If three’s a crowd, they’re at least in good company.
A trio of rookies stood out among the Edmonton Eskimos this year and if their inaugural CFL season was any indication, then they’ll only improve in their sophomore season.
Arkee Whitlock, Greg Peach and Mark Restelli made an impression on coaches in training camp and became immediate impacts on the depth chart, starting in 93% of their regular-season games.
“The only expectations I had was to get better and mature as a football player and I think throughout the season, I think everybody had their ups and downs for the most part,” said Whitlock, who finished second in the league with more than 2,000 combined yards.
Not bad for someone who began the season as the third-string running back.
Whitlock will spend the off-season back home in Rock Hill, S.C., where he grew up with Winnipeg Blue Bombers defensive back and CFL Most Outstanding Rookie nominee Jonathan Hefney.
“We’ll work out and play basketball everyday,” Whitlock said. “That’s not even a plan, that’s a must.”
“During the end of the season, I was able to carry the load at points and that was pretty intriguing to me,” he said. “I think it shows what type of character and what type of football player I was and for the most part, I exceeded my expectations by getting better.”
Peach began the season on the defensive line beside fellow Eastern Washington alumni Dario Romero.
“I’d say at the end of the year my game play got a little better but next year hopefully I can improve on what I’ve learned,” said Peach, who only had a pair of games to rest up during the midseason hump. “It’s a long season and a lot of ups and downs to it. Hopefully next year I’ll be better prepared for it.”
Assuming a starting role wasn’t something he even remotely took for granted as a rookie.
“In training camp I was just trying to make the team,” said Peach, who ended up tied for the team lead in sacks with Romero and fellow defensive end Kai Ellis at six apiece. “I had no idea and when it happened it was a blessing and I just tried to take full advantage of it.”
But for now, he plans to make the most of the off-season.
“I’m going to take a little break here and get back into training, probably train with Romero a little bit,” he said of the veteran defensive tackle who was named a West Division all-star. “Really push and be ready for it.”
Restelli came into camp with the expectation to start and once he got a spot, he never relinquished it.
“I’m never happy with how I perform, I always feel like I can do better,” he said. “I started to get a lot better toward the later end of the season when I started to become less of a rookie and more of a veteran. I started to understand the game a bit better and definitely the defence.”
“It never got as cold as everybody said. It snowed once, it was pretty cold when it snowed but I made it through that. I’m sure if we were here next week, two weeks from now, I’m sure it would get a lot colder.”
It’s something he and the rest of the Eskimos plan to find out with a longer run in the post-season next year.
