Hold the Mayo?

Just try. G’wan. Double-dog dare ya.

A convoy of 300-plus pound offensive linemen couldn’t less put an outright grab on an impatient Deron Mayo right now.

The only thing that can slow him down is common sense.

“It does feel good,’’ the itching-to-return linebacker was saying earlier in the week. “Feels pretty strong. And I’ve got a good team working on it.

“We’ll see on game day if I’m flying around out there.”

That was Monday.

Game day, he hoped, would be on Friday. But now he’s resigned to a further delay.

“As eager as you are to get back out there, you’ve still got to see the big picture,’’ said Mayo, back at practice on the McMahon Stadium turf Wednesday after a day away attending to soreness in the knee injured 10 months ago.

“It’s a long season. We’re winning games, right? So you’ve got to be optimistic about the situation.

“I always stay positive.”

Mayo gets carted off the field after suffering a knee injury on Oct. 15, 2017 (Photo by David Moll)

The last game action for Mayo – scroll back, way back – dates to Oct. 15, Week 17 of the 2016 campaign, and a home fixture against the Montreal Alouettes.

On a freak play, he suffers a torn patellar muscle. Layman’s translation: Wrecked knee.

Surgery follows 48 hours later.

Thus begins the long slog.

Which is why putting all his toil at risk now out of sheer impatience is not an option.

“You go through such a wide range of emotions. Right after the injury, you think ‘What now?’

“You’ve invested so much time and other people have invested so much of themselves in you, getting you to this point, that it’s natural to wonder, I guess.

“It’s been brutal. Really tough. Mentally. Emotionally. Psychologically. I’m just happy to be out here, running around with the team. There have been times I’ve doubted how strong my knee would actually get. How fast I’ll actually run.

“Now I’m sort past that, to where I know I can get back to where I was.”

Mayo addresses the team before the 2016 Western Final (Photo by David Moll)

To his accustomed trusted position within the Calgary Stampeders’ defensive set-up. This is, if anyone needs a friendly reminder, a Presidents’ Ring recipient and the team’s 2015 nominee for Most Outstanding Defensive Player.

Before being struck down last year, he’d compiled a team-topping 77 tackles, three sacks, five knockdowns and a fumble recovery.

“Man, you can just seem him chomping at the bit,’’ said defensive back Brandon Smith. “He’s worked awful hard to get to this point. It’s been tough but look at him now.

“It’s just great to have him out there with us again.”

Mayo’s older brother Jerod experienced the identical extended injury while in the employ of the New England Patriots in 2014 so, during the drudgery of rehab, Mayo the Younger has been lucky enough to have not only a sympathetic ear listening but an experienced voice explaining what to expect.

His McMahon Stadium family has helped immeasurably, too.

“It’s important to surround yourself with people who can motivate you, who can encourage you,’’ says Mayo.

“I’ve had a great team. Bo (Levi Mitchell). J-Wall (Jamar Wall). My coaches who have been on top of me, encouraging me, having the faith.

“That’s so important. And not just through an injury. That’s a life lesson, right? Surround yourself with good people.

“It’s helped.”

As is their custom, the Stamps have been able to soldier on minus one of their top soldiers. Pushing through injuries to players, even one as influential as Mayo, has become an enviable organizational characteristic.

Photo by David Moll

“We’ve had good play out of our weak-side linebacker, position,’’ praises head tactician Dave Dickenson, “with Maleki (Harris) and Jameer Thurman.

“(Mayo)’s back out there today. I’ve gotta decide. I’ m not sure. I’ll play it smart. He wants to play but I’ll decide that.”

Despite his influence on the collective, when Mayo’s emotional return does arrive, he feels as if he’s trying to win back a job. Nothing given, nothing guaranteed. No matter who.

“Absolutely. I’d be foolish not to think that. Like I said, these guys have played well. So I plan on earning my spot back.

“Through my life I’ve always been a hard worker. This is just another challenge.”

What’s important is that Deron Mayo’s on the precipice of getting back to business.

If not Friday night at BC Place, then soon.

Back where he belongs, joining his pals, at the workplace he best expresses himself.

So, hold the Mayo?

Yeah, right. As if. Maybe on a BLT …

There’s 10 months of built-up energy waiting to be unleashed, after all.

“I’ll be running on adrenalin,’’ he concedes of his eventual return. “The crowd, the game … I’m sure I won’t even feel the knee.

“It’s been awhile.”