical in being a team that is playing for it all in November.
“Everybody’s like, ‘you threw for 5,400 yards last year. Can you throw for 6,000?’ Yeah, we can,” said Mitchell. “But we’d rather be a more balanced offence and run for 2,000 yards. If you look at the teams that are in the Grey Cup every year, you look at Winnipeg, you look at Toronto, Montreal, they’ve all had great run games, right?
“It’s a big deal to be able to consistently run the football and not just in the beginning of the game. [You have to] decide is it on today or is it not on today? A more consistent run game will open for [the] pass game. It’ll help out our defence. It’ll help us control the balls more, which I think ultimately is going to give us more wins.”
