As we approach the half way mark of the 2022 CFL season, R-Nation, and all CFL fans can look at the Ottawa Redblacks at 1-8 and count them out for any chance at the Grey Cup. For a third season in a row, the Redblacks have struggled on so many levels, and it’s been tough for the fans to pick out positives, especially this season. After bringing in what looked to be a championship caliber roster in the off-season, and getting the fans to buy in to the team’s “Flip The Script” motto, this 2022 CFL season has been disappointing in the nation’s capital. Redblacks owner Mark Goudie worded it perfectly Saturday morning on Twitter stating, “there are no excuses.” among other things said, and he is absolutely right. At this point in the season, it is extremely hard to turn things around. Sure, if the Redblacks do somehow go 9-0 to close out the season they would finish 10-8 and likely find themselves on the top of the east division, but in reality, the Redblacks just need a strong finish to the season, and to show glimpses of what could come next season to keep fans coming to TD Place.
If that is the goal, to keep fans coming to TD Place, and to finish the season strong, well, they are on to a good start.
Just prior to the Redblacks taking on the Elks on Friday, a phone call between general manager Shawn Burke in Ottawa and DeVonte Dedmon in Miami made things official that Dedmon would return to the nation’s capital after his time spent with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.
Sure, he may not be coming in to a great situation in Ottawa, but Dedmon has proven to make things better in Ottawa before, and is expected to do so once again.
In 2021, winning the CFL’s Most Outstanding Special Teams player award and the Redblacks’ MOP nomination, DeVonte “Smoke” Dedmon had a grand total 2,234 all-purpose yards and 4 touchdowns on just 122 touches. Every time he touched the ball there was the threat that he could score. Averaging 18.3 yards per touch, the Redblacks were practically guaranteed good field position, and/or a first down when he had the ball in his hands, and while they struggle to move the ball in 2022 the NFL talent is bound to make an instant impact on this Redblacks team, and not only is he ready to make that impact, but he’s ready to prove himself once again.
Dedmon is in the best shape he has ever been, coming out of NFL training camp, he is the best football player he has ever been right now, and he is motivated.
He is motivated to show the Miami Dolphins, and the other 31 NFL teams the kind of player he is, so at just 26 years old he could get a fair opportunity to play in the NFL once again.
Tune in to the DeVonte Dedmon show at TD Place as he starts practising with the team this Tuesday at TD Place from 11:15 to 1:15. All fans are welcome to watch the practice and show support for Dedmon as he comes back home.
On Friday the CFL’s Ottawa Redblacks, coming off of a bye week, will be playing against the Edmonton Elks at TD Place in Ottawa.
At 1-7 there are many around the CFL that have their doubts about the Redblacks, but with 10 games left on the season, there is plenty of time to “flip the script” and prove people wrong about the Redblacks. The players are still very bought into the organization, and there is still a lot of potential in Ottawa with who is in the locker room at TD Place this season, some could say all it needs is a spark.
This Friday’s game against the Elks could very well see that much needed spark for the Ottawa Redblacks, and don’t be surprised if it comes from the backfield from running back Devonte Williams.
When asked about the mindset heading into this week’s game, Williams told JZ Media’s Jordan Zlomislic, “its the same mindset week in, week out, get the win. We need to win, right now more than ever. It’s a win or go home kind of thing, I think it is almost like a playoff type of mindset we have to get to where we want to be this season.”
Williams got some action on the Redblacks offence earlier this season, and showed some flashes of what he’s capable of at the running back position, and really displayed to the world why his nickname is “the matrix”. In those two starts he had a total 118 rushing yards, 85 of which coming in the Redblacks home opener, where he averaged 7.1 yards a carry.
This season, the Redblacks have struggled with a lot offensively. It isn’t the way that you would have liked to see a change on offence, with veteran running back William Powell being placed on the injured list, however Devonte Williams could very well be a piece to this Redblacks offence that is needed, and he is “excited” for the opportunity. He said, “I’m just ready for the opportunity to keep doing what I love to do; play ball.”
If Williams does go on to have a big game this Friday against the Elks, you may be able to credit some of that to St. Petersburg, Florida artist Rod Wave and his new album which released last week. Williams says, “thats all I’m listening to right now, and it’s all that will be in my ears on game-day.” Or perhaps credit it to his relaxing bye week last week with his family, which included a fishing trip, catching close to 30 fish total as a family, 8 to 10 of which coming from Devonte (according to him at least…).
