s quick to thank the people around him.&ldquo

Campbell: Big man O'Donnell playing large for Esks
I haven’t met many giants during my almost 40 years of life on this earth. That is until last season when the Eskimos acquired a 6-foot-11, 340-pound offensive lineman in a trade with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Queen’s product Matthew O’Donnell was a second round draft pick (15th overall) by the Riders in the 2011 CFL Draft. He was deemed as a project. The concern with O’Donnell was while he has the size and physicality for a man his size, would he have the foot speed?Happy Ending?As Dave Campbell explains, the Edmonton Eskimos are hoping to cap off their 2013 season on a high, as they get set for their finale with the Roughriders.» Read MoreWhen O’Donnell was traded to the Eskimos in September of 2012, he was expected to perfect his craft in practice. However, injuries struck the offensive line and O’Donnell was thrust into action much earlier than he or the Eskimos expected. O’Donnell played six games for the Eskimos last season, which included his first CFL start on September 28th. He would also start in the Eastern Semi-Final against the Toronto Argonauts.This season, O’Donnell turned the page from a project to a sure thing. He played two positions this season for the Eskimos - left guard and right tackle - and he did both very well. So well in fact that O’Donnell is the Eskimos nominee for the CFL’s Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman award.Having praise heaped on an o-lineman is unusual, O’Donnell knows they get more criticism than praise.“It’s never really a good year to be an o-lineman,” laughed O’Donnell. “We’re usually the first ones to get blamed and the last ones to be thanked. You get a lot of in-house respect though and that’s all we care about. When the quarterback and the running back thank us, and the receivers, that’s all we care about and we don’t worry too much about the media.”O’Donnell made his CIS debut for Queen’s in 2007 as an 18-year old. In 2009 and 2010, O’Donnell won the Orrin Carson Memorial Trophy as the best offensive lineman on the team. He was a first-team all Canadian in those same years. The next season, he played in the East-West Shrine Game in 2011 at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando. O’Donnell became the tallest and heaviest player to ever play in the game. He delayed signing with Saskatchewan Roughriders to join a tryout with the Boston Celtics. Impressive considering his last basketball experience was in high school in Surrey, BC. O’Donnell also had a tryout with the Toronto Raptors. He believes his basketball experience helped him to become a better player on the field.“You have to able to have fast feet especially now as the years go on and defensive ends get better, faster, quicker, stronger, and the whole defensive line does period,” O’Donnell explained. “Having fast feet is good, being a tackle who’s not able to move,Arizona Cardinals Jersey, and who’s sloppy, and boxy. It’s really good to have that background of multiple sports and multiple techniques.” Related Links Week 19 Game Notes More from Dave Campbell Buy: 101st Grey Cup Playoff tickets Before becoming a member of the Eskimos, O’Donnell signed with the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals in 2011 and spent the entire season on the team’s practice roster. He was given a two-year contract extension following the season but was waived by the team in August of last year. In a year where the offensive line has had trouble finding consistency, O’Donnell has been a rock. He, along with left tackle Thaddeus Coleman, are the only two o-lineman who have started every single game this season. Head coach Kavis Reed says he was impressed at how efficient O’Donnell was while playing two positions.“Very versatile individual, he was very consistent at both,” he said. “He’s going to be stalwart on the offensive line for years to come.”O’Donnell has a lot of nasty in his game, a trait which offensive linemen are supposed to have.Ask Riders linebacker Diamond Ferri about the physicality of O’Donnell, who laid a vicious hit on Ferri while returning an interception in Edmonton during Week 1 of the season. Who would want a man of O’Donnell’s stature bearing down on him? Uh, no thanks!For his success, O’Donnell doesn’t pat himself on the back. He’s quick to thank the people around him.“It’s really a testament to my teammates and my coaches,” O’Donnell said. “I worked hard this off-season; I came in kind of late last year and didn’t quite have my bearings. I put in some great work in the off-season.”And what a difference a year can make.