WISER WILLIS FEELS RUSH TO HELP LEOS
He’s always been an elite pass rusher, but the attitude wasn’t good. Odell insists he and his game have matured
Football men will tell you an elite pass rusher is harder to find than a black pearl, and while Odell Willis has been many things in his CFL life, he’s always been an elite pass rusher.
But for someone possessed with that rare and invaluable gift, Willis also spent the first part of his career bouncing from city to city like a bad cheque. Calgary one year. Two years in Winnipeg. A year in Saskatchewan, then off to Edmonton. He was a productive player in each of those stops, which made his constant movement something of a mystery.
He was also something else, which helps clear up that mystery.
“Early on I was an a--hole,” Willis says, employing a popular compound noun to do with buttocks. “I know that now.
“When people constantly say things about you, some of it has to be true. In order to grow up as a man, you have to look at yourself in the mirror and ask, ‘What can I do better?’ I feel like I became a better person and everything became better for me. It was part of me growing up and accepting my own mistakes without making excuses.”
So it would seem he’s matured. Ironically, the B.C. Lions are hoping he hasn’t matured that much.
The older — but not much older he’ll remind you — and wiser Willis was a crucial piece in GM Ed Hervey’s off-season rebuild of the Lions roster. With Gabe Knapton, who was acquired from Montreal in an earlier trade, the 33-year-old Willis was brought in to beef up a Lions pass rush that all but evaporated in the team’s 7-11 march to nowhere last season.
We’ll get to Knapton in a minute but, with Willis, the question concerns his age and how many RPMs are left in his motor. Last year, his fifth with the Eskimos, he recorded six sacks in his first seven games and finished the season with eight, leading some to conclude Willis had passed his best-before date.
You can guess what Hervey thinks of that conclusion.
“Anyone who’s trying to put out that Odell doesn’t have anything
left in the tank, that’s bull crap,” the Lions GM said. “If you go back and look at his film he was at the three-technique (the traditional defensive end position playing with his hand on the ground) and that will wear anybody out.
“We’re not going to ask him to play the three-technique. We’re going to ask him to rush the passer and rotate. He will be fresh for the entire season.”
Hervey has been a charter member of the Willis fan club for some time. Five years ago, in one of his first big moves as the newly minted GM of the Eskimos, Hervey signed Willis as a free agent after a down year in Saskatchewan.
Willis now says that season in Saskatchewan — which started with a DUI in his home state of Georgia and unravelled from there — was the low point in his career. But he turned his life and his career around in Edmonton and he credits Hervey for helping him find his way.
“(The Eskimos) were my fourth team and I was rebellious,” Willis says. “But the thing that got me was (Hervey’s) honesty.
“He’s going to be honest with you. You want to know why you aren’t playing, he’s going to be honest with you. You want to know anything he’s going to be honest with you. In this league, that’s all you want.”
Hervey said his message to his wayward rush end was simple enough.
“Tough love,” he says. “I asked him, ‘What do you want your legacy to be: a talented journeyman or a great player?’ It was a message he was ready to hear.”
To date, Willis has been one of the stars of training camp. He’s still a blur coming off the edge, and with Knapton, the Lions believe they’ve upgraded their pass rush while changing the locker-room culture.
Willis, who seems to be 33 going on 23, remains a fun-loving energy source who isn’t exactly lacking in confidence.
“I don’t put any limitations on myself,” he says.
“Why would you think the time is near? The best pass rushers in the league are in their 30s. I don’t need any motivation. As long as God wakes me up, I’m good to go.”
Knapton, meanwhile, is coming off a subpar season with the Alouettes in which he recorded three sacks in 17 games after averaging 10 per season over the previous three campaigns. One of Hervey’s first moves when he took over the Lions was to trade underachieving receiver Chris Williams for the Wyoming product.
“We’re looking to change the mentality of the locker-room to a blue-collar atmosphere,” Hervey said. “He’s a hard-working player who has a non-stop motor and he can play inside and out.”
Knapton just turned 29. Age isn’t an issue in this case. Location is.
“Sometimes a change is needed and it was in this case,” Knapton said. “I think this is my year to break out. It’s going to be a good year for me.”
OK, not quite as colourful as his colleague at the other end of the Lions’ D-line, but each brings something different to the party.
That might make this a good year for the Lions.