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Will the next BC Lions Safety please stand up?

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Two seasons ago the BC Lions began to overhaul their secondary. It started with Kory Banks being traded to Winnipeg. At the end of 2014, Dante Marsh was told he wouldn’t be back. As we told you a couple of weeks ago, Ryan Phillips is the last man standing of a group that gave CFL quarterbacks and receivers fits for years.

Chris Rwabukamba - JASON FRANSON, THE CANADIAN PRESSChris Rwabukamba – JASON FRANSON, THE CANADIAN PRESS

But for the last few seasons, and really since the retirement of Barron Miles, the Lions have been looking to upgrade at the safety position. The Lions didn’t offer a contract to J.R. LaRose and they signed Chris Rwabukamba as a free agent in the off-season. Injuries derailed the development of 2012 draft pick Matt McGarva and the Lions cut him loose last week.

The club made an honest effort to secure DB Garrett Waggoner in Wednesday’s supplemental draft, offering up their first round pick in 2016, but Winnipeg swooped in with the same offer and won his services based on the fact they finished worse than the Lions in 2014. Waggoner had previously been on the Lions negotiation list.

The Lions likely would have loved to get their hands on Wilfred Laurier’s Chris Ackie in the draft but that was thwarted by Jim Popp and the Montreal Alouettes who took the talented DB one spot ahead of the Lions in the first round.

Ideally the Lions would love to start a Canadian at safety, so for now the position is Rwabukamba’s to lose. If he does impress enough to start there, BC will need to have a backup national behind him, or at least one that can slide into the secondary if you need to move someone else over and not affect the ratio in other areas.

2014 draft pick Josh Brinkworth could be that player. The DB from Pacific, who the Lions selected in the sixth round, played mostly safety in college and was likely one of the reasons that the club cut ties with McGarva. Brinkworth signed a two year deal with the Lions on Wednesday and will be thrown into the fire when rookie camp begins on May 28th in Kamloops.

Another option could be third year Lion Keynan Parker, son of former Lions great James “Quick” Parker. In fact Parker is the only player on the Lions roster that they list as a safety if you believe in foreshadowing at all.

If the Rwabukamba audition fails the Lions could opt to start an international in that spot, which would in turn affect other things they would like to do with the ratio.

Overall, the Lions have done a nice job finding players to restock the secondary. Cord Parks and Ronnie Yell have become mainstays, while T.J. Lee, Josh Johnson and Torri Williams will look to break into starting roles. There is also Derrick Morgan and Jerimiah Johnson  who were signed at a free agent camp in Washington D.C., Steven Clarke (2014 free agent signing) and the veteran savvy of Phillips is there to keep it all together as the leader of the group. Another signing or two could be announced within the next few days, a result of the Lions final free agent camp in Seattle last weekend.

While their search for a safety hasn’t yet ended, the Lions at least appear to have some options to look at in Kamloops. Here’s hoping they find one that will be a solution for years to come.

Defensive Backs currently on the Lions roster:

6 Lee, T.J. DB International 5.09 190 1990-03-20 Eastern Washington
9 Rwabukamba, Chris DB National 5.11 192 1987-01-05 Duke
13 Williams, Torri DB International 6.02 208 1986-08-29 Purdue
20 Parker, Keynan S National 6.00 183 1989-11-17 Simon Fraser
21 Phillips, Ryan DB International 5.10 195 1982-11-15 Eastern Washington
23 Johnson, Josh DB International 5.10 200 1989-09-10 Purdue
25 Yell, Ronnie DB International 5.10 185 1991-04-15 San Jose State
26 Parks, Cord CB International 5.11 180 1986-11-12 Northeastern
28 Brinkworth, Josh DB National 6.01 205 1993-01-18 Pacific
29 Clarke, Steven DB International 5.10 195 1991-04-19 Vanderbilt
34 Johnson, Jeremiah DB International 5.11 195 1992-08-25 Maryland
37 Morgan, Derrick DB International 5.11 210 1990-03-05 Stony Brook

 

Miles To Go…Barron Miles Retires To Begin Coaching

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Barron Miles
Barron Miles

There are some athletes in sports that are just special. Monday, the BC Lions announced the retirement of one of those athletes, as Barron Miles announced his retirement from the Canadian Football League after 12 seasons, defining himself as one of the greatest defensive backs to play the game while at the same time being a great member of the community.

Miles spent 5 of his 12 seasons in the CFL, joining the Lions after 7 years with the Montreal Alouettes. In the 189 games Miles played in the league (88 as a Lion) he recorded 505 tackles, 66 interceptions. He holds the CFL record for blocked kicks, and was a divisional all-star nine times, and a CFL all-star 6 times, including his final season. Just to go out in style Miles also led the league in interceptions last year, the third time he can stake claim to that title.

So why hang them up? Miles is 38 and at this point in his career wants to take advantage of a chance to learn a new craft in the game. With his smarts and experience he has the makings of a great coach, and it’s great to see the Lions accommodating him in that regard. Miles will join former teammate Mark Washington as defensive backs coach and will also do scouting for the team.