“It’s gonna be a show.” Williams stated while talking about this week’s game against the Elks. Tune in either in person at TD Place or on TV via TSN or ESPN, and be able to watch the show yourself.
Based out of Ottawa, Canada, and ran by 17 year old Jordan Zlomislic, JZ Media has been a growing platform in the sports world. Known to be “A Media Source For The Athlete” Zlomislic has done everything from simple photoshoots, and short articles to sit down podcasts and documentaries with a number of athletes, taking multiple forms of media and making it his own, with his own intentions of helping athletes through the content created.
The vast majority of the content created by Zlomislic, for both JZ Media and the athletes he works with goes on to be posted onto a number of different platforms. Instagram is a popular place to find a lot of JZ Media content, as are the jzmedia.ca website, YouTube, Twitter, and Tik Tok, but one struggle that Zlomislic has faced as a content creator as well as somebody that works with athletes would be, not having a central platform to post everything.
That struggle ends now, and so does a lot of other small struggles faced in the media side of sports, not only for content creators like Zlomislic, but most importantly for athletes as well.
JZ Media has recently begun working alongside a newly formed platform called Fanview based out of California which can very well save a lot of problems from the media side of sports, but also help athletes, and creators create names and personal brands for themselves. Fanview is a social media platform and tech startup designed specifically for sports and entertainment where athletes and entertainers are able to not only create a public profile for themselves with photos, videos and so much more but also create a potential form of income as well through exclusive content, merchandise, in-person events and more.
Platforms like Fanview, and media sources like JZ Media have been seen before. It’s not like anybody hasn’t seen a social media platform or a documentary before, and both Chris Bailey, the founder of Fanview and JZ Media’s Jordan Zlomislic are well aware of that, however they are also very well aware that nobody has seen a platform do what both of them do, the way they do it and with the intentions behind what they do.
A partnership between Fanview and JZ Media only makes the most sense because of the way that Zlomislic is able to utilize Fanview for his personal use, but also the connection made between the two intenties. Fanview is a platform designed to help athletes and entertainers with content, while Zlomislic is a content creator, who creates JZ Media content for athletes, and most importantly, content that helps athletes.
The willingness to help athletes from both sides of this partnership is fantastic, and that is exactly why it could very well be the start of something special in the sports and entertainment world. In today’s sports world, it can make waves not only for the professional athletes that are already in the spotlight but with NCAA’s new Name, Image and Likeness regulations, Fanview and JZ Media are ready to work with collegiate and high school athletes as well.
When talking about the partnership, where JZ Media is able to cover stories through Fanview, Fanview’s founder and CEO Chris Bailey said, “working with JZ Media is amazing.” and continued, “it has been fantastic so far (to be working with JZ Media), I think the first time (Jordan and I) talked, (Jordan) got Fanview up and down, left and right immediately and not only thought Fanview was was great but immediately saw a connection with what he is doing with JZ Media and we started talking about how we can fit together, it really made me excited.”
About more of the partnership, Bailey included, “this can be an exciting partnership long term.” explaining, “I love (Jordan’s) ideas and (he’s) always bringing up a lot of great ideas to the table that are extrmely fantastic, and doable, and I really appreciate that. I want to continue to work with JZ Media where (Jordan) is able to tell athletes stories on Fanview and help athletes brand themselves on the Fanview platform. Ultimately that is all athletes want to do, and both Fanview and JZ Media empower that in sports, and can become an industry standard to help athletes from the media side of sports, in a way that hasn’t really been seen before.”
This JZ Media and Fanview partnership begins as something special, something interesting, and something new.
It is something that will grow over time, and that time starts now.
As of recently, many football minds and people around the game of football have noticed that the word “Canadian” has become more popular in their vocabulary than ever before.
In the past, Canadians were known to take over the game of hockey. Outside of hockey, many questioned the Canadians athletically. There weren’t many Canadian athletes dominating other sports, and more specifically there were next to zero Canadians dominating the game of football.
The CFL has always been filled with Canadians, the developmental leagues in Canada have always talent, and every now and then odd Canadian would find his way across the border, but until the 1990s, there weren’t many superstar Canadian football players that could make a global impact like we are seeing today.
