Habakkuk Baldonado is at home again with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
“It just feels great,” he told Voice of the Roughriders Dave Thomas. “It’s like I never left.”
It feels great because he’s feeling great. It’s like he never left because he doesn’t want to remember the time he spent away.
The defensive lineman helped the Riders win the Grey Cup last season before signing with the Ottawa Redblacks as a free agent in February. To suggest his days with the Redblacks didn’t go according to plan would be a massive understatement.
Baldonado was hobbled by an ankle problem that put him on the six-game injury list on July 18. He was activated on Aug. 13 but never got his groove back.
The 27-year-old wound up playing eight games with the team, recording eight defensive tackles, two tackles for loss, and two sacks, before he was released on Sept. 7.
He went from the being the highest-paid Global player in CFL history to hitting the unemployment line.
“I would say this has probably been the toughest football season I’ve ever had in my life,” Baldonado said.
Luckily for him, the Riders came calling right away. Baldonado had a new contract in just three days.
Since then, he’s appeared in five games while wearing his familiar green and white uniform and picked up six tackles.
He feels like a new version of himself after his setback with cellar-dwelling Redblacks.
“I was out for four weeks,” Baldonado said. “I made it back earlier, which I really shouldn’t have. But I wanted to help the team get a win. I’m just a big positive guy. I always stay positive. I always try to get better. I always try to beat the man in front of me. That’s how I approach every game.”
The native of Rome, Italy was already a key part of a championship team in Saskatchewan, but there’s been a noticeable improvement to his skill set.
“He’s got really good hands. He’s a great pass rusher. He’s got good understanding of the position and football intelligence of what’s coming at him,” Riders coach Corey Mace said. “We used to get on him about his run game needing to be better and not just chasing sacks. The back end of last year and this year, he’s been really good in addressing that and making it a priority for him. Good football player.”
The next step is becoming a great football player.
Baldonado caused tons of havoc around Montreal Alouettes quarterbacks Davis Alexander and Dustin Crum over the last two games, yet he was unable to wrap up either guy.
The failed sacks have been hard to watch during film study.
“It makes me want to cry,” Baldonado said. “The last two weeks I missed about five of them. I’ve got to give credit to my opponents, some really shifty quarterbacks. I was right there on the tackle and didn’t get it done. I’ve got to get better on my finish and make more plays to help the team.
“It’s hard because, as a D lineman, most people don’t really see it, but in less than three seconds you have to beat an O lineman, plus you have to get the quarterback down that sees you and is trying to escape from you. And in practice you can’t hit the quarterback, so you can’t really get better at that in practice.”
Baldonado said there are ways to get better like working on running through tackles. He’s going to keep working at it.
“We’ll never reach it,” Baldonado said, “but we’re just going to strive for perfection.”
It only helps that he’s in better health and in a better place.
