CFL.ca
Bert Faibish
Ticats.ca
When a player has been on the market for a while and is brought into the fold by a team a third of the way through the season, it’s sometimes a move to improve the depth at a certain position.
However, for Tiger-Cats offensive lineman Belton Johnson, less than two weeks after being picked up by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, he is being called upon to start at right tackle when they face the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Mosaic Stadium on Saturday.
Coincidentally, the very same team that cut him in training camp.
“I look forward to going back to Regina, my girlfriend is there, I live there during the off-season and I know a lot of people over there,” said Johnson.
The Ole Miss product knows that there will likely be some discussion about the most effective ways to beat him by his ex-teammates in Regina.
“Those guys know exactly how I play and I’m sure they’ve been talking about me in meetings over there,” said Johnson.
That goes both ways however.
“I know some of the moves the D-linemen like the best, but at the same time, knowing (Roughriders defensive coordinator Gary Etcheverry), I know there will be some new wrinkles in that defence,” he said.
When he was released by the Riders, Johnson believed all along that he would play again, he just had to bide his time and stay prepared.
“When I got released I still hung out with my teammates almost every day,” said Johnson. “I was in a good mood, I was working out everyday and waiting for another team to give me a shot.”
“Hamilton stepped up to the plate, now I have to hit them a home run,” he said.
As a former member of the Green and White, Johnson is very familiar with the crowd that packs Mosaic Field every game, he just isn’t used to being on the receiving end of the noise.
“I was talking to some of the guys here about that this week,” said Johnson.
“I’ve always been on the sideline when the defence is out there and the crowd is going crazy, and you can barely hear the guy standing next to you so it’s going to be tough,” he said.
Playing last week in a packed McGill Stadium for the Alouettes home opener should be a good example of how the crowd at Mosaic will make life difficult for the entire offence.
If the Ticats want to be an elite team in the CFL then they will have to win on the road in tough places like Saskatchewan and Montreal, and they get their next shot Saturday.