We are midway through the 2022 CFL season and all of Canada is talking about B.C Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke who may arguably be the best Canadian quarterback we have ever seen step on a football field. With all of the traits you want in a quarterback, from the arm, to the decision making, to even the legs to make a break for a long run, Rourke, who grew up in Oakville, Ontario is tearing up the CFL. 7 games into the season, two less than a number of other players in the league, Rourke leads the CFL in passing yards and touchdowns and has an unbelievable 81.3% completion percentage on 230 attempts while rushing for an additional 233 yards and 5 scores which also just so happens to be the second most rushing touchdowns in the CFL.
Rourke is getting a lot of love across the CFL, and really across the football world right now because of how well he has played in his first season as a starting quarterback and at just 24 years old it wouldn’t be a surprise if the NFL calls his name after this 2022 CFL season with the B.C Lions.
(Photo by Jeff Vinnick/BC Lions)
Also having success in the CFL would include veteran Canadian running back Andrew Harris who has proven himself to be one of the best running backs in CFL history, just recently putting his name into the record books as a 10,000 yard rusher and moving up to 4th all-time in yards from scrimmage in the CFL. Harris’ former teammate Brady Olivera from Winnipeg is also having a good season for himself as he and the Blue Bombers continue their undefeated streak of games. Olivera has gained a total 592 yards on 121 offensive touches thus far this season, and with a 9-0 record, it looks like he will be getting a lot more touches moving forward.
A few other Canadian talents getting offensive touches across the CFL and making names for themselves would include Kurleigh Gittens Jr, a Guyana-born, Ottawa-raised receiver for the Toronto Argonauts, Kian Schaffer-Baker, Nate Behar and Jevon Cottoy.
With so many more Canadians showing out for themselves in the CFL, including players like Mathieu Betts and Marc-Antoine Dequoy on the defensive side of the ball, it is proven that the CFL is getting filled with more Canadian talent, but so has the NFL, and that is what is getting the attention of the world.
Heading into the 2022 NFL pre-season there are over 30 Canadians ready to hit the field which is an all-time high in the NFL.
The list includes NFL stars Chase Claypool of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Jevon Holland for the Miami Dolphins, Neville Gallimore of the Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Chargers’ Joshua Palmer and David Onyemata for the New Orleans Saints who are in for a big season in 2022.
Other names like Chuba Hubbard, Benjamin St Juste, Tevaughn Campbell, Brent Urban and Dakoda Shepley have also gathered attention across the NFL, but it shouldn’t be a surprise if the newly signed Canadians are the ones gathering all of the attention this NFL season.
Drafted in this year’s NFL Draft was Ottawa’s Very Own, Jesse Luketa, a linebacker/edge rusher out of Penn State to the Arizona Cardinals, and defensive back Deane Leonard to the Los Angeles Chargers out of Ole Miss. (John Metchie who was drafted to the Houston Texans as well is to miss the 2022 NFL season as he was recently diagnosed with Leukaemia.)
Luketa is a player to watch in the NFL from Ottawa.
Sure, you’ve already got a list of players to watch from Jevon Holland all the way down to Joshua Palmer, and even Chuba Hubbard, but after seeing what Luketa was able to do against some of the best players in the 2022 NFL Draft at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, it only excites me to know what could be possible in the NFL. In the four seasons played at Penn State he played a total 38 career games, capping his career off with 61 tackles, 8 tackles for loss, a sack and a pick six as a senior. He is a complete linebacker. With the ability to not only read plays and stop the run like a traditional linebacker, but also with the ability to go into coverage, and even play on the line and go after the quarterback.
Coming out of Penn State, Luketa isn’t expected to have a large role right away with the Cardinals, but with his versatility and a good start to training camp he should definitely make his presence felt in the NFL for the Cardinals.
A player that has trained with Luketa before, and has dreams of maybe being a teammate of Luketa’s in the future in the NFL should also be watched by many this fall. That would be Boston College linebacker and edge rusher Edwin Tara Kolenge from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Tara Kolenge is a true freshman for the Eagles, going into what could very well be a big freshman campaign as a 4-star linebacker, and a top recruit for the Eagles from the 2022 class, and Kolenge is a perfect example for the Canadian talent around the NCAA, and more specifically the power five conferences.
