The CFL’s last renegade talks about anger, McDonald’s and his quest for a cup

The players were dispersed to other teams and Hebert moved on to Winnipeg, then Cincinnati, then Hamilton, then Montreal.

Now back in Ottawa, he credits the city for saving his football career.

After a standout stint as a defensive back with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns, Hebert tried out for the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings in 2002, but was cut.

He caught on with the Houston Texans for the remainder of that season, but was injured and released.

“I was unemployed in 2003 coming off an injury … and didn’t know when my next football snap was going to be,” he recalled.

“It was the Ottawa Renegades that gave me an opportunity to get back on the football field and here we are however many teen years later and have an opportunity to have our names etched on history.”

For Hebert, the Renegade label fits beyond the jersey he once wore.

Nicknamed the “Angry Bird,” he is a feared hitter, always playing the game right on the line and occasionally over it.

He was suspended twice this season for hits deemed reckless by the league.

And, over the years, he’s saved some of his most vicious shots for Calgary, the team he will face on Sunday.

One of his suspensions this season was for a hit on Stampeders receiver DaVaris Daniels in Week 3, and in 2014, while playing with Montreal, he was ejected for levelling Stamps star running back Jon Cornish with a brutal flying clothesline.

The shot hit Cornish under the jaw and drove the running back’s head into the turf. He was left with a serious concussion and there is still bad blood between the two.

After the hit on Daniels, Cornish took to Twitter and called on the Redblacks to cut Hebert for his dirty play.

“I’ve never looked at Calgary and been like: ‘that’s a team I hate,’” Hebert said Friday. “Like I hate Hamilton. I really hate ’em like a bad taste in my mouth, but I never really felt that way about Calgary.

“Except for Cornish — I don’t like him.”

Despite his nickname, Hebert doesn’t see himself as an angry player.

“I think that the word angry … it’s kind of misplaced,” he said.

“I think it is more intense than angry. I’m not really mad but I am 100 per cent. I don’t want my intensity level to ever be matched.”

At 38, Hebert has stayed on the field longer than most players. He credits not over-training during the season: “giving it my all at practice and then getting home and getting off my feet.”

And he’s managed a long career despite his love for fast food.

“I do love my McDonald’s,” he said, joking earlier in the week that he would be a good pitch man for the restaurant. Two double cheese burgers, an ice cream cone and a coffee, double-double, are his vice.

Redblacks coach Rick Campbell sees Hebert as a role model for younger players.

“A guy … who has been around the block and is getting up there in age as far as the football world goes — that he still has that love and that passion for it, it’s infectious,” Campbell said.

Hebert is happy to still be playing and on Sunday he will chase one of the things that has eluded him his long career — a Grey Cup.

“This is the most important thing in my life right now — winning this game,” he said.

“It’s how life and this game goes. You never know where it is going to take you. The only thing you can do is prepare yourself for your next opportunity and I’ve stayed ready and here we are today with the biggest opportunity of all.”

Tim Cook, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

The CFL’s last renegade talks about anger, McDonald’s and his quest for a cup

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