Bulcke rises in Ticat ranks after one season

Defensive lineman Brian Bulcke has only been with the Tiger-Cats for one season, but he’s already established himself as one of the team leaders.

It’s a leadership role that the Stanford University grad will be expanding in the 2014 CFL season.

When he’s not in the gym, trying to improve his pass rushing skills, you’ll likely find the defensive lineman mentoring kids in Hamilton. Today it was on the basketball court.

“I’ve got a really finite amount of time to be able to give back to the community like that, so while I’m wearing a jersey I’ll do it as many times during the week as I can.”

The 26 year old Windsor native was thrilled to join the Ticats last season because it meant he’d have between 30 and 60 family and friends cheering for him at each home game. This weekend he’ll go back to his roots when he’s inducted into the Ontario Varsity Football League’s hall of fame.

“I really grew as a player in the OVFL. So those summers with the Essex Ravens, they really shaped me.”

“No team is complete without good teammates. Hi, I’m Greg Wojt, number 66 for the Hamilton Ticats…”

Bulcke and his offensive counterpart, lineman Greg Wojt, recently auditioned for the reality show The Amazing Race, and while that didn’t pan out, Bulcke did get elected to be a CFLPA player rep — a role he takes very seriously, especially with a contentious new contract still waiting to be negotiated.

“I’m not concerned. We’ve got tremendous legal counsel and the CFL & CFLPA have a great track record of being able to come to agreement, so that’s why we’re looking forward to playing ball come June.”

“When we were in Rogers (Centre) and we had 20,000 Ticat fans overpowering the Argo fans, I imagine that, add another 4-5,000 in Tim Hortons Field and that home opener might be one of the sweetest games I ever play.”