Some players that are in for big seasons this fall, that may find themselves in professional camps around this time next year would include Ole Miss’ Tavius Robinson, Geoff Cantin-Arku from Memphis, Boise State edge rusher Isaiah Bagnah, Penn State’s Jonathan Sutherland, Illinois’ Chase and Sydney Brown, Pittsburgh’s Jared Wayne, D.K Bonhomme out of South Alabama, and TCU’s Lwal Uguak, all big time players at big time schools, ready to take on the next level in the NFL, and/or CFL.
There is also Akeem Mesidor at Miami, Wesley Bailey and Rene Konga at Rutgers, Nick Mardner at Cincinnati, Ajou Ajou at USF, Brandon Barrow at Stanford, Malick Meiga and Christian Veilleux at Penn State and so many more players set to have a big year from Canada in the NCAA, and there is so many more players on the rise to get there for the future as well.
The future is extremely bright for Canadian football, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Canada truly becomes a football country. Especially with players like 15 year old Floyd Boucard from Montreal on the come up.
The Ottawa Redblacks are 6-31 since the 2018 Grey Cup.
In the 2018 Grey Cup against the Calgary Stampeders it was Trevor Harris under centre for the Ottawa Redblacks.
On Thursday, while on their way to flip their 2022 CFL season, the Ottawa Redblacks get the opportunity to play against Trevor Harris and the Montreal Alouettes.
Under centre for the Ottawa Redblacks will be 24 year old Caleb Evans in place of the injured Jeremiah Masoli, and making his first start of the season, Evans has the trust of his players, including defensive back Sherrod Baltimore who said the following about the Redblacks position right now in the 2022 CFL season: “Our record stinks but but we don’t see that every day. We come to practice every day, we compete every day, and we stay focused. I feel if we keep competing and do a little more we will get the outcome we want. Its still early, I’m not going to say its too early because we want to win, and its sucked to keep losing and we’re going to do what we can to win. We’re going to keep getting better, and gonna get better every week.”
Sherrod Baltimore was also a part of that 2018 Ottawa Redblacks team with Trevor Harris, and actually had an interception to his name that game, something you may see once again on Thursday night against Harris and the Alouettes.
As for Thursday’s game against the Alouettes, in his interview with Jordan Zlomislic, Baltimore explained, “You can expect me to show out and play hard.” and requested something from R-Nation, “I’m going to need the fans behind me, behind us, I need everyone to come out to TD Place and be loud and just be crazy and we’re going to get that win for R-Nation.”
Lined up at cornerback as well, with Sherrod Baltimore, on the other side of the field this week is Hakeem Bailey.
Bailey has been in the lineup for the past two games and has made some big plays for the Redblacks defence already. He was a part of a couple of plays against the Roughriders in Saskatchewan for his CFL debut, but really made a splash last week in Hamilton, having made 5 tackles and what looked to be a game sealing interception.
After being away from the game of football, having not played a game of football since his time at West Virginia the Georgia native was thankful for the opportunity he got in the nation’s capital and is running with it. He explains it as, “the process of staying down and coming up.” saying, “when an opportunity comes you have to take full advantage of it and I was just blessed to go out there and make those plays again, make plays for my team and I’m excited to build off of that going into this weeks game.”
Hakeem Bailey making his presence known for the REDBLACKS 👀 #CFLGameday
As mentioned previously, this week’s game for the Redblacks comes this Thursday against the Montreal Alouettes at TD Place. During the pre-season, in his only pre-season game, Hakeem Bailey played against the Montreal Alouettes and proved himself to the Redblacks as a ball hawk, having made two interceptions in the game. With him going up against the same team that he’s already had success going up against, Redblacks fans should be excited to watch Bailey perform Thursday night, really, they should be as excited as he is to be in front of the Redblacks fans.
Thursday will mark his first home game with the Redblacks and he is excited. Excited might be an understatement. “I’m going to have one of the best games of my life this week.” he told JZ Media’s Jordan Zlomislic, “just because I’ll have our fans behind us. It’s my first game playing at home, I know they are loud after watching the first couple games from the sideline, and it’ll be good to hear them cheer me on because right now I’ve heard boos when I make a play on the road, it will be good to have the fans cheer us on it’s going to add to the excitement and I can’t wait to make plays for them.”
The Redblacks and Alouettes will kick off at 7:00 on Thursday, be sure to tune in or be at TD Place to watch Baltimore and Bailey take on Trevor Harris and his Alouettes teammates.
