Hard work the key for Lions’ star Arceneaux

KAMLOOPS — During a reflective moment before last season, Emmanuel Arceneaux looked inward and made a decision.

It was one that wound up benefiting both the veteran receiver and the B.C. Lions.

“The biggest thing was it ain’t about me — that’s something I realized,” said Arceneaux. “If I bring my work ethic, everything will take care of itself.”

Arceneaux had put up consistent numbers during his five previous CFL campaigns, but his new outlook helped get the player and his team to the next level.

He finished 2016 with 1,566 receiving yards and a league-best 13 touchdowns as the Lions bounced back from a couple of down years to compile a 12-6 record.

But perhaps Arceneaux’s most memorable moment came following B.C.’s wild 32-31 playoff victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, a game that saw him knocked out after a vicious hit.

He stood up in the locker-room to deliver an impassioned and emotional speech — one befitting a true leader, not the carefree and sometimes-goofy persona of “The Manny Show” that he played up in public earlier in his career.

“If you look around everybody will say, ‘Manny’s the big-play receiver or this or that.’ But I’m really just a guy that shows up everyday,” said Arceneaux, who finished last year with a careerhigh 105 catches. “I just make the most of my opportunities that I get and let the game come to me.

“I believe how you practice is exactly how you play.”

That attitude has pushed the six-foot-two, 210-pound Arceneaux up the CFL receiving ranks since returning to the Lions in 2013 after a two-season NFL stint, climbing from 14th in yards all the way to third last season.

An all-star in both 2015 and 2016, Arceneaux was usually first in line for every drill at training camp in Kamloops. Not one to rest on his laurels, Arceneaux spent some of the off-season in Dallas working with receiver specialist David Robinson, who has trained elite NFL pass catchers like Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders.

Lions head coach and general manager Wally Buono brought Arceneaux to the CFL ahead of the 2009 season, and said the most impressive aspect of the Alcorn State product’s career to this point is his fire.

“What’s made him what he is has been his drive to get better, his work ethic to get better,” said Buono, whose team wraps up the CFL’s exhibition schedule at home against the Saskatchewan Roughriders tonight.