Argonauts.ca Staff
TORONTO – The Toronto Argonauts enter the 2015 season full of new faces, and perhaps no position is more indicative of that than the receiving corps.
Three of the Argos projected starters at receiver are CFL rookies, though don’t call them inexperienced. All three have spent time in the NFL, and their performances during training camp and Toronto’s two pre-season games should have fans excited for the season.
Kevin Elliott was a four-year starter at Florida A&M, where he led the Rattlers in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns in both his redshirt freshman and sophomore seasons. He led the team in receptions three of four seasons and was always top two in touchdowns and receiving yards.
Following his college career Elliott was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Jacksonville Jaguars before spending two years in Buffalo with the Bills. Though his time in the NFL was cut short by injury, Elliott believes it provided him with valuable lessons moving forward.
“You learn how to be accountable, productive and consistent,” he said. “You have to be going hard every play, because someone is always trying to take your job. It’s a business, you have to treat it like that.”
It was in Bills training camp where Argos brass first noticed the six-foot-three receiver, and strong showings at both the Argos mini-camp in Bradenton, FL and training camp at York left coaches with no choice but to give him a spot on the roster.
“He plays with an attitude, he’s very competitive” said Argos’ GM Jim Barker. “He’s going to do what it takes to come down with the ball, he’s everything you want at that position. He plays with an edge.”
“I wasn’t planning on coming in [to camp] and not starting,” said Elliott, “but I knew it was going to be a difficult transition. I just focused on learning the plays and getting adjusted to the CFL game because it’s totally different.”
The longer, wider field and the waggle are often the biggest adjustments for American receivers in the Canadian game, but Elliott has fully embraced what he sees not as a challenge, but an advantage.
“I’m loving the waggle,” Elliott said with a grin. “It almost feels like cheating. I’m not complaining because I’m a receiver, but it’s definitely hard on the defensive backs.”
Helping Elliott is one of the best in the business at using the waggle to his advantage. In a receiving corps ripe with youth, SB Chad Owens is the elder statesman, passing on his wisdom to players like Elliott.
“Chad and Coach Jaime (Elizondo) have been huge” he said. “Chad’s been helping me with the waggle, learning different ways to use it to get leverage on defenders, as well as little tricks on reading the defence. At the end of the day, it’s still football, but you’ve got to learn the little things in order to have success.
After three weeks of training camp and a week of practices, Elliott also sees an improvement in the relationship between QB Trevor Harris and the new receivers.
“He’s shown a lot of upside and a lot of improvement even just from the first week of camp until now” said Elliott of his quarterback. “With such a young receiving corps, he’s had to learn our tendencies on routes and I feel like he’s picking that up well. He’s starting to give us the balls we’re expecting and we’re starting to get more of a feel for where he wants us on routes, so we’re feeling confident.”
Confidence, unlike experience, is not something this year’s Argo receiving corps is lacking; Elliott believes that this year’s group could be among the league’s best.
“I don’t think there’s a team that can cover us man-to-man,” he said. “We have so many weapons, I feel like it’s ‘pick your poison’ with us, and that’s something we’re going to try to exploit.”
Owens expressed a similar sentiment following the team’s final practice on Thursday.
“[Kevin] has that mindset, that warrior mentality” said Owens. “When you’re a true competitor, you get frustrated when you drop a ball, you get angry when you run a wrong route or don’t do something to the best of your ability. That’s Kevin Elliott right there. I’m excited to go into battle with him, and I’m excited for this group. I think we’re going to surprise some people.”