THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
CALGARY — A collective gasp could be heard amongst Calgary Stampeders fans when it was revealed that Jerome Messam would not be playing in Friday night’s game against the Montreal Alouettes. Last year’s Most Outstanding Canadian had fluid drained from his knee and was ruled out for Week 15.
Cue Terry Williams.
The 25-year-old knew he had big shoes to fill, but rose to the occasion and shattered expectations. Williams ran for 156 yards and a trio of touchdowns in his first CFL start.
The Morristown, New Jersey native was humble after his spectacular debut.
“I try to be mistake free,” Williams said after the Stamp 59-11 win. “It felt good just going in and doing what I was supposed to do. My biggest thing coming in wasn’t really numbers. It was just locking in assignments, so I just want to improve on that so coach can trust me a little bit more. I think I did a pretty good job but I’ll wait until I see the tape.”
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Williams gave credit to both Messam and Roy Finch for his ability to adjust seamlessly in his first CFL start. He said that Messam was over at his house the day before the game to make sure he was prepared. Williams said that both players have been like big brothers to him.
Messam could be seen on the sidelines throughout the game beaming at his protege.
“He’s been hugging me all day,” joked Williams. “He’s really proud of me. I look up to him and I look up to Roy.”
Williams’ teammates had nothing but positive things to say after his performance. Quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell said he was impressed with what he saw from Williams on the field.
“He proved himself tonight,” said Mitchell. “It was awesome to have him on the field… he’s got hands. He can make plays. To see some of those plays where there’s five guys in front of him and he just splits them and takes off for 80 yards, you can’t coach that.”
Head coach Dave Dickenson echoed Michell’s sentiments.
“We thought we had something with Terry,” said Dickenson. “He’s been dynamic in practice and we needed to get him in a game. He was good tonight. He was fast and ran hard. I will give credit to our offensive line. Our receivers blocked well too. But you saw he’s a good player, a guy we think we can build with as well. Certainly a good performance for him.”
Messam is on the Stamps’ one-game injured list. It does not appear that he will miss a significant amount of time. Even with Messam’s return immanent, CFL fans should get used to hearing the name Terry Williams.
