B.C. in no rush to name its No. 1 back
Provided you’ve played more than a couple of years in the CFL, the beauty of the league is you’re no more than one degree of separation removed from any player on any roster.
Take, for example, the case of Jeremiah Johnson and Tyrell Sutton.
Their paths first crossed at the 2009 NFL combine when the two college stars — Sutton at Northwestern, Johnson at Oregon — were auditioning for the draft. Alas, neither player would be selected, but the next year they met again at the Carolina Panthers’ training camp. Three years after that, Sutton caught on with the Montreal Alouettes just before Johnson landed in Ottawa with the Redblacks.
Now here they are, almost a decade later, competing for a job with the B.C. Lions.
“It’s about perspective,” says Sutton. “We all know each other and what we can do. It could have been weird coming in, but with the level of respect we have for each other, it wasn’t a difficult transition.”
But that doesn’t make it any less interesting.
Sutton, acquired in a trade with the Alouettes three weeks ago, is scheduled to draw into the Lions’ lineup on Saturday against Calgary and that development is notable on a number of fronts.
Johnson, for starters, is coming off his most productive game of the season, a 118-yard performance in the 26-23 win over Toronto that represents the first time a Lions back went over 100 yards on the season.
Through the first 14 games, Johnson has been a productive player — seventh in the CFL with 633 rushing yards, 40 catches on 41 targets for another 308 yards — but the Lions have been looking for a more physical presence in the run game this season.
That led to the trade for Sutton and a comprehensive review of the running back position. The Lions have been trying to figure out a way to get both backs into the offence and both are set to dress Saturday. Where they go from there is the next question but, with four games left on the Leos’ regular-season schedule, it seems the feature back’s job is an open competition.
“Don’t get me wrong,” said Johnson. “Tyrell Sutton is a great running back and I’m pretty sure he’s going to get his shot. But I’m still the starting running back. That’s my role.”
But for how long ?
“I know what (Sutton) brings to the table,” said Lions head coach Wally Buono. “He’s a guy who runs physical, runs hard. You saw last week Jeremiah did that and our running game was more productive.
“I’ve always said I like the backs to be more north and south.”
Which just happens to be Sutton’s MO. While the Lions have been satisfied with Johnson’s numbers, they haven’t been satisfied with the team’s conversion rate on second-and-short and Johnson’s work in pass protection.
Sutton should be an upgrade in both areas. With the weather about to turn, he also figures to get a long look as the primary ball carrier.
“We all bring something different to the table and what we were lacking is the will to run through some people,” Sutton said. “That’s my niche. It’s the time of year when people don’t want to get hit so much. Summertime ball is over. You’ve got to start running the ball.”
Now 31, getting the tough yards has been his forte throughout his career. While he battled injuries in his five-plus years with the Als, Sutton averaged 5.6 yards per carry and led the CFL with 1,059 rushing yards in 2015. Before that, he bounced from the Packers to Carolina, where he spent a season with the Panthers before landing in Seattle, where he was released in 2012.
Sutton, in fact, seemed destined for bigger things before he ran into a litany of injuries over his final three seasons at Northwestern.
As a freshman, he ran for 1,474 yards and was named the offensive freshman of the year by Saturday
B.C. Lions at Calgary Stampeders
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Sporting News. In high school, he was named Mr. Football in Ohio in his senior year at Archbishop Hoban in Akron, where the 9-1 Knights had their way with arch rivals St. Mary- St. Vincent.
“We beat them four times,” Sutton reports. “Make sure you put that in.”
Consider it done. But the high school rivalry was notable for other reasons. In Sutton’s early years at Hoban, St. Mary- St. Vincent featured a star receiver who you may have heard of: LeBron James.
James and Sutton were also teammates in peewee ball in Akron — James the quarterback, Sutton the running back — before the future hoops icon grew a couple of inches and moved to receiver in high school.
James ultimately chose basketball over football after his sophomore year. Two years later, he went from St. Mary- St. Vincent to the NBA where he was named the rookie of the year, but you’re invited to imagine the force of nature he must have been on the high-school gridiron.
“He knew his future was in basketball, but football was his first love,” said Sutton. “He could have been great at it.”
That’s OK. He’s done all right in that other thing.