‘SCARY’ SPECIAL TEAMS ACE LOOKING TO DO GREAT THINGS
Bombers’ game-breaking return specialist could hold key to victory over Stampeders
Justin Medlock, a 36-year-old veteran kicker who has played nine CFL seasons, knows a thing or two about special teams.
So, when he says Winnipeg Blue Bombers kick returner Janarion Grant is the best special teams player in the league and can carry his team to the Grey Cup, you take notice.
Grant has been in the CFL for only 11 games, but he leads the league in punt return average (14.4 yards per attempt) and scored three touchdowns this season.
Two of those TDS came in the Bombers’ 26-24 win over the Calgary Stampeders on Aug. 8. He also returned a missed convert 122 yards to the Calgary end zone on Oct. 25 to give the Bombers two key points in a game they won 29-28.
Including the missed convert return, Grant accounted for 448 yards against the Stampeders in three games this season.
“Janarion is awesome,” Medlock said this week as the Bombers prepared for Sunday’s West semifinal in Calgary. “I’m a super big fan of his. He can change the game. He’s dominant and I think he’s the best special-teams player in this league.
“I think he can take us to the Grey Cup.”
Grant was signed by the Bombers on July 23 after a failed tryout with the Hamilton Tiger-cats. Last season, he made the NFL’S Baltimore Ravens out of training camp, but was cut after fumbling in both of the games he played. That Aug. 8 game against Calgary was his CFL debut and a star was instantly born.
“He’s a scary returner,” said Medlock, who compares Grant to his former Hamilton teammate, Brandon Banks, one of the CFL’S all-time great return men.
“I’m sure on that (Calgary) side, they’re probably thinking about him a lot. If you’re a coach, you probably don’t want him to dictate this game.”
Of course, that’s precisely what Grant wants to do. He’s the best returner the Bombers have had in ages and he’s the kind of game-breaker every team wants in the playoffs.
“I’m looking to take it back every time I touch the ball,” Grant said Friday after the Bombers held their final practice in preparation for Sunday’s game.
“Right now I need to improve more and do better. I don’t think I’m the best yet, but I’m working toward it.”
In early July, he was just working on finding a job.
The 25-year-old was back home in Florida and had no idea what he would be doing for the rest of the summer.
“I was looking to play football,” he said. “It’s in my heart. I was willing to go anywhere and play as long as I’m part of a team and I can help that team with the skill sets that I have.”
The next thing he knew, he was taking a phone call from Bombers coach Mike O’shea. The Bombers had lost punt returner Charles Nelson to a season-ending injury and needed someone of Grant’s talents.
“Coach (O’shea) called me and said they had been looking at me since my Rutgers days and he was excited to give me a chance to come (to Winnipeg),” Grant said. “I just said ‘Coach, I’m here and I’m ready.’ ”
Grant has been one of the most dangerous players in the CFL ever since. The Stampeders are all too familiar with him already and are preparing to do everything they can to neutralize his threat.
“I don’t know that it’s just against Calgary,” O’shea said. “He’s made some big plays in other games for us. It’s just that we’ve had Calgary three times since he’s been playing and maybe that’s part of it. He’s a terrific returner. He’s got great speed, he’s elusive.”
One thing Grant didn’t expect, especially after getting cut by the Tiger-cats, was to have so much success, so quickly, with the Bombers.
“Coming in, not knowing the game, getting familiar with it, adjusting to it, it was different and I didn’t know what to expect,” Grant said. “But I wanted to do great things.”
So far he has. Can he do it one more time on Sunday and help propel the Bombers into the Western Final?
“He’s been the difference in two games, so we’ll see if it plays out that way again,” O’shea said.
He can change the game. He’s dominant and I think he’s the best special teams player in this league. I think he can take us to the Grey Cup.