Jackson in a rush to contribute after absence
Don Jackson has stayed patient, but it’s time.
The Calgary Stampeders rookie burst out of the gates this season and put up big numbers. For the first month of the season, Jackson was rolling, until a hamstring injury put his breakthrough on hold.
After more than a month on the sidelines, Jackson is pencilled in to start at running back Saturday against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (1:30 p.m., McMahon Stadium, TSN, News Talk 770).
After insisting earlier in the week that he hadn’t gotten frustrated during his time recuperating, Jackson said Friday he’s champing at the bit to get going.
“Really anxious, very anxious to where I’ve got to calm down,” Jackson said. “That’s where I’m at right now. Instead of like, firing bullets everywhere, I’m telling myself to slow down.”
Jackson was close to returning for last weekend’s game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders and took the majority of reps in practice this week, so it was no surprise to see him on the 46-man roster for Saturday’s game.
While both Romar Morris and Terry Williams have done relatively well at running back in Jackson’s absence, his early-season performances made it somewhat inevitable that he’d reclaim his starting job once he was healthy enough.
“I think our running backs have been working hard and doing a good job, but we think Don is kind of our lead horse and he’s good at a lot of things,” said Stamps head coach Dave Dickenson. “He’s not only a good runner, he’s probably our best at protections and a pretty solid receiver, so yeah, we think we’ll get a lot out of that position.”
Through five games this season, Jackson has rushed for 442 yards and two touchdowns on 68 carries, and has shown an impressive commitment to blocking.
With quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell getting sacked five times last week against the Roughriders, that’s a skill the Stamps could use.
“He’s got a different mindset,” Dickenson said. ‘He’s a very physical guy. He’s smaller, but he brings that edge and just a different personality than the other guys. I was pretty happy with Romar’s blocking and I think Terry did a good job.”
Jackson, by the way, will be going up against a Bombers team that’s allowing the third-most yards per carry, on average, of any team in the CFL this season, so there could be opportunities for him to have a big game. It’s an opportunity he’s been waiting for, even as he tried to keep some perspective during his injury layoff.
“I know we have a long season left,” Jackson said. “We’ve still got our goals, and we’re trying to make sure we get there. We’re trying to take it from good to great.”
SOMETHING GOING AROUND
The Stamps inserted Tre Roberson back into the starting lineup for Saturday’s game after missing the Riders’ game. His backup will be Tay Glover-Wright while Patrick Levels was placed on the onegame injured list.
“Pat was sick,” Dickenson said. “Something’s going through our team, obviously we’re trying to clean it up. Pat, we thought was just a stomach virus. He was pretty sick, so we felt it was best to keep him away from the guys.”
NO UPDATE
The Stampeders announced Thursday defensive co-ordinator DeVone Claybrooks will be away from the team to get some medical testing done, and there were no updates Friday.
Speaking after his team arrived in Calgary, Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea wished him well.
“I don’t know all the details on Clay, but hopefully he’s doing well,” O’Shea said. “You certainly don’t ever want to hear that. The coaching fraternity seems to be big, but it’s small when something like that happens.”
TUNDE BACK
After returning to the lineup last weekend, Stamps’ safety Tunde Adeleke is back in his starting role for Saturday’s game.
Adeleke missed eight weeks with an ankle injury, but the secondyear Ottawa native has proven he can have a serious impact on games when he’s on the field. In his absence, Adam Berger filled in well, so if there was a positive to Adeleke missing time it’s the Stamps now know they’ve got reliable Canadian depth at the safety position.
“I let the coaches kind of get the lineup they think is our best,” Dickenson said.