A name that resonates with many across the football world. A name known internationally, and a name with a very special story behind it.
The story of Delvin Breaux has been told by many to many over the years, but nobody tells his story better than himself.
On December 9th 2020 Breaux told his story his own way and wrote the book, “Un-Breaux-Ken”. The book tells the story of the New Orleans, Louisiana native that didn’t give up on his dream of playing in the NFL, even after a fractured C4, C5 and C6 vertebrae in a high school football game in 2006. The book tells the story of a football player who today can be looked at as a future CFL hall of famer, but also the story of a kid from Louisiana that didn’t have much of a childhood and used the game of football as an escape and a way to let out his emotions.
JZ Media’s Jordan Zlomislic recently talked to Delvin Breaux regarding the story in the book, “Un-Breaux-Ken” and gathered many reasons why his book should be a top seller.
Starting from the top, when you watch Delvin Breaux play football today on the professional stage you can see he plays with aggression. He plays with meaning. He plays the game of football as if he’s on a mission, and a lot of that has to do with his upbringing. For Breaux, football in a way was, and still is a part of a mission to be great. Growing up in the New Orleans, Louisiana area Breaux told Zlomislic that he didn’t have a “normal childhood”. He opened up about his childhood, the difficulties he faced as a child and how he used the game of football to get away from the struggles. “I had a lot of things going on behind closed doors at the time.” Breaux said, “I had a lot of aggression built up. I wanted to commit suicide at 9 years old. I had a lot on my mind, and I let it all out on the field as soon as I stepped onto it.”
Playing both running back and linebacker to start out, Breaux was not only leaving it all out on the field and using the game of football as an escape, but he was also a star early on in his football career.
After being introduced to football by his cousin and brothers, football, as mentioned became a great outlet for young Delvin Breaux to stay out of trouble and incorporate some kind of normalcy to his childhood. It didn’t take long before football then transformed from an outlet to a way out for Delvin Breaux.
In high school, at McDonogh 35 High School Breaux was making a name for himself. He created some buzz around his name and it didn’t take long before universities took notice of his potential. Once Delvin’s brother got the opportunity to showcase his talents at the Nike Open, his dad wanted him to tag along and showcase his talents at the same time. He told the backstory, “I wasn’t even supposed to be there. I didn’t get an invite to the camp, it was my brother that did but my dad ended up just copying his invite to get me into the camp too and I ended up being the best DB at the camp. Thats when LSU took interest in me and invited me to another camp in June where they ended up putting me against bigger and faster dudes before they offered me the scholarship.”
Everyone that knows Breaux’s story knows that he got that scholarship from LSU. At that June camp which he was invited to Breaux said, “I locked up each and everyone of the guys they had against me. I think they were all receivers they wanted to offer, and guys they wanted, but after that workout not one got an offer but I did.”
So, at this point in Delvin Breaux’s life, and football career, everything looked so good. The hometown university, LSU just offered him a scholarship which he went on to commit to and the NFL was very much in the picture for his future. He had just one more year of high school football before he would be in the Tigers secondary alongside some of the best defensive backs around including Patrick Peterson, Morris Claiborne, Tyrann Mathieu and Eric Reid who eventually became NFL stars, but after a kickoff on October 27th 2006, on a play which Breaux should have never been on for, everything about him playing at LSU was erased.
Breaux told Zlomislic the story of what happened on October 27th 2006, “the team we were playing, we hadn’t beaten them for 22 years or something like that. As we came out of halftime, the coaches kept saying they needed a big play. We opened the second half kicking off, and I wasn’t even supposed to be on kickoff. I never practiced on kickoff but in need of a play the coach wanted me to go out. I was ready to make a play. Once the ball was kicked I shot out of a cannon and as I went in to make the tackle all I remember is how (the ball carrier’s) his leg lifted and the crown of my helmet hit him straight on in a weird way. When I was laying on the field everything was just dark, I thought I was dead. I wasn’t moving. And then I saw this bright white light in this room, I didn’t see anything or hear anything. It reminded me of Jim Carey and Morgan Freeman’s Bruce Almighty. The coach brought over a smelling salt and asked if I was okay. When I heard him I said yes sir, picked up my helmet and walked off the field with my own power not knowing anything was really wrong with me, I was ready to get back in the game, but when I was on the sideline I could feel sharp pain in my back and in my neck. I remember trying to take an Ibuprofen and thats when, when I couldn’t swallow it, I knew something was wrong and I ended up going to the hospital and I had a broken C4, C5 and C6 vertebrae. I had surgery, and I will never forget before I left the hospital I asked the doctor if football was still possible and he said to send him Super Bowl tickets when I make it to the Super Bowl.”
