CFL ROUND-UP
SURREY, B.C. – Vernon Adams Jr. is clear about his and his team’s focus: the Grey Cup.
Adams signed a two-year extension with the B.C. Lions on Wednesday, affirming his status as the team’s top quarterback.
“It’s Grey Cup or bust. Everyone needs to be dialed in from day one. I’m saying this at training camp, 18 games, sacrifice what you need to sacrifice,” he said at a media availability Thursday.
“We’re tired of getting stopped (in the Western final). We know it’s time.”
After dispatching Calgary 41-30 in the West semifinal, the Lions’ 2023 season ended with a 24-13 loss to Winnipeg in the conference final.
It’s the second season in a row that B.C. has fallen to Winnipeg one game short of the Grey Cup.
Adams, 31, was slated to become a free agent following the 2024 campaign.
The five-foot-11, 200-pound Adams completed 333-of-488 passes (68.2 per cent) for a CFL-best 4,769 yards and 31 touchdowns (second only to Winnipeg’s Zach Collaros, who had 33). He won 11-of-16 starts in guiding B.C. (12-6) to second in the West Division behind the Blue Bombers (14-4).
Adams admitted he took a pay cut to stay with the Lions, but said he did so with a purpose.
“I knew for us to get the players: (Alexander) Hollins, (Keon) Hatcher, (Jevon) Cottoy, Sione (Teuhema) … all these guys, you know, I knew I had to take less, I couldn’t be in the top three,” he said.
EDMONTON – It certainly would be fitting if Javon Leake broke the CFL single-season record for punt-return touchdowns in 2024.
The CFL’s top special-teams player last season signed a one-year deal with the Edmonton Elks as a free agent. Leake registered a league-best four punt-return scores in 2023, one off the record set in 1991 by former Edmonton standout Henry (Gizmo) Williams and tied in 2012 by Hamilton’s Chris Williams.
“Come on, it doesn’t sound any better than that,” Leake said during a telephone interview. “To do it in an Edmonton jersey where (Williams) played, that would be perfect.
“I feel like I missed a couple of returns last year. I just have to get better, learn my new team, develop chemistry with them and I feel I can do some special things.”
Leake, 25, is definitely aware of Williams’ place in CFL history. The Hall of Famer was a special-teams dynamo over his 14 seasons in Edmonton (1986-88, 1990-2000) and still holds many league records, including all-time punt returns (1,003), yards (11,257), TDs (26), all-time kickoff returns (335) and yards (7,354).
Williams also returned three kickoffs and two missed field goals for touchdowns and had 21 TD grabs as a receiver. After scoring, Williams often celebrate by doing backflips in the end zone.
“Excitement,” Leake said. “When I hear, ‘Gizmo,’ I hear people in a stadium yelling and an announcer after a touchdown screaming ‘Gizmo.'”
The six-foot, 205-pound Leake generated his own excitement last season with the Toronto Argonauts. Leake led the league in punt returns (81 for 1,216 yards, 15-yard average) and the four return TDs were a club record.
Leake broke Toronto’s record in dramatic fashion. His 86-yard, fourth-quarter punt return broke a 31-31 tie and led the Argos past Calgary 39-31 at BMO Field on Aug. 25.
Over Toronto’s remaining nine regular-season contests, Leake came close to joining the Williams but could not reach the end zone for a fifth time.
“That fifth one was hard to get, I’m not going to lie,” Leake said with a chuckle. “All I’m working on this off-season is picking up my knees.
“I did think about it (record-tying return) and my teammates were always talking about it so it was definitely in the air every game.”
(CP)
