Light-It-Up-Lemar is fast approaching full, bathe-the-sky-in-brightness wattage.

“I’m feeling better and better, every day,’’ reports the Stampeders’ playmaking wideout, following a lightning-shortened workout late Tuesday morning at McMahon Stadium. “In the game, with all the adrenalin, I get really amped up and don’t pay attention to anything, don’t worry about anything.

“In a game, you just let your natural reactions take over. You have to.

“Working my way in slowly, getting those reps and mentally get used to the game, the speed, has been good for me.

“You can practice but everything changes in a game, the intensity, people flying around and being hit by someone who means it.

“I’m just happy to be on the field, with the guys in game situations.

“And, as I said, I think I’m getting close to being at full strength.”

On June 28 at McMahon, the Simon Fraser-developed Durant returned to active duty for the first time nearly 11 months after undergoing ACL surgery.

In a supporting role that night against the Ottawa Redblacks, he began to regain competitive show-time traction if not pad the personal stats page.

Durant’s initial catch Thursday at TD Place Stadium will be No. 1 of the season.

And the first, his position coach knows, of innumerable.

“He’s ready to go,’’ says Pete Costanza. “One hundred percent back as far as feeling good athletically. And he got that mental block – ‘Am I really good to go?’ – out of the way last game.

“It’s a question now of getting his legs under him, being ready for the workload of a game.

“He’s so close. Right there. It’s just a question of getting out there and doing it.”

Now in his 11th season overseeing Stampeder receivers, Constanza has worked with his share of outstanding pass-catching ensembles.

This stockpile – the returning Eric Rogers, DaVaris Daniels, Reggie Begelton, Juwan Brescacin, Kamar Jorden, Marken Michel, Durant – possesses the goods to rank up there with the best.

“You look at the year Romby (Bryant), (Ken-Yon) Rambo and Nick (Lewis) all went for 1,000, in 2010, I think,’’ reminisces Costanza. “We were really deep then. Before that was outstanding, too – Nik, Romby, Cope (Jeremaine Copeland), Ryan Thelwell, (Brett) Ralphie. Jabari (Arthur) was a rookie that year and out there making plays, too.

“This group has the ingredients to be on par with those guys.

“Our depth and the playmaking ability of each guy is so strong. Marken was actually saying to me the other day: ‘Coach, it doesn’t matter who’s on the field or in the lineup, we’ve got guys who can make plays.’ He’s right. They know it’s true. They also know there’s only one ball to go around and so many game-day spots.

“And these guys are good about putting team first, seeing the big picture, which makes them easy to coach.”
Durant certainly understands being healthy doesn’t automatically mean being chosen.

“I know there might be some games we rotate,’’ he acknowledges. “I’m not fully-locked in to being a starter every week. We’ve got a lot of really good receivers here.

“I’m just trying to stay doing what I’m doing, stay healing, stay improving and see how things play out.

“Inside competition just makes you work harder and that can only help everyone. And all the guys here are smart, able to play a bunch of different positions.

“You always have to be on your toes, because if you’re not at your best you might not get a chance to step on the field.”

Victory at TD Bank Field this Thursday in a rematch with the RedBlacks would see the Stamps run their record to 4-0 this season.

Despite much success, only once since 1997 – that being 2014, the year of the organization’s most recent Grey Cup title – have they managed to kick off the season in four-in-a-row style.

“When Dave (Dickenson) was talking about that I was actually shocked,’’ admits Durant. “We’ve always had close-to-record-breaking seasons so you’d just naturally assume it must happen a lot, right?

“I guess the start of every year is always hard because you’re finding out who you are as a team, trying to get everything to mesh.

“So to be able to go 4-0? That’s huge. Just shows how we’re rolling. We’re looking really good.

“That just means we’ve got to be on our guard. When you start believing everything’s good, that’s when you have a mental lapse, don’t lock in as much.

“But I think we’re doing a good job of focusing hard on everything to try and get that 4-0.”