Now, seeing where Delvin Breaux is at; playing in his 9th professional football season in 2022, some would say his story is a miracle.
After laying down on that football field 16 years ago not knowing if he was even alive after the hit he made, to be able to call himself a professional athlete is nothing short of a blessing for Delvin Breaux. It took a long journey get to where he is today in 2022 and he is extremely thankful for where he is today in his football playing career.
The journey to get to where he is, playing defensive back now for the B.C Lions in the CFL, all began while he was still under scholarship at LSU.
Although he never played a down of football at LSU due to his medical conditions and the University not clearing him to play, he stayed around the game while he still could. The University honoured his scholarship for him to play a role as a player coach with the Tigers, but having been around such a great organization and not being able to suit up in purple and gold, it wasn’t easy for Breaux to spend time around the football team, and he wasn’t always in the best place mentally while he wasn’t playing the game of football. Breaux went on to tell the story from his days at LSU, “when I went there I thought I’d be cleared.” he told Zlomislic, “I thought after I recovered from my injury and was back to normal I’d be back on the field and everything would be good but they didn’t clear me, they didn’t want to be liable if anything happened, they really didn’t want me to be doing anything around there that could hurt me and I always knew that if football got taken away from me I didn’t know what to do. When they said no to football to me I went to alcohol, I went to party, I went to a whole different lifestyle while I was in University and I was having fun, football was on the back burner, but in 2009 I tried to commit suicide after they tried to make me a players coach there, like watching all these guys doing all this, playing football and everything, I just wanted to be out there, and after that I don’t think I went to the facility for over a year, I was partying, not going to class, really at the time I was taking it all for granted, I had a good opportunity in front of me but it wasn’t what I wanted at the time, I just wanted to play football.”
Delvin Breaux did end up getting his opportunity to play football once again, with his wife at the time, in a flag football league in New Orleans.
He ended up playing more competitively, taking part in a number of tournaments and traveling to do so, eventually getting encouraged by a friend to try out for the New Orleans VooDoo in the Arena Football League where he went on to get noticed by the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger Cats.
In the 25 games played in 2013 and 2014 with the Hamilton Tiger Cats, prior to making his way into the NFL, getting signed by his hometown’s New Orleans Saints Breaux made 60 tackles, a sack, an interception and forced three fumbles. Playing at the professional stage he made a splash, a splash very well needed in his life.
Over his playing career in the CFL, with time spent in the NFL as well, Breaux has now played in 74 professional football games. “Football has always been a passion and a love of mine since I was a kid.” He said, “I’ve always been using it as an escape. I love the game, and when it came back, I was thankful. I didn’t really know what to expect the first time back on the field, I didn’t know if I was going to break my neck the first play back, or if my coverage would suck, but I knew I wanted to go out there and change the world because I never heard of anyone that broke their neck and came back like I did, when I came back I knew I was destined for greatness.”
Talking about his comeback to football he added, “I never rushed it. I allowed the opportunities to come to me… I’m thankful every day to do what I do, and to do all this (play football) at a high level.” Breaux included, “I’m thankful that I can be looked up to at such a big stage where people can look at me and I give them hope.”
Breaux is off to a great start to his 2022 CFL season with the B.C Lions having made 8 tackles and making good contribution towards the Lions’ 3-1 hot start. He and the Lions will be playing their week 6 game against the Hamilton Tiger Cats on Thursday night in Vancouver.
After going 6-26 over the last two seasons, the CFL’s Ottawa Redblacks made several moves during the off-season to improve in every aspect possible. One of the more popular moves of the off-season was the signing of running back William Powell. Powell had played in Ottawa previously, having won the Grey Cup with the Redblacks in 2016 and having success, running for over 1,000 yards on two different occasions in the capital, and acquiring him brought a lot of excitement towards the Redblacks fan base. With a very minimal run game established in 2021, Powell was set to make a big change in the Redblacks offence, but then after suffering an achillies injury during training camp some worried if the run game would be in danger to start the season. Fortunately for the Redblacks though, general manager Shawn Burke and company prepared for the worst. Alongside the signing of William Powell, the Redblacks also signed Silver Springs, Maryland native Devonte Williams who went on to start the first two games of the 2022 CFL season in place of Powell.
