Friends become foes tonight

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This article was published 08/08/2019 (2472 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winston Rose and Nick Arbuckle are well-acquainted with the grind of professional football.

They also happen to know each other like brothers.

Rose, the 25-year-old defensive back from Inglewood, Calif., who leads the Winnipeg Blue Bombers with five interceptions in seven games, and Arbuckle, a 25-year-old from Ventura, Calif., who has gone 4-1 as the Calgary Stampeders’ starting quarterback since Bo Levi Mitchell was sidelined by injury during Week 3, are workout buddies.

Tonight, however, they will have to settle for being frenemies for three hours or so while Winnipeg and Calgary battle for top spot in the CFL’s West Division at IG Field.

“I’m very aware that there’s no way I’ve thrown an interception to Winston because me and him trained together every day throughout the off-season,” Arbuckle said Wednesday afternoon. “And we got together, throwing one-on-ones every week since December, so I know if anything happens, I’ll never hear the end of it… It’s always fun playing against him. Me and him have always been friends on the field and off the field. So I’m looking forward to playing against him again.”

Arbuckle and Rose have a competitive history, facing each other in the junior college ranks when Rose played for Los Angeles Valley College and Arbuckle guided Pierce College.

They renewed the rivalry in the Sunbelt Conference — Arbuckle at Georgia State and Rose at New Mexico State. By 2017, both had arrived in the CFL.

Their friendship blossomed following the 2018 season.

Said Arbuckle: “We were training at the same facility and I was like, ‘Is that Winston?’ because we always kinda talked on the football field because when he was at New Mexico State and I was at Georgia State, we had that connection of like, ‘Hey, we went to the same junior colleges, we played against each other, we’re both in L.A., and so we had that connection. So we kinda became friends through that and then turned out to be at the same facility.”

Rose, who had finished his first full CFL season with the B.C. Lions before joining the Blue Bombers in free agency, felt he had found a like-minded person — driven by the same ambition to succeed.

“It’s one of those friendships where we both understand the grind,” Rose said. “We both know where we’re trying to go, we both know what it took to get to where we are right now. It’s a genuine friendship. We’re pushing each other to get better. Any time we’re working out, we bring out the competitiveness. We just strive for greatness.”

Most days during the winter, Rose and Arbuckle worked out on a field in Thousand Oaks before heading over to Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Sports Academy for a weightlifting session.

“We were putting in work at 6 a.m. in the morning,” Arbuckle said. “He was one of the few guys willing to wake up at ridiculous times and work out, so that kinda helped us connect through the off-season.”

But what happens when the two face off against one other again?

“I don’t have an inside track, but Nick knows the type of player I am, so I’m pretty sure he has something up his sleeve for me,” Rose said.

Watching the chess match should be fascinating.

“Oh, yeah, I definitely have all the film of the one-on-ones we did all off-season long — I may or may not have been looking at them during the week,” Arbuckle said with a chuckle. “But you know, he’s been playing great and he’s had a great season. I want nothing but the best for him, except for tomorrow.”

Rose has been all business leading up to the game.

“Actually, Nick sent me a text last week after they played and told me he’s looking forward for the game this week but I haven’t texted and we haven’t talked,” Rose said. “I’m gonna talk to him after the game. I’m just focused on getting ready for tomorrow.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14