Newly signed linebacker Hénoc Muamba hopes to spark resurgence for struggling Alouettes
Muamba is returning to Montreal with a 3-year deal after a short stint with the Als in 2015
Hénoc Muamba is confident his second-go round playing for the Montreal Alouettes will be different.
"It feels great, it feels amazing, it feels awesome," says the Alouettes' newly signed prize free agent linebacker.
The first time Muamba played in Montreal back in 2015, he only played four games — but it was enough for him to determine that this was not where he wanted to be.
"I don't want to be too negative," Muamba says. "There were a lot of things that were up in the air in the old regime."
The four games were at the tail end of a difficult season. The Alouettes were in the process of limping to a last place finish and missing the playoffs for the first time since relocating from Baltimore in 1996.
It was the waning days of the Jim Popp era in Montreal.
Despite more than a decade of success, the team was losing its way. Popp was fired after the team didn't make the playoffs for a second year in a row after the 2016 season.
"When I first got the call that Montreal was a possibility, I started to think, 'Do I really want to go back to the same situation and be in the same environment that it was when I was there?'"
Kavis Reed took over as general manager ahead of the 2017 season and has been endeavouring to get things back on track. Muamba says Reed convinced him that things had changed.
To the NFL and back
Hénoc Muamba comes from a football family.
His older brother, Cauchy, plays for the B.C. Lions and his younger brother, Kelvin, is on the roster for the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
But while the talent in the Muamba family is undeniable, Hénoc stands out since he was the only one of the three to make it to the NFL.
Hénoc was drafted number one overall in the 2010 CFL draft by Winnipeg.
He played three seasons for the Blue Bombers before moving to the NFL, where he played for the Indianapolis Colts and attended the Dallas Cowboys training camp.
After being cut by the Cowboys, he came back to the CFL, where he made a brief stop in Montreal before inking a deal with the Roughriders.
Muamba says the fact that the Alouettes hired a new coach from the NFL, Mike Sherman, factored into why he chose to play in Montreal.
"As a player who has experienced some time in the professional world, I know how important leadership is. To have a guy like Coach Sherman come in, who has seen different systems and being in different eras and has a lot of experience — it means a lot."
A familiar place
Muamba is married and recently became father to a baby girl. He says he can't think of a better place than Montreal to raise a family.
"We're trying to make Montreal a home — that's one of the reasons that I signed a long term deal," Muamba says.
Montreal is also familiar place to Muamba because it's where his family lived when he was a child after immigrating to Canada from the Congo.
"I speak French already, my wife always wanted to learn French … and of course we want our daughter to speak French as well."
'High expectations'
On the field, Muamba expects the Alouettes to turn things around and be competitive this season.
"[Fans] should have high expectations," Muamba says.
"The beautiful thing about our league is that a turnaround is not something that requires multiple years. I know the last few years have been kind of tough, but I think we're looking at new age with the Montreal Alouettes."
Muamba and the Alouettes training camp will get underway on May 20.
"I'm anticipating a really, really, really good season," says Muamba.
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