Wide receiver Brendan O’Leary-Orange, son of a former all-star, is part of impressive Ticat Canadian receiving corps
There’s a lot that could transpire between now and then – including next Tuesday’s CFL draft – but it’s apparent that on the cusp of training camp (opening May 12) the Ticats have plenty of quality Canadian receivers, giving them a plethora of options for roster and ratio flexibility.
One of those is 27-year-old wide receiver Brendan O’Leary-Orange, whose Valentine’s Day gift to himself was signing with the Ticats after four years–-including the pandemic-cancelled 2020 season—with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers who, you’ll recall, have been blessed with exceptional Canadian receiving depth.
An all-round athlete, O’Leary-Orange went Toronto’s Michael Power High School to Canada Prep, a football academy in St. Catharines and from there to the University of Nevada. In 2020 he was the Bombers’ fourth round draft pick and was on the practice roster the next season, until he made the game roster in the 14th week as a special teams player and backup receiver. He was in uniform for both the Bombers’ post-season games and earned a ring for Winnipeg’s overtime victory – sorry to mention this, Ticat Nation –against Hamilton in the 108th Grey Cup game at Tim Hortons Field.
O’Leary-Orange is the son of Doyle Orange, a powerful running back who could also catch passes. Doyle Orange was a 1975 CFL East all-star as he became the second Argo ever (after Bill Symons) to rush for over 1000 yards in a season and also set the CFL record for carries that year with a stunning 37 against, of course, the Ticats. He finished his excellent, if abbreviated, career with the 1977 Ticats, rushing for 380 yards and two touchdowns, and hauling in 17 passes for 380 yards and another couple of majors.
We talked with O’Leary-Orange on Ticats Today, and here’s an edited version of that interview. You can catch the entire talk here.
Jumping right to it, Brendan, you had other options as a free agent, so why did you decide to sign in Hamilton?
“It was just really important to me. I felt like you guys had a plan for me and I felt like it was an opportunity for me to come in and to be able to compete, to be able to achieve a lot of the goals that I have and just to continue to develop as a player. And it never hurts to be close to home again, close to your parents.”
When you say goals, could you expand on that?
“You have a lot of goals as a player, personally, but it doesn’t take away from the goals you have as a team first, which is always to win a championship and to compete when you come in. So, I’ve got a couple of personal goals but I like to keep those close to my own heart.”
All right, will you tell us after you do achieve them?
Yeah, I’ll tell you after they come true!
You’re big – 6-foot-4, 225 muscular pounds – and you’re fast; you were a provincial-class sprinter in high school. So, great tools. How would you characterize your skill set?
“I would describe myself as a very athletic receiver, as a very athletic playmaker. I would describe myself, I guess, as a complete receiver. I think that’s the best way I could find the words for it.”
Well, let’s take size. How does that help?
Size definitely helps. When you have smaller defenders around you they want to collision you, they want to put hands on. I feel like size and just having speed and power helps you really be able to separate from those guys.”
Does it help on special teams too?
“Oh, it definitely helps on special teams. My first year in Winnipeg, I remember playing on all four special teams in some games and having to fly down there. And having the size and the speed definitely helps you be able to make some plays out there.”
People hear the words ‘wide receiver’ and certain things come to mind, but there are actually a lot of different wide-receiver positions and roles in the CFL game. What do you think your optimum position is? And I realize you don’t want to coach this team, you’re a player. But ….
“I definitely don’t want to coach the team not yet, maybe in my later years. But as I said earlier, I feel like I’m a complete receiver. I feel like there’s no position that I can’t play … in all five receiver’s positions. I feel I’ve been very blessed with an athletic ability and a body that allows me to be able to play all those positions.”
“I had a pretty good understanding coming out of the University of Nevada, having success there, and playing with the Blue Bombers for the past couple of years and also having success there and playing all five positions there as well. It allowed me to develop a little bit more and give me more of an understanding for the CFL game and the Canadian game–the spacing and everything–and I’m looking forward to bringing that to the Ticats Nation.”
Your quarterback with Winnipeg was former Tiger-Cat and future Hall of Famer, Zach Collaros and you’ve been taking off -season passes from current Tiger Cat and future Hall of Famer, Bo Levi Mitchell. Any similarities between the two legends?
“I feel like the only thing you can do is just have an open ear, just listen and try to soak in as much information as you can when you get the opportunity to play with guys like that. Like you said, they’re legends and they know so much and they have so much to offer to young players. The time I did spend with Zach in Winnipeg, I can’t thank him enough for all the things that he taught me and that the team taught me.”
“I’m excited to continue working with Bo and I’m excited to continue our relationship and developing with him. It’s been a really exciting off-season being able to throw with him. Like we talked about, any time you get to work with such a high-level player, the standards are so high, it only makes you better as a player and it brings out the best in you. So, I’m definitely looking forward to seeing where this goes.”
Do you sometimes feel like, as a pro, you’ve lived in receiver’s heaven?
“Definitely I feel like I have. It’s not hard at all when you get to play with guys like this, they just make everything easier, especially when it comes to understanding things. Sometimes you’ll get young quarterbacks throwing a million miles an hour but veteran quarterbacks kind of just know how to get the ball to you. They’ve seen the game for what it is. So, it’ll be really exciting to get out there with him.”
Let me take you back seven years. On September 30, 2017 when you were at Nevada, you caught three passes in a loss against Fresno State. Fresno’s defensive coordinator that season was Orlondo Steinauer, now president of football ops here and ultimately, I guess, your boss. Did you know at the time you know who he was and the Argo Ticat-connection involved?
“At the time, no, I didn’t. I had no idea. But when he moved back and he became one of the coaches in Hamilton, I was very aware of him. My dad and I would watch some games when I’d come home and he’d tell me that this guy was an ex-player. He played for so-and-so and he was able to kind of bridge the gap for me.”
Which segues nicely into our final question. Has it been advantageous to have a professional player as your father?
“People would say, ‘Oh, do you want to be like your dad? Do you want to follow in his footsteps? ‘And I guess kind of getting there is a little bit more surreal, but after a while you kind of chase the dream for yourself.”
“But growing up with him, I was so lucky and so blessed to have somebody there to mentor me and to guide me from a young age. It was very motivating.”
“We’d always race outside for the newspaper in the morning to go look at the stats of who’s the leading scorer in the NHL, NBA, just being competitive with each other and we (he and his two brothers) fell in love with that. My dad was able to instill that into all of us; we were all very competitive. I definitely take my hat off to him and to everything that he was able to do when it came to guiding me, helping me make decisions and ultimately getting here.”
For the full interview, which includes Brendan’s commitment to social issues, go to the Ticats Audio Network on Ticats.ca.
