It was a virtual sure thing that Wild Thing would be played at McMahon Stadium after Tommy Stevens carried the football over his first three CFL seasons.
The 1960s rock classic was heard at the home of the Calgary Stampeders after Stevens turned a short-yardage situation into a first down — usually with plenty of room to spare.
Now that the 6-foot-4, 245-pound quarterback is a member of the Corey Mace-coached Saskatchewan Roughriders, will his presence influence the playlist at Mosaic Stadium in 2025?
“I’ll give you a funny story about that,” Stevens said after signing with Saskatchewan on Tuesday.
“Mace actually texted me the other day, asking me the exact same question: ‘Hey, are we going to have to do this?’
“It was never my idea, believe it or not.”
It was the brainchild of Bo Levi Mitchell, whose final season with the Stampeders (2022) coincided with Stevens’ first in the CFL.
“We were in meetings one day and Bo said, ‘You know what we should do? Whenever you go in there and get the first down, they should play Wild Thing,’ ” Stevens recalled.
“I kind of played it off at first. I said, ‘I don’t know, man. I don’t know if it’s a good idea.’ He said, ‘I’m not asking. I’m telling you. We’re doing this.’
“It caught fire, obviously, and we had a ton of success in short yardage.”
As a CFLer, Stevens has moved the chains on 60 of 62 opportunities on third-down quarterback sneaks. Success rate: 96.8 per cent.
Last season, he helped Calgary produce first-down yardage in 30 of 31 third-and-short situations. He rushed for 29 first downs (including three touchdowns) and added a 24-yard completion.
The latter effort was one of his 11 completions (on 20 attempts) with Calgary. He threw for 82 yards and one touchdown — a nine-yard scoring strike to Jalen Philpot against the visiting Roughriders on Oct. 29, 2022.
While with Calgary, Stevens worked closely with then-Stampeders assistant coach Marc Mueller, who is entering his second season as the Roughriders’ offensive co-ordinator.
Now that Stevens and Mueller are reunited in Saskatchewan, the newest Roughriders quarterback could evolve into someone whose utilization extends beyond short-yardage situations.
“I think that’s kind of where we’re headed,” responded Stevens, 28.
“I do know that we did some of those things when Marc was around in Calgary. I know that he wasn’t able to have full control of the play calling when we were in Calgary together. Obviously, that has changed now, and he’ll be calling the plays.
“I do believe that we’ll be doing more things. Obviously, it’s going to have to be earned by me. I’ll have to show that I can do it.”
Stevens joins a corps of quarterbacks that also includes incumbent starter Trevor Harris, Jake Maier, Jack Coan and Michael Hiers.
Maier and Stevens were teammates in Calgary for three seasons. The Roughriders acquired Maier from the Stampeders on Dec. 23 and announced his signing on Jan. 9.
“I think I saw Jake say something about (Mosaic Stadium) being the mecca of our league,” Stevens said. “I think that’s how a lot of people view the league and also view Mosaic.
“It’s a tremendous place with passionate fans. I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of it.”
Being part of the CFL in general has been a career-changer for Stevens.
“I’m very thankful,” he said. “It was a little bit of a whirlwind for me (before joining the Stampeders).”
The Indianapolis-born Stevens played college football at Penn State (three seasons) and Mississippi State (one year) before being selected by the New Orleans Saints in the seventh round (240th overall) of the 2020 NFL Draft.
After being converted to tight end, he spent a considerable portion of the 2020 season on the Saints’ practice roster.
He then joined the Carolina Panthers and appeared in one game — rushing four times for 24 yards against his former team, New Orleans, on Jan. 3, 2021.
Stevens tried out for the New York Giants in August of 2021. He signed with Calgary on Jan. 4 of the following year.
As a first-year CFLer, he rushed for nine touchdowns — including four in one game. One of the nine TDs was an 85-yarder.
Stevens scored six more times in 2023 before adding 10 majors last year. He was tied with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ Chris Streveler for the CFL lead in touchdowns, with the longest score being from 69 yards away.
Asked about the prowess in short-yardage situations, which have been transformed into long-yardage eruptions, Stevens is quick to deflect the commendation.
“I would first give credit to the coaching staff in Calgary,” he said. “They gave me the opportunity to take on that role my first year.
“Jake Maier did the short yardage before I got there and I remember he was a little upset when I first got there. He said, ‘I thought I was doing a pretty good job and then you got here and kind of reinvented the wheel with it.’ ”
In so doing, Stevens erupted for the three longest ground gains a quarterback has registered against Saskatchewan (85, 71 and 69 yards).
“That’s a cool stat — obviously something to be proud about,” he said. “It wasn’t just me versus 12 guys. It was a group record that we can all be proud of.”
Until Stevens arrived in Calgary, only one quarterback had gained 60-plus yards versus the Roughriders. That was Rickey Foggie, who took off for a 65-yarder with the Toronto Argonauts at Taylor Field on Oct. 28, 1990.
(The Roughriders’ longest run by a quarterback: Rick Worman’s 55-yarder in Edmonton on July 31, 1991.)
One more stellar Stevens stat: He boasts half the CFL’s six runs of 69 yards or more over the past three seasons.
“I give a lot of credit to the big boys up front (on the offensive line),” he said. “Add in the fullbacks, running backs and receivers.
“Whoever we had in there at the time, everybody bought into the idea of, ‘OK, we’re going to have success with this.’ And when we did have success, it was like, ‘How can we take it to another level? How can we make this an explosive play?’
“Then we had a couple of explosive plays and it was, ‘All right! Let’s try to score every time we’re on the field.’ It caught fire.
“I’m really excited and proud that I was a part of that in Calgary. Hopefully I can bring some of that infectious energy over to Mosaic and especially around the league, going forward with the Riders.”
Could the energy be heightened by the playing of Wild Thing?
“It’s above my pay grade to make those kinds of decisions,” Stevens said with a laugh, “but if the people in Mosaic want to hear Wild Thing, so be it.”
