Coach Wally Buono had to be thanking himself for the off-season work he did as general manager when the B.C. Lions began a short practice week in preparation for Thursday’s CFL game at B.C. Place Stadium against the Toronto Argonauts.
B.C. could be without two starters, tailback Jeremiah Johnson and defensive tackle Mich’ael Brooks, each of whom made significant contributions in the Lions’ 28-3 pounding of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats but also suffered grade one ankle sprains and watched practice Monday.
However, the replacements lined up at practice only served to illustrate the work Buono did during the off-season when he made no fewer than nine signings of players with prior three-down experience.
Tailback Anthony Allen took Johnson’s reps with the starters, along with Canadian Shaquille Murray-Lawrence, at practice. The replacement for Brooks? None other than another former divisional allstar, Bryant Turner.
Buono said his off-season work was as much about a greater crop of available free agents last winter but isn’t regretting the moves he made either.
“Depth is always critical and when we looked at building our roster the veteran status played prominence. We didn’t want to go backwards,” Buono said.
Of the two, there’s a better chance that Brooks might still play Thursday, as Johnson was still operating with a slight limp after being dragged down by his left ankle in the second half Friday.
But having Allen as his replacement also validated the Lions’ decision not to re-sign Canadian tailback Andrew Harris. Buono signed Johnson and Allen within a day of each other, then made the decision to keep one ready on the one-game injured list.
“It’s hard to get two Andrew Harrises on one team,” said Buono. “Backs seldom make it through 18 games. If you have an injury you don’t have to revamp the whole playbook.”
It also helps to have two players who understand that one of them might not always play. For Allen, it helped having spent two seasons with the Saskatchewan Roughriders where he platooned on and off the roster, not to mention games, with Jerome Messam.
“There’s a few things I learned last year where I was sitting and getting complacent. They put you in games and you’re not ready,” said Allen, who was on pace for 1,000 rushing yards in 2014 during his first season with the Riders had they not waffled on making a choice at tailback.
“I felt for (Johnson), but I started getting a little excited when I saw I might be in there. I definitely bought water right away to start getting hydrated.” At 2-0, there’s a bit of excitement building around his new team well.
LIONS TALES: B.C. filled the final open spot on its practice roster Monday by signing import linebacker Cameron Ontko, cut by Calgary after training camp, in what became an exchange of players. Ontko took the Lions practice jersey formerly belonging to Zach Minter, who signed Monday in Calgary. Other ex-Lions on the move Monday: Former free agent LB Alex Hoffman-Ellis was traded without playing a regular season game by Hamilton to Edmonton while OL T-Dre Player, who was previously offered a practice roster spot by the Lions, took one instead in Winnipeg.
