CFL NOTEBOOK

EDMONTON – The Edmonton Elks announced Wednesday special-teams co-ordinator/linebackers coach AJ Gass has left the organization for personal reasons.

Gass served twice as a member of the club’s coaching staff.

After retiring as a player in 2007, Gass was a defensive assistant in 2008 under then head coach Danny Maciocia. Gass returned to the club in 2019 as special-teams co-ordinator before adding the linebackers job to his coaching resume earlier this year.

Gass, a 45-year-old California native, played 10 seasons with Edmonton as a linebacker (1998-2007). He was a member of two Grey Cup-winning teams (2003, ’05) and four times was named a league all-star.

—

It’s been a long time coming, but Willie Jefferson and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are finally getting the chance to defend their Grey Cup title.

Winnipeg defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33-12 in 2019 for its first CFL title since 1990. But that was also the league’s last game after it cancelled plans for an abbreviated ’20 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CFL’s board of governors voted Monday in favour of starting a 14-game ’21 season Aug. 5. And it will open with the Blue Bombers hosting Hamilton in a Grey Cup rematch.

“It feels like we’re starting over again but at the end of the day we were the last ones to hoist that trophy,” Jefferson said during a conference call. “We are defending champions.

“Somebody is going to want to be the champion for 2021 and we don’t want them to take it. We want to keep it in Winnipeg.”

Plenty has happened since the Bombers were presented with the Grey Cup. Offensive co-ordinator Paul LaPolice and veteran quarterback Matt Nichols are gone, with LaPolice now serving as Ottawa’s head coach and Nichols having signed with the Redblacks as a free agent.

However, the Bombers will have to wait to face LaPolice and Nichols as Ottawa isn’t on Winnipeg’s regular-season schedule this year. Jefferson jokingly suggested that maybe LaPolice pulled strings to avoid having to face his former team.

“I guess that’s just a good thing for him just to try to stay away from us as a team … and just try to keep a loss out of that loss column,” Jefferson quipped.

The Bombers (11-7) finished third in the West Division in 2019 and advanced to the Grey Cup with road playoff wins over Calgary (35-14) and Saskatchewan (20-13). Winnipeg native Andrew Harris anchored the team’s emphatic championship victory, rushing for 134 yards and scoring two touchdowns in being the first-ever player to be named both the game MVP and top Canadian.

—

TORONTO – A lawyer for a suspended CFL player says his client is not a suspect in a possible hate crime.

Calvin Barry, the lawyer for Chris Larsen, says the Ottawa Redblacks defensive lineman talked to police and has been cleared for an alleged assault on Toronto Island on June 5.

The Redblacks suspended Larsen on June 9 after saying the player was being investigated by police.

Toronto Police said Wednesday an investigation is ongoing and that suspects have never been named.

The Redblacks said Wednesday that Larsen’s status is unchanged.

Barry said Larsen made the decision to talk to police.

(Canadian Press)