His life is a book begging to be written, with his accomplishments on the field and his knowledge of the game also meaning he could likely walk right into a professional coaching gig if he so wanted.
Still, there are still more chapters to pen for Adam Bighill about his football exploits. Now 35, the veteran Winnipeg Blue Bombers linebacker — who is expected to be activated from the injured list for Thursday’s game in Ottawa against the RedBlacks — still has the competitive juices racing through him like the Red River in the spring thaw.
“This is exciting. This is what I love,” began Bighill Tuesday after the Blue Bombers closed-to-the-media practice session. “I’ve been loving to compete and do this my entire life and so to be able to come out here and do that and show my hard work and what I work for — that’s fun. I enjoy the training, but I enjoy the the training so I can enjoy playing football.
“That’s the most important piece is the time you can show you were a dominant force on the field. That’s always been my mindset.”
The physical tools were still obvious a year ago when Bighill led the Blue Bombers with 74 defensive tackles — his highest total since 2018 — while adding four sacks and a fumble recovery for a touchdown. He suffered a leg injury in the Western Final, but managed to dress for the Grey Cup in what would have been a heckuva tale of inspiration and grit had the Blue Bombers held on to win the championship instead of falling inside the final minute.
That’s part of what keeps driving Bighill — when asked what he’s got left to accomplish he said ‘win more Grey Cups because there’s no better feeling’ — but there’s also the basic joy he still gets from the game.
“It’s the most violent game of chess you can imagine,” he said. “You can’t people in regular day life. You can’t do that, right? This game is special and as long as I want to compete and still have that fire to want to put in the work, dominate and impose my will on people then I’m going to keep going.
“I have an internal fire that’s still going. I’m not going to question that until it’s not there any more and then I’ll know. That’s it.”
Bighill’s return will be a boost a Blue Bombers defence oozing with potential even as it goes through change with a handful of new starters and a new coordinator in Jordan Younger. The defence was burned for a couple of explosion plays in last week’s loss to Montreal, but also flashed enough to think it’s a unit with so much more to give.
Having #4 in the middle of that crew will only help expedite that.
“It’s not just aura, it’s a collection of wisdom from so many different places,” said Younger of Bighill this week. “He’s had success everywhere he’s been, whether it’s been in B.C., when he went to the NFL, when he came back to the CFL – he’s always been a successful linebacker and he’s been an exceptional note taker, so his IQ is elite.
“The type of communication, the things you’re able to do because he’s on the field because he recognizes them is incredible. Having that benefit, having him around just to get us through things – just to point some things out to the young guys and then the young guys being able to see him in real time and see the difference in how fast he may react to something, that impact is special.”
That’s been a part of the evolution of Bighill’s game, too. A three-time winner of the CFL’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award and a six-time CFL All Star, Bighill has morphed into defensive leader whose voice on the field is as valuable as it is in the locker room.
Asked if he might have even more appreciation for the game now this deep into his career, he offered up an answer that speaks of that fire still burning.
“Maybe there’s more appreciation because you’ve seen a lot and you know how hard it is to play this game, how hard it is to stay in this game, how hard it is to consistently be at the top. There’s perspective,” he said.
“Every year is a journey and a lot of times it’s with a handful of different guys. We’ve had a very good core group but every journey is different and I enjoy the journey every single year with everybody because there’s always unique personalities, unique characters, unique guys with unique talents that can do different things. It’s opportunities to share the game and educate to get guys to be their best. That’s a huge part, too.”
THE BRADY WATCH: Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea confirmed that RB Brady Oliveira did not practice on Tuesday — remember, the session was closed to the media — and when asked if that meant he would be out for Thursday’s game in Ottawa or ‘TBD’, to be determined, he chose option #2.
“He didn’t practice a lot of camp either, so…” said O’Shea. “We’ll see. We have more time than just before the game. We’ll look at what goes on tonight and tomorrow morning and we’ll see. I’m going to ask him tonight how he’s feeling, I’m going to ask him tomorrow morning and then we’ll figure out what goes on from there.”
Oliveira, FYI, is listed as questionable on the latest injur report
Injury Report: June 11, 2024#ForTheW pic.twitter.com/vKkADV47n2
— Winnipeg Blue Bombers (@Wpg_BlueBombers) June 11, 2024
CHECK IT OUT: We cranked out Episode #9 of our new live YouTube show ‘The Huddle’ with punter Jamieson Sheahan this week’s guest — plus a cameo from Sergio Castillo. ICYMI, this week’s show and previous episodes can be found on the Blue Bombers YouTube page.