Eskimos sign multi-faceted Gable to 2-year extension

He goes by the initials C.J., but he’s getting nothing but straight As from the Edmonton Eskimos.

Running back C.J. Gable has been re-signed to a two-year contract extension with the club he was traded to on Oct. 2 by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats just in time for a playoff push that saw Edmonton win six in a row before falling one win shy of reaching the Grey Cup final.

In all, he came up 154 yards short of what would have been his first 1,000-yard season on the ground, posting a career-high 846 rushing yards and seven touchdowns — 367 yards and two TDs of which came with the Eskimos.

In game terms, that amounts to a single game’s worth of production for someone like Gable, who earned a career-best 157 rushing yards in what turned out to be, ironically, his last game with Hamilton.

It was also his first of four 100-yard rushing games on the season, the last three of which came while in green and gold, including a 107-yard performance in the West Division semifinal against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Edmonton brought in the sixfoot, 219-pound native of Sylmar, Calif., to fill the void left by starter John White, who was lost for the season with an knee injury in Week 2.

While backups Travon Van and LaDarius Perkins found limited success establishing a consistent run game over the first three months of the season, Gable immediately integrated himself into an Eskimos offence that went on to lead the way in offensive points, touchdowns, rushing touchdowns, net offence, first downs, first downs on rush, scrimmage plays, time of possession and, last but not least, both rushing attempts and passing yards.

Those are the numbers, but what about those letters?

Since he’s going to be sticking around for two more years, it’s probably prudent to find out what C.J. stands for — we’ll leave the fact that those same letters in reverse were also a long-standing mystery after linebacker J.C. Sherritt arrived for another time.

“It doesn’t stand for anything,” Gable tried telling reporters ahead of last month’s West Division final. “Nah, it stands for Carl Junior.” Wait a minute.

“I didn’t know that,” Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly said, before piping up: “They’ve got Carl’s Jr. restaurants. Home of the fivedollar burger.”

And so, the ribbing began. “That’s why I don’t like it,” shrugged Gable, 30, who was set to become a free agent in February.

All joking aside, he’s made a whopper of an impact on the Eskimos’ ground game during his short time here.

“I wouldn’t limit it just to the ground game,” Reilly said.

“I think he’s improved our offence overall. I’ve mentioned it multiple times, but it’s great to have a back that is multi-faceted, that doesn’t have any weaknesses because we really expect a lot out of our running backs.

“They have to be such a huge part of the pass and the run game. They’ve got to be able to obviously run the ball, but I think if you’re playing professional football as a running back, you have that ability.

“It’s all the other little things: It’s being able to pass protect, able to get out of the backfield to catch a ball and do something with it downfield, able to understand the pressure looks that teams bring.

“Communication has to be top notch.”

Gable had one message for Eskimos fans on Tuesday.

“I’m back, unfinished business,” he posted on his social media accounts Tuesday.