Avery sitting out...

[IE]

Rookie Hakim Hill will start instead of recuperating veteran.





The thrill is in, the veteran is out.

Flashy rookie Hakim (The Thrill) Hill makes his regular-season pro debut tomorrow night at running back versus the B.C. Lions at the Rogers Centre.

He supplants John Avery, who remains sidelined with an injury that kept him out of the pre-season games.

Hill showed well in training camp and then in the pre-season, including scoring a 51-yard touchdown on a pass play in the last game.

"I'm very excited," Hill said yesterday. "It's a big deal and I just want to make (the coaches) proud (and) be here for my team when they need me. That's all I want to do.

"It's very exciting to try and think about the first game --nationally televised, Grey Cup rematch -- but I can't think about that stuff. I just want to go out and play ball. That's what I have to focus on -- going out there and having fun. The more fun you have, the better you play."

Avery, who battled to be ready for the regular-season opener a year ago after a knee injury sidelined him in training camp and the pre-season, learned yesterday he would not be in the lineup tomorrow. The football operations staff had to set the roster two days in advance of the game.

"I want to play, but I trust the coaches' judgement," he said. "They've been watching me progress. I felt like I was fast enough to be dangerous, but (in) another week I'll probably feel a bit better."

Avery thought he'd suffered an injury to the adductor -- a muscle that acts to draw a part toward the midline of the body -- in training camp. When treatment failed to resolve the problem, he had an ultrasound which revealed a minor tear in the groin area.

KNEW AHEAD OF TIME

He seemed to be practising well this week and took first-team reps as late as Wednesday, showing no signs of any physical problem, but had the upper part of his right leg in a wrap while practising briefly yesterday. He'd been informed ahead of time he wouldn't be playing in the game.

"No matter if (the team's) judgement is good or this is going to help me more than hurt me, it's still hard to sit and watch a football game, no matter if it's pre-season or regular season," he said. "I worked so hard in the off-season to get myself ready and get my body ready to take on the load and for something little like this to happen after I put the knee behind me ... but you just don't want to make it worse. That's basically what they're saying.

"They're excited about how fast I'm moving, but at the same time they said they'd rather have me for 17 games than to play the first one, get re-injured and then miss the next three or four."

 

[IE]

Levingston says he can do much more
Has agreed to disagree with Pinball on his role with Argos



The quiet tug of war between Bashir Levingston and Pinball Clemons already has begun. At issue is just how special Levingston happens to be.

Clemons, the Argos coach, wants to keep it that way -- as in Levingston on special teams. Levingston, the record-breaking return man, wants the ball, now, more often and with more vigor than ever before.

"I could go to any team in the league, do this, and play another position," said Levingston, the best Toronto athlete nobody talks about, two days before the Argos season opener. "For me not to go in on offence over 18 games, I don't like that.

"(Jason) Armstead gets the ball (in Ottawa). (Ezra) Landry gets the ball sometimes in Montreal. Winston October gets the ball in Edmonton. I'm the only one (in the Canadian Football League) who never gets the ball. I'm the only one who never plays another position.

"If you threw me the ball and I dropped it, I'd understand. All I'm saying is, give me three plays a game. Three plays. I'm not asking for 50 plays. Just something that says we think more of you than this."

Pinball Clemons thinks so much of Levingston that he believes that less is more. This has been their dance of discomfort for parts of the past three seasons. Clemons adores Levingston's capabilities, calling him the best "special teams guy since Gizmo Williams." Typically, Levingston is athletically impatient: In his own mind, his capabilities outweigh his magnificent accomplishments.

Levingston will speak his peace to an inquiring newspaperman but will say nothing to his head coach about his desire to be more involved. "I just have to give him the look," said Clemons," who is more than Levingston's football coach. "And he knows, he knows where I'm coming from."

The two understand each other implicitly, only on this point they don't happen to agree. And you can't help but wonder if Clemens the player would have thought differently about it than Clemens the coach.

"If you tell me I'm a return man and nothing more, I'll tell you you are wrong," said Levingston. "I know teams kick away from me now. That's a sign of respect, and as a team guy you're supposed to say that's good for the team. It doesn't mean I have to like it."

In the wondrous Grey Cup victory over B.C. last November, the Lions chose to kick away from Levingston. He could have been voted the MVD award -- the Most Valuable Decoy.

Last season, while October has his hands on the ball 145 times as an Edmonton return man, Levingston scored his five touchdowns on just 68 returns. He may not even see the ball that often as a new season begins.

So for now, he works in practice as a backup defensive back, works occasionally as a backup receiver, and understands he will used to return punts and kickoffs and field goals, when they're missed.

"I don't just believe he's the best special team player in the league. I'm going to demand it," said Clemens. "Bashir can play offence for us and be very good and he can play defence for us and be very good...

"But sometimes, in doing more, you do less. The more you learn about him, the less capable he is in areas that can benefit us the most."

Levingston scored five touchdowns last season, five touchdowns the year before, five on punt returns, three on kickoff returns, two on missed field goals.

The most Gizmo Williams ever scored over a two-season period was eight. Williams, for the record, caught passes in his prime. Sometimes a few, sometimes a lot. He ran the occasional reverse. He did more than return kicks.

"Bashir is the epitome of the designated import," said Clemons. "He's not just a special teams player. He changes the game. He is the definition of the designated import. Maybe that's not what he wants to be. And when he doesn't, that's when I have to remind him."