The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

AS MORE and more Bahamians explore the path to football stardom in Canada, one player that has reached the pinnacle of the sport reflected on his third and perhaps best season to date.

Karl McCartney, linebacker for the Calgary Stampeders in the Canadian Football League, recently returned home after his team fell short in the 100th Grey Cup with a 35-22 loss to the Toronoto Argonauts.

“In my first year we had the best team ever in at least a decade and we had four guys go off to the NFL and one became a pro bowler and the other one is doing great things,” he said.

“In the beginning of the year, we were rebuilding us, so I didn’t expect to go this far so we just had a lot of heart and character. For a team that close even though we don’t have the athletes, it makes a big difference, it’s not the best athletes that win games but it’s the best team that wins games. It was just a great experience, if we won it would have been even better.”

He finished the year with a career-high in special-teams tackles, good enough for third in the CFL, rebounding from an injury riddled 2011 season.

“Things went very very well, it’s my third year of playing. The first year I had a great breakout season where I lead the team and special teams and played situational defense. Last year I was hampered by a hamstring injury and played seven of the 18 games and this year I just wanted to go in and prove that I could do the things I did in my first year and I ended up doing that. Being the top leader of special teams again, and also third in the league that gave me a chance to come in on more defensive situations also.” 

While excelling on special teams, McCartney said his goal remains to become a greater part of the rotation at linebacker and have an opportunity to prove himself against some of the best football players in the world not in the NFL.

“Right now I have two ‘Pro Bowl’ type line backers in front of me. I think if I was on another team I would be a starter but I just have to wait my turn. If you’re not a starter on defense, your goal has to be to lead somewhere,” said McCartney.

“I can’t lead on defensive tackles, so I have to try setting other goals somewhere else. When you look at it half the league is American, half is Canadian I would say about 80 or 90 per cent of the Americans have had the experience of playing in the NFL. We have the speed, we don’t have the size, it’s a bigger field. We have a lot of smaller, faster players but I mean we have guys that bounce back and forth. I know a lot of people here are Dolphins fans so they know Cameron Wake, well he played with the BC lions for two years and he got and opportunity to play and now stars in the NFL. Tom Johnson, he’s now with the Saints, Brendan Browner, he played for my team in Calgary and he was a pro bowler last year with the Seattle Seahawks.”

McCartney played at Wilfrid Laurier in 2006. He transferred to Saint Mary’s, where he played the 2008 and 2009 seasons. He was an Atlantic University Sport conference all-star in 2008 when he recorded 21 tackles, including 7.5 tackles for loss, four sacks, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. 

During the 2008 season, he blocked a punt and ran it back 60 yards for a touchdown to lead Saint Mary’s to a comeback win over St Francis Xavier. 

In 2009, McCartney recorded 3.5 sacks, five tackles for loss and one forced fumble. He was invited to the 2009 CIS East-West Bowl.

In his rookie campaign, McCartney was a force on special teams as he led the Stampeders with 19 special-teams tackles. He recorded at least one special-teams tackle in 16 of the 17 regular-season games in which he was in uniform. 

He made an impressive CFL debut against Toronto on July 1 as he recorded his first tackle, his first sack and his first special-teams tackle. He finished the season with eight defensive tackles, including one tackle for loss.

“When I left home I went off to boarding school. I played rugby and track, there the coaches saw me and took me on the football field, it was an immediate change for me. My first time touching the ball, I ran it back for a touchdown and since then football became my main sport,” McCartney said. “I started late, another player that played for Calgary, he started in college. Bahamians are natural athletes, I think we can start at a later age and still excel.”