“The beginning of wisdom is the ability to call things by their right names.” – Confucius
If one is to believe the noted Chinese philosopher, fans of the Canadian Football League are on the verge of wisdom.
For the first five years of his career, people have pronounced the surname of Toronto Argonauts safety Royce Metchie as “met-chee.” Now, he’d prefer people to use the proper pronunciation, “met-chee-ay.”
“Since I got to Canada everyone in the country has been able to read it as ‘met-chee,’” he told Argonauts.ca. “Being young it was too much to correct people on how to say it, but recently people have been reminding me to pronounce my name how it should be.”
The name is Nigerian, Metchie’s background is Nigerian and Taiwanese.
If the 27-year-old is comfortable enough to correct the pronunciation of his last name, it’s not the only area of his life in which he’s feeling confident. He’s back for a third year with the Argos, is now one of the veterans in the secondary, and he’s at training camp at the University of Guelph, where he starred and helped the Gryphons win the 2015 Yates Cup.
There is one major difference this year however, as the Argos have replaced former defensive coordinator Corey Mace with defensive co-coordinators Will Fields and Kevin Eiben. Both have experience with the Boatmen and Metchie says that the transition has been smooth.
“It’s been good,” said the safety. “It’s allowed us to keep many of the things the same – a lot of the terminology – to create that continuity. But there are also some changes which we’ve implemented that are going to be good changes for us, especially with the type of defence we are and the bodies we have. I think these changes will help maximize our play.”
Fields was the team’s secondary coach last year and knows Metchie well. He’s impressed with the man in the middle of the back six.
“Royce is like a coach on the field,” Fields told Argonauts.ca. “He’s a great team player, has a positive attitude, he’s a huge help back there. We may as well call him Coach Royce.”
Coach Will played in CFL secondaries for six seasons before turning his attention to coaching. He loves Metchie’s combination of physical skill and mental awareness.
“For a safety he can change direction very well,” said Fields. “And his brain, I don’t know if there’s a smarter guy on the field than Royce. Our main focus was to try to get him to not think so much. So far this year he’s accomplished that. He’s moving better, whatever work he’s been doing in the off-season, it’s definitely showing.”
Metchie’s workout regimen was different this year. He spent the off-season training with his younger brother John Metchie III, a receiver with the NFL’s Houston Texans, and they tried to mix things up a bit.
“We did some of everything,” he explained. “We’d play soccer, do some basketball, we did some ballet – feet strengthening and stuff – a lot of core, some Pilates and yoga, so a lot.”
There are eight defensive backs still on the roster with no CFL experience. It’s not unusual to see them on the sidelines during practice picking the brains of veterans like Metchie, DaShaun Amos and Tarvarus McFadden.
For the newcomers, they’re using the veteran players’ experience to begin their beginning of CFL wisdom.
ARGO NOTES: Once again head coach Ryan Dinwiddie reduced Wednesday’s scheduled length of practice by about a half an hour…The team worked on kickoff return with a number of players in the rotation; Jordan Byrd, Khalan Laborn, Dejon Brissett, BJ Byrd, Zay Malone, Savon Scarver, Deonta McMahon, and Isaiah Bowser…Last year Damonte Coxie’s touchdown catch in Montreal was named TSN’s CFL Play of the Year. On Wednesday during “skelly” Coxie made another outstanding catch on a deep pass from Cameron Dukes, some 30 yards downfield. In tight coverage he high pointed the pass perfectly, winning a contested jump ball along the sideline and getting his feet in bounds…Dukes would air it out again later, teaming up with DaVaris Daniels on a 40-yard touchdown pass, then connecting with Daniels over the middle for a 20-yard completion on the next play…Rookie Tyson Hergott showed off his burst on one play, getting penetration on a running play designed to go wide and forcing the ball carrier back inside and into traffic…Wednesday was picture day with all players, coaches, and staff showing off their smiles. Argonauts.ca asked players for proper name pronunciation and what they’d like to be called. David Ungerer III asked that we refer to him as Dave this year, Xavier Malone prefers to be called Zay, and Marquis Waters asked that we use one of his nicknames; “Muddy,” or just “Mud.”