Defenders get short end of stick in tackling 5- foot- 6 Sanders
Charleston Hughes can empathize with Winnipeg Blue Bomber defenders embarrassed by the game film of Saturday’s 23- 20 exhibition loss in Calgary.
For Hughes, in all his dominance, knows what it’s like to lay his meaty paws on one Jock Sanders, only to have the diminutive back bat him aside like an annoying mosquito.
“With him being so small and tiny, you would think it’s easy to bring him down,” says Hughes, the Calgary Stampeders defensive end and CFL sack leader in 2013. “He’s tough, man. He’s a competitor. I’ll say that for sure. He’s one of those guys. It’s just so tough to bring him down.”
Thankfully, for Hughes, Sanders now plays for the Calgary Stampeders, the same team he exploited on the ground in last November’s 35- 13 Saskatchewan victory in the Western Final.
In a brief appearance Saturday, Sanders slipped off would- be tacklers like his jersey was coated in Vaseline — toting the ball five times for 51 yards and a touchdown on his 26th birthday.
He might not look imposing. He might look like an easy mark. But CFL defenders best take heed of the five- foot- six, 191- pounder.
“I was always the smallest on the field, which I pretty much am now,” says Sanders, not offended in the slightest when it comes to talking about his height. “I guess just with me being small, a lot of guys think it’s probably going to be easy tackling me. But I just continue keeping my legs moving. That’s the key to it. Just keep your legs moving.
“I have the heart of the lion, just determination to continue to move forward no matter what anybody says. That’s what I’ve been living with, and living by my whole life.”
Sanders says he comes by his perseverance honestly as the son of a single mother in St. Petersburg, Fla. To make ends meet and raise her two children, Latonya Sanders toiled long hours to pay bills.
“She worked overtime just tirelessly,” Sanders says. “She would work at hotels overnight and stuff. And at the end of the day, it paid off.”
Signalling change in the works, the Stamps dealt kick returner Larry Taylor to Montreal this winter for two draft pick upgrades. Subsequently, they signed Sanders as a free agent, citing his ability at running back — in addition to his body of work on returns — for the change in personnel.
At first, outsiders rolled their eyes at Sanders for signing in Calgary. After, all, tailback Jon Cornish is the reigning CFL rushing champion and league’s most outstanding player. To boot, he’s Canadian and a ratio changer, where as Sanders is an import. Regardless of the doubters, don’t underestimate the magnitude of the Sanders signing to Calgary’s Grey Cup hopes in 2014.
These are early days, but the Stamps like how things are working thus far.
“He played really well, but that’s why we went after him in the free- agent market,” says head coach/ general manager John Hufnagel.
“We knew he is a dynamic player, both as a returner and as a running back. He runs the ball extremely hard. A tough guy to bring down. He makes people miss.
“So he did have a good initial outing as a Stampeder.”
Hughes, for one, is simply grateful for no longer having to tackle the tiny back outside of practice.
“He’s an intelligent runner,” Hughes says. “He knows where to find the holes, when to hit the holes. He thinks with his head when he runs.
“Man, when you’re that small, and it’s hard to bring you down, your centre of gravity is low. So he’s pretty good.”