There were eyebrows raised when the Toronto Argonauts made two selections in the second round of last month’s CFL draft. The media’s consensus was that the Argos chose the pair too early.
After seeing Isaiah Smith and Ethan John for the last week, everyone with the Double Blue is just fine with those picks.
The Argos selected Smith, a 6’0”, 230-pound running back from the University of Guelph, the site of the team’s training camp, with the 11th overall pick. He’s attacked the opportunity presented to him with great vigour, turning many heads along the way. Argonauts.ca was on the sidelines for one of the rookie’s carries and overheard one veteran defensive player say to a teammate, “He played here last year?”
Smith is a physical specimen who possesses a smooth running style and great acceleration, looking like a back from a Power Five conference as opposed to the OUA.
“Isaiah has probably been one of the biggest surprises,” player personnel director Jim Barker told Argonauts.ca following Tuesday’s practice. “He’s even better than we thought he was. He’s big, he’s strong, he’s fast, he’s got a great attitude.”
The running back was born to play the sport, he loves football. One of the things that has made him happiest is to be playing with athletes that have the same passion for the sport that he does; the playing, the practicing, the working out, the meetings, the film study, Smith devours all of it.
That doesn’t mean he didn’t have some rookie jitters.
“Anxiety first kicked off when Nick Arbuckle texted me and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to go and throw at a field here, do you want to come catch?’ Smith recalled for Argonauts.ca. “I said absolutely, I couldn’t say no. I got out there, there were a couple of guys on the field, and I got nervous. My legs were shaking and I’m thinking I’m going to catch some CFL balls, I don’t know what’s going to happen. After the first throw, a five-yard out, I caught that ball and thought, wait a minute, I’ve been doing this for the last four years, that’s not bad.”
At an early point of the first practice at rookie camp he knew he belonged.
To say that the Burlington native is a great interview is a grotesque understatement. He’s articulate, virtually cliché free, and gave thoughtful answers to every question without hesitancy…except for one query. Argonauts.ca asked the question most CFL fans from his hometown are asked: when he was growing up was he an Argo or Ticat fan?
Smith smiled and didn’t say anything for several seconds before spitting out, “Why do you have to do this to me?” he finally said with a laugh. “The thing is, I love players. When they were playing each other, I was sitting with a Toronto hat here, and a Hamilton hat here, when someone would score, I’d say ‘way to go team!” It’s all Argos (now), that’s it.”
He dodged that question as effectively as he’s been avoiding defenders in practice so far.
Ethan John was able to avoid that question because he grew up in Felton, Minnesota, hardly a CFL hotbed. He bounced around a couple of colleges before heading north to play at Windsor. He spent three seasons with the Lancers and graduated, meaning he gained National player status.
The defensive back was chosen with the 16th overall pick, with his availability leading to jubilation in the Argos draft “war room” that night. He’s learning to play safety, teaming up with free-agent acquisition Enock Makonzo to flip safety to a “Canadian” position.
His learning curve has been steeper, learning the intricacies of the pro game as well as a new position. But like Smith, he’s a football junkie eager to embrace the challenges in front of him.
“The game is obviously faster with better players,” he told Argonauts.ca. “You have to make sure you’re in tune with all of your techniques and the small nuances of the game.”
Which minutiae of the game has opened his eyes the widest so far?
“My man-to-man technique,” he quickly replied. “You can get away with a lot more in college than in the pros, so the small details matter. Patience in man-to-man has been the biggest thing for me.”
The knock against him by the media was his size, although at 5’9, 189 pounds he’s an inch taller and a pound heavier than Hamilton’s all-star safety Stavros Katsantonis. John also had better Combine numbers that his Ticat counterpart.
It’s criticism like the post-draft talk which helps drive him.
“Absolutely,” he replied when asked if he uses that skepticism for motivation. “My whole life I’ve been ‘too small,’ it’s how it is. I just do what I do to prove people wrong and more so prove the coaches that have belief in me right.”
Barker may be the president of the rookie DB’s fan club.
“He looks exactly like what we thought we were getting,” said Barker. “He’s in the right place, he understands the game, he’ll come up and hit people. We took Ethan because he’s a great football player, he reminded me a lot of Katsantonis.”
It’s a lofty comparison, but there’s zero question the rookie is up to the challenge.
ARGO NOTES: It was another cool day to begin practice, 8 degrees with a bit less wind than the first two days. It did seem a bit warmer than the last couple of days as morning turned into afternoon…There was a heavy emphasis on blocking during the teaching period for receivers. Coach Kierrie Johnson was vocal if in his eyes a receiver didn’t finish his block during drills…Chad Kelly and Kevin Mital combined for a touchdown during the first scrimmage session of the day…Isaiah Smith went off tackle for a lengthy, impressive run, which was noted by his teammates on the defensive sideline…Two CFL officials were on hand to help during any drill or period featuring passing. They’ll be back on Thursday, then a full officiating crew will be on hand for Sunday’s Double Blue Game, which kicks off at 3:45 and lasts roughly an hour…During “skelly” (no linemen), Kelly hit Andre Miller for a 40-yard touchdown, while Nick Arbuckle hit Tristan Ready with a perfect 40-yard fade for a TD…Not going to lie, it’s taking a while to get used to seeing DaShaun Amos wearing #1 and Robert Priester wearing #11. They wore #8 and #19 during the 2024 season before playing elsewhere last year…Defensive back Damaje Yancey left the team on his own accord on Monday…Benjie Franklin had an interception on a deep ball during a scrimmage period…Middle linebacker Isaac Darkangelo is assuming a leadership role. During a punting session, he gathered the defensive linemen and headed down the sideline. They walked through certain stunts, with the linebacker going through his part of the assignment…Perhaps the loudest cheer of the day came when Reed Martin made a play on the final play of the practice. The 5’9” kicker was taking a rep at field corner at the time. He played DB in college.