Gable hoping grass is greener in Edmonton
New Esks’ RB didn’t enjoy much success when his Tiger-Cats played Edmonton
C.J. Gable’s memories of playing against the Edmonton Eskimos aren’t all sweet.
As a member of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, he hadn’t tasted victory over them in four games, including the 2016 East Division semifinal.
In a 24-21 win at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton on Nov. 13, Eskimos running back John White ran rampant to 160 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries to end the Ticats’ season.
“We played against them in the playoffs and I did my part to help the Ticats win,” recalled the sixfoot, 219-pound Southern California product, who scored a touchdown that day. “But they had that running game that was killing us.”
Now he is that running game, taking the place of Travon Van, who is out with a hamstring injury.
“Yeah, so I hope I can do some of that and we can get this thing going,” Gable said after practising for the first time with his new team at Commonwealth Stadium on Thursday.
With 49 yards on seven touches to show for his lone start of the season against the Eskimos on the way to a 33-28 loss in Edmonton on Aug. 4, Gable was traded for a pair of negotiation-list players earlier this week.
“It was a big surprise to me. I didn’t really think about it after the game I had,” said Gable, who is coming off a 43-35 loss to the Toronto Argonauts on Saturday where he came just three yards shy on two fewer carries of reproducing White’s 160-yard, two touchdown performance. “It was a big shock, but I know it’s business and they had to do what they had to do.”
In the process, Gable has gone from a 3-10 team to one that is 7-6, with the Eskimos in position to cross over to the East Division in Hamilton’s place if the playoffs were to begin this week.
“I’ve been there five years — a lot of players don’t stay on a team that long,” Gable said. “So I had fun while I was there.”
Now it’s time to get down to work, as Gable has been burning the midnight oil studying his new playbook in time to start Thanksgiving Monday’s game against the Montreal Alouettes.
“It’s kind of a challenging playbook, but it’s almost the same stuff I ran in Hamilton — the words are just mixed around,” said Gable, who averaged 5.8 yards per carry in his five seasons with the Ticats.
The stats come as no surprise to Eskimos head coach Jason Maas.
“We’ve had our eye on him and played against him quite a bit over the years and know what kind of back he is,” Maas said. “He’s a quality back that can run, pass protect, catch the ball out of the backfield. He fits very well into how we operate our offence.
“So obviously a good pickup for us. I think he’s proven last weekend what he’s capable of.”
INTERSQUAD SQUABBLE
They may have lost their last six games, but there is plenty of fight left in the Edmonton Eskimos.
That much was evident near the end of Thursday’s practice at Commonwealth Stadium, when a pair of veteran starters along the line of scrimmage vented some steam that has no doubt been building since the team was 7-0.
It appeared all-star defensive tackle Almondo Sewell — who is more geared toward putting the pedal to the metal in games than having to take his foot off the gas in a practice environment where linemen don’t typically go full speed — took offence to getting held by centre Justin Sorensen, pushing the six-foot-eight, 311-pound offensive lineman and diving on top of him.
It took some doing, but Sewell was hauled off by teammates before any damage was done as the two watched the last few minutes of practice play out from the sidelines.
In and out: The Eskimos released RB Marion Grice from the practice roster, handing his No. 39 to newcomer Gable, a fellow running back … Canadian K Brett Lauther has been released after spending his only week with the Eskimos on the injured list … Edmonton signed Canadian FB John Delahunt, a sixfoot-three, 243-pound Connecticut product, to the active roster, while adding Canadian DB Brendan Morgan, a six-foot, 195-pound Queen’s product to the practice squad … Edmonton’s practice roster grew from 10 to 15 players this week with the addition of DB Alex Gray, WR Devante (Speedy) Noil, OL Mykhael Quave, DL Nick Usher and LB Jonathan Walton … Injured Eskimos DB Brandyn Thompson and LB Korey Jones were back practising Thursday.