THE CANADIAN PRESS
Bert Faibish
Ticats.ca
Fans of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats have learned quite a bit about Drisan James over the last year.
He’s fast. He’s a hard worker. He catches nearly every ball thrown his way… and he’s getting better.
What fans may not know is that he’s somewhat of a perfectionist.
“I’m very hard on myself. I’m very particular about evaluating my performance and if anybody has anything critical to say about myself, it’s going to be me,” admitted James.
“If you’re saying it, I already thought it,” he said.
Not the most endearing quality for many people in the working world but a major advantage for someone trying to learn the receiver position as it’s played in the CFL.
Drisan, a former Boise State star and undrafted free agent in the NFL, has learned never to be satisfied.
“I try never to say I’m comfortable,” said James. “Comfort isn’t a good word for me, I steer clear of that word because the moment you get comfortable is the moment somebody takes your job,” he said.
Drisan has been able to get this far as a professional athlete by never being satisfied with what he’s achieved and instead striving for more.
“You judge yourself by setting goals and my goal when I first got out here was to make the team,” said James.
“Then my goal was to contribute offensively, then to earn a starting position, so my goal now is to help this team win a Grey Cup and as long as I’m setting goals I will never be complacent in what I do,” he added.
“The day I run out of goals is probably the day I’m going to hang it up,”
As good as Drisan has been in his last three games (one playoff game and two preseason tilts — 17 receptions for 267 yards), he still isn’t satisfied.
“My performance at the end of last season and this preseason is something to build on but I feel like there are a lot of things I could have done better in all three of those games,” said James.
“The best way to make that a positive is to learn from it, go watch film and work on those particular things.
In the Ticats offence Drisan James is a wild card, an unknown entity.
Everyone knows that Arland Bruce III will produce highlight reel catches, Dave Stala will be the reliable go-to veteran and McDaniel will catch every ball within a ten foot radius.
Nobody really knows what to expect from James. If his last three games and his work ethic are any indication, this may be a long year for opposing secondaries.
