Milt Stegall (born January 25, 1970 in Cincinnati, Ohio), nicknamed Turtle Man, and The Touchdown Beagle is a Canadian Football League slotback for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The receiver is known for his great numbers and his amazing catches at critical moments. He currently holds the CFL record for most touchdown receptions with 126.
College Career
Stegall attended Miami University (in Ohio). He was a four-year football letterwinner there from 1988-91. Stegall finished with 106 receptions for 1,581 yards, and eight touchdowns as a wide reciever. Because of his speed (he competed on Miami's track and field team where he holds the 3rd fastest 100 meter dash, 10.44 seconds, and 5th fastest 200 meter dash, 21.24 seconds) he was also a dynamic kick returner, setting a career record of 1,377 kick return yards which lasted until 2002, beaten my defensive back Milt Bowen, who like Stegall signed with the Cincinnati Bengals after college. All of these accomplishments garnered Stegall an honorable mention all-Mid-American Conference selection as a junior.
Bengals and Bombers
Stegall signed as an undrafted free agent with the Cincinnati Bengals. He played 21 games over 3 seasons, where he had four receptions for 43 yards and one touchdown. He was primarily played as a kick returner though, where he totalled 446 yards off of 26 kickoffs. In the 1995 season, he was signed as a free agent of the Green Bay Packers, but was a late cut. He decided to go north to the CFL where he played the final 6 games of Winnipeg Blue Bombers season, obtaining 469 recieving yards, and two punt returns, one for an incredible 80 yards.
Stegall started out as a wide reciever, garnering him an All-Star selection in 1997 after having a 1616 yard season. Soon however, Stegall made the switch to Slotback which let him start the play closer to the middle of the larger field. Stegall flourished as a slotback, where in the CFL a player is allowed a running start before the play to gain momentum, being able to burn defenders with his impressive speed. Stegall would go on to get 3 more All-Star selections as a Slotback, peaking in 2002 where he had one of the greatest individual seasons in CFL history. He led the CFL in receptions (106), receiving yards (1,896), yards from scrimmage (1,896), touchdowns (23), receiving touchdowns (23), 100-yard games (10), 100-yard receiving games (10), average yards per catch (17.9 – 50 min.) and non-kicker scoring (140). He set a new league single-season record for touchdowns with 23 and a new league single-season record for receiving touchdowns, also with 23. All of these made him the obvious choice the CFL's Most Outstanding Player, which he won.
Stegall has continued his excellence throughout the seasons with the Blue Bombers. In 2005 at age 35, some thought Stegall's play would be on the decline, but he shrugged off critics by capping off the season with his 5th All-Star selection. Amidst endless offensive co-ordinater changes, as well as many head coach changes, Stegall still has remained a reliable, and at times unstoppable force for the Blue Bombers. Arguably one of most popular Bombers of all time he was named to the All-Time 75th Anniversary Team. With the 2005 season over, there was speculation that Stegall would retire, but he soon announced that he would in fact be returning for, at least, one more year. With the 2006 season approaching, Milt Stegall intends to continue his stellar play. When he does finally retire, he will surely go down as one of, if not the, greatest CFL recievers of all time.
Records
- Most Career TD receptions with 126
- Most yards per catch in a season - 26.5
- Most yards receiving by a Bombers receiver - 12,333
- CFL Most Outstanding Player - 2002
External links
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