Over those two games Williams filled in perfectly, running for 118 yards on 21 carries and even catching 4 passes for additional yardage. That worry that the run game would be dead without Powell in the lineup quickly went away in Ottawa, and the main question now that Powell is back in the Redblacks offence is how can head coach Paul LaPolice and the Redblacks get both Powell and Williams incorporated into the offence. The second game that Williams played for the Redblacks against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at home really showed flashes of how special he could be at this level, running for 85 yards on just 12 carries, averaging over 7 yards a carry it became evident that anything is possible with the ball in his hands, and for Devonte Williams it has always been like that.
Williams earned the nickname, “The Matrix” in little league football and he has lived up to the name in each and every level of football, from little league through the pros with the Ottawa Redblacks.
Growing up in Silver Springs, Maryland, Devonte “The Matrix” Williams was put into football very early. His father, Isaac Williams played with the University of Pittsburgh, both his uncles, Shawn Springs and Omar Evans played professionally in the NFL and CFL and even his grandfather Ron Springs made a name for himself in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys. With football running in his family like it does, Devonte starred on the football field very early in little league football and that success only carried onto high school.
In high school, at The Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland, at the same school of the late NFL quarterback Dwayne Haskins, Devonte Williams made a big name for himself. He was a 3 star recruit with over 20 offers to play division one football in university and was named the 19th ranked player in the state of Maryland and the 62nd ranked running back in the nation.
With dreams of playing in the BIG 10, Williams committed to his only BIG 10 offer from Indiana University where he would actually begin his career as a cornerback. The Hoosiers at the time had running back Jordan Howard who was set to have a big season in 2015 and there wasn’t much room for Williams in the offence, so without much experience on the defensive side of the ball, Williams moved to cornerback as a freshman at Indiana. As a true freshman, he started the first three games at cornerback. Indiana went 2-1 in the three game span and Williams found himself on special teams as a returner, having returned 10 kicks for 204 yards. Unfortunately, on one of those 10 kickoff returns Williams also suffered a season ending injury which forced him to medically redshirt from the 2015 NCAA season.
For Williams though, redshirting ended up being okay for him, getting back on the offensive side of the ball as a redshirt freshman in 2016 where he would go on to gain a total 1,001 all-purpose yards, rushing, receiving and returning. Devonte Williams was then named a BIG 10 All-Freshman and had big expectations going into his sophomore season in 2017.
In 2017 Williams was named to the Paul Hornung watch list, being among some of the most versatile college football players at the division one level. He went on to have 761 all-purpose yards as a sophomore, and with a decline in his involvement with the Hoosiers he made the move to Southeastern Louisiana University where he excelled at each and every aspect of the game, from the run game to the pass game to the return game.
With the Southeastern Louisiana Lions, Williams, over two years was a feature back and found himself making plays, plays so big he got the worlds attention on ESPN, Sportscenter Top 10 with a big punt return touchdown against Nicholls State on senior night, a game where he had three touchdowns, and having made plays like that, Devonte Williams was a name known across NFL front offices ahead of the 2020 NFL Draft. The future looked bright for Williams coming out of his senior season in 2019.
That 2019 NCAA Football season though, was the last normal football season that Williams would play.
During that off-season, just before his pro day at Southeastern Louisiana, the COVID-19 Pandemic hit the world and shut down the sports world, it shut down and cancelled all of the events that were set to help Williams get to where he wanted to be. Williams went from having NFL dreams and having the NFL in reach to being unemployed within just months, but his NFL dreams never died.
He went on to showcase his talents in front of dozens of professional scouts in San Diego, California at HUB Football workouts to open up the door for some professional opportunities. Within a week after one of the workouts, Williams would receive calls from both the New England Patriots and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
He went unsigned by the Patriots, and was left to sign with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the CFL where he would spend the majority 2021 season on their practice roster.
Williams never got a chance to play with the Blue Bombers in a game, but recently played against them with the Redblacks and recently showed sparks of what is possible with the unfinished story of Devonte “The Matrix” Williams.
JZ MEDIA 