Brandin Dandridge quietly leading scary REDBLACKS’ defence

The Crumback – as it has become known in Ottawa – wouldn’t have been possible without a spark.

Down by 16 with under three minutes left to play, REDBLACKS’ defensive back Brandin Dandridge made his most recent entry into his turnover journal, snagging Zach Collaros’ errant pass out of the air, and trotting into the endzone. The rest is history, but you won’t catch the 26-year-old thinking about it a week later.

“It’s about the next play,” Dandridge said, dismissing the game-changing interception as if it never happened. “The coaches put me in the right position to make that play, they did an amazing job at scheming, and I was blessed to be there, but it’s onto the next. I’m thinking about Calgary.”

It’s not unusual to see Dandridge with an eye turned to the future, and you’ll never see him satisfied with his previous performance. Already with a pair of interceptions on the campaign, he has been forced into a bigger than-anticipated role due to injuries, hiking up his socks to pick up the slack on the defence, and taking over as the primary kick returner after DeVonte Dedmon suffered an injury early in the year.

Although quiet in the locker room, it’s what he does on the field or in the gym that sets the precedent for his teammates.

“He always wants to be better, wants to be coached,” said REDBLACKS Defensive Backs Coach Jykine Bradley. “I’m always pushing him, and he loves it, and when you have a guy like that in the room, it makes my job easy. Once the expectation is set by the coach, the standard is set by the players.”

As the big plays continue to roll for the Missouri Western State alum, it’s hard to remember a time when positive things weren’t coming as frequently for Dandridge, but like many others, it took some time for him to find his footing in the league.

Dandridge originally signed with the REDBLACKS in 2019, playing in four games, before missing the entire 2020 year, as the CFL season was cancelled due to COVID-19. By then, no one could have foreseen what was next, but Dandridge made his downtime count.

“I think a lot of American defensive backs would say the same thing, it takes a little while coming up here in your first year,” Dandridge deduced. “The speed of the game is so different. The biggest thing for me during the COVID year was learning how to become a pro, which has contributed to a lot of success.”

For the 2021 season, Dandridge struggled to find his role in Ottawa, spending time on the practice roster, before being released. Later in the year, he was brought back, and by season’s end, he was in the starting lineup, where finally, he was able to put his stamp on the CFL.

In eight games at the end of 2021, Dandridge picked off four passes, quickly asserting himself as one of the top ball-hawking defensive backs on the roster, setting himself up to make that same claim for the league in its entirety.

“It’s a blessing to have coaches that have given me the opportunity, and put me in position to make plays,” Dandridge said. “I will never take full credit for anything. It has been my coaches, teammates, everyone around me who has played a part. They believe in me, and trust in me to go out there and do my job.”

After the impressive second half, the REDBLACKS re-signed Dandridge, but before long, the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs came knocking, changing the course of the offseason. He signed a futures deal, and attended Chiefs training camp, where he was in for a lesson on everything he thought he knew.

“You have to be a student of the game at that level,” Dandridge said. “You have to know what you’re doing in Steve Spagnuolo’s defence. He had me playing in the slot, too, so I really needed to know all of the ins and outs of the defence. I learned a lot of technical things about football, mental things.”

Although in the end, things didn’t work out the way Dandridge would have liked with the Chiefs, it brought his mindset to the forefront.

“No matter how good or bad you perform, there’s always room for improvement, no matter what,” Dandridge said. “It’s always a next-play mentality, you can never be satisfied with a performance. You have to find ways to get better, and that’s how I’ve carried myself my whole career. High school, college, and in the pros.”

Since returning to the REDBLACKS midway through last season, he has once again become a mainstay in the defensive backfield, and has played a big role in anchoring the defence. As a whole, the unit has been one of the top in the league, and once again, it’s their mindset that’s serving them best in key situations.

“We have that mentality – let’s get off the field,” Dandridge said. “When we’re up, we’re getting off that field. Every single day at practice, we want to make that play, that’s how this team is.”