Sports

Eric Black makes the cut

It’s double-blue skies for Northern SS alum, Eric Black.

Toronto Argonauts named the younger brother of safety Matt Black to the roster June 20, and the 23-year-old rookie couldn’t be happier.

“Relief, excitement — a whole bunch of emotions,” he told the Town Crier after practice on Monday, where the Argonauts were preparing for the season-opening game Thursday in Winnipeg. “My brother, he got a big hug in, and said, ‘We’re teammates now, and I can finally make it official: we’re teammates now’.

“It was a good feeling.”

Black will be on depth charts as an on-call to the defensive back position, as well as working on special teams, and he’s not worried about any pre-game jitters either.

“Right now, just making sure I’m on point with all of my assignments and if anything happens I’m ready to play, and go full speed, and I won’t be second-guessing myself,” he said. ” Maybe before the kickoff I might yell out a little battle cry, but right now it’s just stay calm and practice — make sure I focus on everything.”

He has switched his No. 34 with Swayze Waters, who requested it to honour his friend, Tait Hendrix, who died in a motorcycle accident.

Black will now be wearing 14, the number he wore at St. Mary’s University.

“In high school I was 4, and when I got to college I had 14, so I was happy to keep that,” he said.

Parents Marlane and Donovan won’t be able to make the first game of the regular season, against the Blue Bombers, but they’ll be at the home opener on July 5 against the Grey Cup champion Saskatchewan Roughriders.