TICATS’ TIMMIS MAY BE STAR IN MAKING
Canadian back ran roughshod over Edmonton
Mercer Timmis just might be the player everyone should be keeping an eye on in Hamilton.
With no offence to Johnny Manziel and the TSN-pushed agenda to make him a starter regardless of the stunning numbers put up by incumbent Jeremiah Masoli, Timmis is the guy who could legitimately be pushing for a bigger role.
The former standout for the Calgary Dinos had his breakout CFL moment Friday in Edmonton, totalling 17 carries for 133 yards and two touchdowns. It was a moment long in the making for the Burlington, Ont., native.
In two injury-riddled seasons before this one, Timmis had eight carries for 26 yards as he made his bones like most nonimports do, on special teams.
Timmis was the 14th overall selection by the Ticats in 2016 and arrived in Hamilton with dreams of becoming the next Jesse Lumsden, a fellow Burlington native who also starred in Hamilton as a running back.
Timmis knows Lumsden a little and trains with him on occasion in Calgary, where Lumsden has already started recruiting Timmis to follow his footsteps into the Canadian bobsledding family.
But that’s a down-the-road thing for Timmis, who first wants to establish himself in the CFL as a running back.
In that regard, Friday’s game was huge.
“It definitely feels good,” Timmis said of Friday’s productive night. “It’s just a testament to all the hard work I have been putting in during the off-season and especially last year in the off-season coming back from the injury. It feels good, but I have to put it behind me and keep working to the next week.”
Timmis has not had the easiest of entries into the CFL.
In his rookie year, there was a concussion coming out of training camp that put him behind everyone else and led to a sixgame absence.
Then in Year 2 it was a seasonending spiral fracture of his leg as he got sandwiched between two Argonauts tacklers.
Timmis, a dogged competitor, attacked rehab the same way he attacks would-be tacklers: headon and at full speed.
He was back working out four months after surgery.
“Yeah, it was pretty quick,” Timmis said. “I just committed pretty hard to the rehab process. I did everything I could all the time. Whether I was in here getting treatment (at the Ticats facility) or if I was at home, I would buy stuff and do stuff on my own — just everything I could. I wanted to come back and didn’t want to be where I was. I wanted to be better.”
The Ticats have five running backs on the roster in University of Hawaii product Alex Green, who is on the six-game injured list, converted defensive lineman Nikita Whitlock out of Wake Forest, Universite de Montreal back Sean Thomas Erlington, and John White, formerly of the Edmonton Eskimos, who is on the practice roster.
It’s a crowded position, but Timmis refuses to get caught up in the numbers — either the bodies he’s competing with or the personal stats.
“Whatever opportunities they give me, I just gotta try and do my best for the team,” he said.
But don’t be fooled. Timmis has aspirations and the confidence to know he can reach his goals. Friday’s stat line may have surprised some, but not Timmis.
“You definitely believe in your own abilities,” he said. “I don’t think anyone would be here if they didn’t. Personally I felt like I could have a game like that. You look at the tape, our offensive line played really well. They made it pretty easy for me and (Jeremiah) Masoli and the receivers were just slinging it, so yeah, they definitely made it easy on me.”
With a little more coaxing, Timmis eventually revealed his goal, but only after talk turned to other great Canadian backs.
“Obviously I aspire to be like those guys. They are great backs — (Jerome) Messam, (Andrew) Harris, (Jon) Cornish, (Jesse) Lumsden before that,” he said. “So there have been some stud backs that have really just carried it for Canadians. But I think I still have a lot of work to do.”
Friday was a nice start.