CFL.ca will profile a number of key Canadian university prospects leading up to the CFL Evaluation Camp from 12-14 in Toronto. Today we feature StFX Wide Receiver Akeem Foster and his battle against adversity to remain on his team.
Brian Snelgrove
CFL.ca
Sometimes from adversity comes triumph.
“If I don’t have the ball I’m looking for someone to hit. If I do have the ball I’m looking to make a big play.”
In his first season with Saint Francis Xavier University Akeem Foster caught 18 passes for 333 yards and a touchdown.
For his efforts he was named the X-Men’s Rookie of the year.
The talented Wide Receiver from Ajax, Ontario was on a high. His university football career looked promising.
Foster’s second year was a disaster. He failed to acquire enough academic credits and was forced to sit out the entire season. He was devastated.
“It was the most humbling experience of my life,” says Foster. “After all the hype in my first year I felt like I had let everybody down. The emotion of letting down my team pushed me to be a better player, a better person and a better teammate. I vowed that would never happen again.”
The year off wasn’t without a silver lining. It gave Foster time to reflect on his football career, his life and to concentrate on his studies. “I focused on becoming the best I could,” he says. “I read a lot of philosophy as well that teaches us to be the best we can be. I took that to heart.”
In 2008 Foster returned to the field with a vengeance. That year he had 32 catches for 574 yards and three majors and was named an AUS All-Star.
Last season he was again an AUS All-Star. He finished third in the conference with 37 receptions for 595 yards and four touchdowns. More importantly, he was also named a CIS first team All-Canadian. “That was amazing,” says the 22 year old Sociology Major. “All the hard work had finally paid off. It felt like I had come a long way and reached the pinnacle of being named one of the best receivers in the country. I know I still have a lot to learn but it was redemption for me.”
Foster was also invited to participate in this year’s CFL Evaluation Camp. The second all-time leading receiver in StFX history doesn’t plan to re-invent himself for this opportunity. “I just want to play my game,” he says. “Nothing new. I’ve impressed coaches so far and just want to show that I have the ability to make a play.”
Foster describes himself as, “a problem with and without the ball. If I don’t have the ball I’m looking for someone to hit. If I do have the ball I’m looking to make a big play.
The fourth-year student played soccer and basketball in high school and took up football as a third sport. “I started getting recruited, because I was a big guy (6’5”, 215 lbs) who could jump,” he says. “I liked St.FX so decided to go there.”
If not in football, he hopes to make a career in basketball or as a teacher.
Foster has always been a big fan of the Toronto Argonauts and admires former Argos Derrell “Mookie” Mitchell and Michael “Pinball”Clemons. “The first football game I ever saw was the Grey Cup game between Toronto and Edmonton (1996),” he says. “I really liked the way they both went about their business. I admired how professional they were and how they carried themselves. They both really stepped up.”
“Akeem has a great work ethic and is an intelligent athlete,” says X-Men Head Coach Gary Waterman. “He has the desire to be the best and is very coachable. I believe he has the maturity to handle the demands of a professional lifestyle.”
On the wall of Foster’s room at university hang a number of inspirational messages from various philosophers, including Immanuel Kant and John Locke. They all send essentially the same message: be the best you can be.
Akeem Foster reads them every day and strives to be the best.
“We have to put ourselves out there,” he says. “I want to show that dreams do come true. We can have setbacks in life and still be successful.”
