ANKOU ENJOYING PLAYOFF EXPERIENCE WITH JAGS
Canadian-born defensive lineman has earned respect of his peers in rookie season
Eli Ankou’s more experienced defensive linemates on the Jacksonville Jaguars call him “Rook.” That is, when they’re just playing around. Otherwise?
“If he makes me mad, I call him ‘EE-lie.’ He doesn’t like that pronunciation,” starting nose tackle Abry Jones said.
Right. Ankou prefers not the common pronunciation of his first name, but rather “EE-lee.”
Ankou and the Jaguars have made it to the second round of the NFL playoffs.
On Sunday they visit the Pittsburgh Steelers in the second of two AFC divisional-round games this weekend. The winner advances to the Jan. 21 AFC championship, where a berth in Super Bowl LII will be on the line.
Born and raised in Ottawa (specifically, in Ottawa South and Orleans) and a proud Canadian, the six-foot-three, 325-pound Ankou has been a member of the Jaguars since Labour Day weekend. A multiyear starter with UCLA in U.S. college football, he signed last April with the NFL’s Houston Texans as an undrafted free agent. After spring practice and summer training camp, the Texans released Ankou when teams cut down to 53-man rosters, the usual fate of an undrafted free agent. The next day, though, just minutes before he was set to sign with the Texans to join their 10-man practice squad, Ankou’s agents called with the great news that the Jaguars had signed him to their 53-man active roster.
Six days later, Ankou made his regular-season NFL debut for the Jags, back in Houston of all places, in a 29-7 Jacksonville win. He took 27 snaps on the Jags’ interior defensive line that day and made one tackle.
Over the following seven weeks, Ankou similarly took anywhere from 19 to 47 per cent of the Jags’ D-line snaps on a rotational basis, into early November. By then, however, Jacksonville acquired two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Marcell Dareus via trade from the Buffalo Bills. Ankou has played in only two games since.
Still, for an undrafted rookie to dress and play in more than half his team’s games, and on one of the NFL’s best defensive lines, and hold his own, Ankou understands he’s off to a good, promising pro start.
“Oh yeah, absolutely,” the 23-year-old said Monday in the Jaguars’ locker-room at EverBank Stadium, less than 24 hours after Jacksonville edged Buffalo 10-3 in an AFC wildcard game. “It’s been really good coming in with a good group of guys who help me out adjusting to the speed of the league and whatnot. But from Day 1 it’s just been learning, and applying. That’s been my big motto this year.”
Jacksonville’s veteran D-linemen — from Jones, to Dareus, to Malik Jackson, to Calais Campbell, to Dante Fowler Jr. — do like to tease him, almost as much as mentor him.
“Oh yeah, they do. But it’s good to have that dynamic, because I can come to them with any questions I’ve got,” Ankou said. “It’s more than just football, too. Little life questions, this and that. It’s good to have that.”
As much as they might rib him about his prim-and-proper Canadian accent and unfamiliarity with some Southern U.S. customs — “Eli, he’s kind of like that foreign exchange student that you’ve got to teach things to,” Jones said — they respect Ankou because he can play. And because he’s all in.
Dareus, no stranger to Canada after spending his first six-anda-half NFL seasons in bordering Buffalo, gave Ankou these compliments.
“Cool cat, man. I really like him,” Dareus said.
“A real dominator. A true Canadian — always happy, always smiling, chilling. … Just always in a good mood. He’s a good kid. I really like that about him.
“But he’s nasty as well. He handles business. Strong as hell. And he’s about the game. He’s about his teammates. I like that a lot about him.”
A true Canadian — always happy, always smiling, chilling. … Just always in a good mood. He’s a good kid. I really like that about him. But he’s nasty as well.