First-year Rider Elimimian racking up the tackles after calf injury sidelined him early in season
VANCOUVER Solomon Elimimian has made up for a slow start to the 2019 CFL season.
Elimimian led the Saskatchewan Roughriders with 73 defensive tackles — the seventh-best total in the league — heading into Friday night’s game against the host B.C. Lions. (The result was unavailable at press time.)
The Riders’ middle linebacker has attained that level despite missing all of training camp and the first three regular-season games due to a calf injury.
“It’s all about determination,” Elimimian said before Friday’s game. “It’s about having a focus and realizing that certain things don’t happen how you envision them. If you have the right mindset, you can overcome a lot. That’s what this season has reinforced in my mind. I may not have started off great, but it’s all about how you finish and the work that you put in.”
Elimimian’s sights are set on reaching 100 defensive tackles for the fourth time in his nine-year CFL career, the first eight seasons with the Lions. He’s also aiming to lead the CFL in defensive tackles for the fourth time in his career.
To accomplish that, he would have to overtake the Hamilton Tiger-cats’ Simoni Lawrence, who entered the weekend with a league-high 83 defensive tackles.
“It’s always a goal,’’ Elimimian said. “You have to have goals that drive you as a team and as an individual. So that’s one of my individual goals.”
Elimimian knows about setting and reaching goals in the CFL. He set a CFL single-season record for defensive tackles (144) in 2017, eclipsing by one the mark he established in 2014. He also recorded 129 defensive tackles in 2016 while chipping in a career-high eight sacks.
He’s the only defensive player to be named the CFL’S most outstanding player, earning the honour in 2014. He is also the lone CFLER to have won each of the most outstanding rookie (2010), most outstanding defensive player (2014 and 2016) and most outstanding player awards.
Despite those accomplishments, the Lions deemed the four-time CFL all-star expendable after the 2018 season. One week after being released, he signed with the Riders.
“He’s a hard-working guy and a very talented football player,” Riders head coach Craig Dickenson said. “You can see the difference he makes on the field and the guys really trust him. They believe that he’s going to get them lined up correctly and make plays when he has the opportunity. He has been a real veteran presence in the locker-room.”
Heading into Friday’s game, Elimimian was sixth on the CFL’S all-time list in defensive tackles, with 818 in 130 games. Canadian Football Hall of Fame linebacker Willie Pless holds the record with 1,241 in 217 games over 14 seasons. Whether Elimimian passes Pless remains to be seen.
“A lot of times it goes to how many years that you play,” said Elimimian, who turns 33 on Monday. “Do I want to play for 15 years? I doubt it. I don’t think you can play 15 or 16 years of football in this day and age because it’s probably too hard on your body. The biggest thing is you want to put your best foot forward every season.”