Receivers in Calgary Stampeders camp: 'Twins' Tevin Jones and Dominique Rhymes join pass-catching corps
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The 31-year-old is coming off his third 1,000-yard receiving season and is a compelling voice of the offence.
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And now the eighth-year CFL veteran has a bona fide quarterback with whom to play pitch-and-catch in Vernon Adams Jr.
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'I've always prided myself on doing the job,' said Begelton, who grabbed 1,150 yards last year for his second-straight 1,000-yard campaign. 'My job is to get open, and if the ball is there for me, then I can salute him because he's able to do his job.
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'That's part of football — it's the ultimate team sport. And when you've got two guys that care about executing, it can be magic.'
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Plus Begelton — now without unsigned Marken Michel on his flank — is feeling 'good energy' from the new recruits, Jones and Rhymes, making for positive connections across the field.
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With Adams in town, that brought both Jones and Rhymes into the Stamps' stable of receivers.
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'I played with him previously, so I know the competitor and type of player he is,' said eighth-year CFLer Rhymes, who caught many a pass from Adams during his 1,401-yard career-best receiving season with the 2022 BC Lions. 'He's been like my brother ever since he came over to BC. I've always been cool with him and close with him even I was last year playing in Ottawa. I was always watching him, saying how proud I was, how good he was playing …
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'So once he came to Calgary and I was available to come to Calgary, I think it was a no-brainer.'
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Jones feels the same way.
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'I don't know V.A. like Dom does, but as soon as Calgary popped up on my list, I was like, 'Oh, V.A.'s over there — that could be a place I can go,'' said Jones, heading into his fourth CFL season. 'So I was looking further into it and seeing Coach Dickinson here for a long time. And Craig Dickenson, the special teams coach here — he was my head coach over there in Regina with Sask.
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It doesn't hurt that both Jones and Rhymes have enjoyed big games at McMahon, either.
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'I just feel like it was a sign from God that this might be where I need to be,' said Jones, recalling his monster day at McMahon last September. 'If it's not with Edmonton, then at least I could play against them … you know … a robbery thing there. So just can't wait to play those guys.'
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In three of his last four visits to McMahon, Rhymes has racked up yardage totalling 109 — plus two TDs — 101 and 91.
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'We've both had big games in this stadium,' Rhymes said. 'So I think that was a no-brainer to sign here, too.'
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'Now, this is our team …' declared Jones. 'So now, when we play here, every game will be a big game.
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'Every game.'
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Keep your eyes on Canadians and fellow starters Jalen Philpot, from whom we're predicting a massive year, and Clark Barnes, who was as clutch as they came last year among Stamps receivers. Philpot grabbed 66 balls for 659 yards, and Barnes had 44 catches for 590 yards.
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Given their citizenship, they will see a ton of snaps, while 2025 draft picks Damien Alford — who was plucked first overall by the Stamps — and Vyshonne Janusas — a fifth-rounder by the Red and White — develop in their shadows.
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Alford, in particular, has the height and size — at 6-foot-6, 224 lb. — to stand out and become an all-timer.
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'You already had people making plays here,' Rhymes said. 'Now they just bringing in 'Big-Play V.A.', so we're going to get a lot of big plays in this stadium.
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Alec's Argos enthusiasm could wane if they have a bad season or two, or if kids at school convince him the NFL is what counts. His on-field career could come to a crashing halt anytime, too, if he decides another sport (or no sport) is for him; a flag-football craze that's swept through his friend group for reasons I don't fully understand could easily be replaced by something else. At a certain point, as he approaches teen-hood, his dad's involvement could become a bug rather than a feature. I'm also not going to pressure Alec's brother, five-year-old Felix, to follow in his football footsteps – even if there were early signs of enthusiasm at his first Argos game last fall. But living in the moment is something I'm always trying to encourage my kids to do, and it's probably time to practise what I preach. No matter how close and loving your relationship with your children, it can feel like a constant struggle to stay connected. I do my best to understand and embrace Alec's tastes in anime or Roblox video games or memes he's heard about from his friends, even as I try to police them. But particularly when it involves mediums that didn't exist when I was his age, there can be a distance. Then something comes along that fits how you vaguely pictured parenthood before the kids were born. Something more analogue, maybe, more transferable between generations, that you can nurture and share. You know it's giving you memories you'll keep the rest of your life, and your kids will too, but first you try to savour it and make it last as long as possible. So I'm signing up to coach again when flag football resumes in the fall. And I'll be buying tickets for all the Argos games we can go to this season. I'll be quietly thanking them, every time I'm in the stadium, for what they've helped us share. Alec won't be thinking about the game that way now; it's not how kids work. But one day, he just might.