From BCLions.com

“I am very pleased to have Barron join the Lions coaching staff for the 2010 season as well as adding his talents to our scouting department,” said Lions GM and head coach Wally Buono. “As one of the finest defensive backs to ever play in this league, Barron’s career speaks for itself and I look forward to adding his leadership to our staff in 2010”

Like his performance on the field, Miles presence in the community is also of all-star quality. He’s been a recipient of the CFL’s Tom Pate award, given to the player who displays qualities that distinguish him from his peers. The recipient embodies the qualities of Pate, including outstanding sportsmanship, as well as charity work. Having attended training camps and practices, as well as some football camps, watching Miles work with kids shows you quality of the man.

There is no doubt that in time Barron Miles will be inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, and hopefully he’ll be honoured by the Lions in some capacity as well.

Listen: Barron Miles talks to the TEAM 1040’s David Pratt and Don Taylor on his retirement.

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Down By Contact: Stamps 27 Lions 18

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Well, anyone who thinks the Lions get special favours from the officials in the league can look at Friday’s game against the Calgary Stampeders to see that just isn’t the case.

As is so often the case in sports, you get breaks and you have them go against you as well. On Friday night a critical 3rd quarter play that went against the Lions changed the course of the game, and set the Stampeders up for a 27-18 victory at McMahon Stadium in Calgary.

With the score tied at 17-17 the Stamps had the ball and quarterback Henry Burris launched a pass that was “caught” by Nik Lewis. The ball popped out when Lewis made contact with ground. CFL rules say the receiver must survive contact with the ground for a pass to be complete. The ball popped out on contact with the ground and was snatched out of the air by Barron Miles and the ruling on the field was an interception. The Stamps challenged the play and the league officials ruled Lewis made the catch and was down by contact. The Stamps scored the go ahead touchdown on the following play and the Lions never recovered.

Bad penalties, missed receivers, and continually finding themselves in 2nd and long did the Lions in in the second half, wasting what was looking to be their best effort of the season.

Both Martell Mallett and Joffrey Reynolds had big nights on the ground, but it was the Stamps defense that buckled down in the second half. A 4th quarter Buck Pierce interception pretty much sealed the deal.

Reynolds finished the night with 157 yards rushing, once again exposing the Lions weak run stopping defense, which has been an issue all season. The Lions special teams also failed them once again. After opening the scoring on an impressive drive early in the second quarter on a Martell Mallett 25 yard touchdown run the Lions surrendered a 75 yard return on the kickoff, transferring whatever momentum they had built up back to the Stamps, who would score four plays later on a seven yard Henry Burris run.

“Demetris Summers’ kickoff return gave us some momentum,” Stampeders coach John Hufnagel said. “We scored some points on that. Then when B.C. scored we were able to answer. Every time they scored, we answered.”

Buck Pierce had a decent night for the Lions, but the crucial interception in the fourth sealed the Lions fate. Then with the Lions driving and needing four yards to keep the drive alive late in the game, Pierce through a ball in the dirt to Martell Mallett with Paris Jackson wide open on a deeper route.

The loss dropped the Lions to 5-7 on the season, and any hopes of challenging for the division are starting to fade. They’ll need help from other teams for that to happen, and they’ll have to help themselves starting next week when the Saskatchewan Roughriders pay a visit to BC Place. The Lions are looking more and more like they’ll be slotting into a cross over spot in the east if they hope to get to Calgary in November.

Quick hits:

  • Martell Mallett: 15 carries, 136 yards and 1 TD
  • Buck Pierce: 17 for 27 236 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT.
  • The Stampeders honoured Wally Buono before the game.
  • Nose Tackle Steve Williams made his Lions debut and was quickly dubbed “Little T” by those of us watching the game, because of his last name and his resemblance of former Lions great Tyrone Williams.

Down, Set, Hut!

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When former BC Lions star Bobby Singh was a young man starting on his way to a professional football career, he dreamed of creating a football camp for kids one day. That dream came true for Singh on May 30th when he hosted the first annual Down Set Hut Football Camp for kids in his home town of Richmond, BC. With perfect weather and a bunch of his CFL friends joining him, Singh provided a great day of football fun for over 100 kids ages 7-15.

In addition to Bobby, the camp featured current BC Lions Geroy Simon, Javier Glatt, Barron Miles, Dean Valli, Paul McCallum, Angus Reid, Sherko Haji-Rasouli and rookie Justin Sorensen. They were joined by Will Loftus of the Montreal Alouettes and Marc Beswick of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and a host of junior players and coaches.

Geroy Simon puts a young receiver through his paces.
Geroy Simon puts a young receiver through his paces.

The kids were split up into groups and spent 18 minutes at various stations designed to teach them the different aspects of the game, everything from receiving, defending, tackling, kicking and offensive line play. Each station had designated coaches giving the kids tips and encouragement. The kids also received t-shirts, prizes and talks from the CFL players and at the end of the day they got to a play a touch football game with them as well.

Singh not only plans to make the camp an annual event, his plan is to make it bigger and better, and spread it around the province as well, telling BCLionsDen.ca that next year his goal is to do a camp in the lower mainland, one on Vancouver Island, and one in the Okanagan. Singh also sponsored 20 or so kids out of his own pocket from the Boy and Girls Clubs of Vancouver.

One of the things the late Bob Ackles wanted to improve on upon his return to the Lions was building football at the grassroots level, and camps like this certainly contribute to building that foundation. CFL players are so outstanding interacting with the fans and it’s great to see a player of Bobby Singh’s stature give back to the community by introducing these kids to the game of football.

If you would like more information on Bobby Singh’s camp make sure you visit the website at http://www.downsethutfootball.com

Down Set Hut 2009 Photo Gallery:

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