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Here’s the scoop on ‘Poop’ Johnson
REGINA Chris Jones and Jordan Williams-lambert are both guaranteed trips to Edmonton for the 2018 Grey Cup festivities.
Jones and Williams-lambert were the two members of the Saskatchewan Roughriders to be named Thursday as West Division finalists for the CFL’S individual awards. Winners are to be revealed Nov. 22 in Edmonton, site of the 2018 Grey Cup game.
Jones, the Riders’ head coach and general manager, was selected as the West Division’s coach of the year. Williams-lambert, a slotback, was named the West’s most outstanding rookie after voting by the Football Reporters of Canada and the CFL’S nine head coaches.
“It’s an honour, but at the same time it’s a voted-on award and it’s not something that I focus on,” Jones said after Thursday ’s closed practice. “I have the good fortune to be around some really good folks. I have a really good staff and some really good players.”
Williams-lambert is among that group of players. He played in 17 games and was first among the Riders in receptions (62), tied for first in touchdown catches (four) and second in receiving yards (764).
Williams-lambert has stood out since attending a tryout camp with the Riders in Akron, Ohio, where he earned an invitation to the Riders’ spring camp in Bradenton, Fla. He was then invited to the team’s main training camp and earned a spot on the active roster, something for which he is still grateful.
“I love Chris Jones,” Williamslambert said. “He has been good to me and he has always been honest with me. He’s the one who saw my talent when nobody did. In Akron, he noticed my talent and in (Bradenton) he picked me up in a car and talked to me. Stuff like that is something you don’t forget.”
Lewis Ward of the Ottawa Redblacks is the East Division’s finalist for most outstanding rookie. He was successful on a league-best 98.1 per cent of his field-goal attempts, setting a single-season CFL record. Ward also set the alltime record for most consecutive successful field goals (47).
“(Ward) had a great season and there have been a lot of rookies who have had great seasons,” Williams-lambert said. “That’s what makes this award even better, just knowing the talent that is in this locker-room and others.”
The Redblacks’ Rick Campbell is the East Division’s nominee for coach of the year. He guided the Redblacks (11-7) to first place in the East and his team will play host to the division final Nov. 18.
The Riders were 12-6 in Jones’s third season as the head coach and general manager. They finished second in the West Division and are playing host to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the division semifinal on Sunday. The winner advances to the West Division final Nov. 18 in Calgary against the Stampeders.
Meanwhile, there wasn’t any news Thursday on the status of Riders quarterback Zach Collaros.
“He’s about the same as what we thought ( Wednesday),” Jones said.
Collaros missed the final three quarters of the Riders’ 35-16 win over the B.C. Lions on Oct. 27, the regular-season finale for the Green and White, after absorbing a hit to the head by Lions defensive end Odell Willis.
Jones said earlier that Collaros had cleared all of the CFL’S concussion protocols, but didn’t go as far as to name him the starter against the Blue Bombers.