SASKATOON — For a young man who has started all of nine games in his CFL career, Kevin Francis certainly has lofty expectations for himself.
“Best linebacker in the league, CFL all-star and best special-teams player,” Francis, who turns 24 on Monday, says when asked about his goals for the 2017 season. “It’s not going to be easy at all to accomplish, but it’s all about doing the extra stuff — the extra film studies, the extra weightlifting, the extra time you spend with your coaches.
“I set my goal high and I feel like I can achieve it. If I didn’t feel like I could achieve it, then I wouldn’t have set it.”
Francis played in 18 games with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2016, his first season in the CFL. He started the first eight games at safety and struggled at times, but that was understandable: The 6-foot-5, 220-pound product of Toronto had been a receiver throughout his days at North Carolina A&T University.
The Roughriders eventually moved Francis to weak-side linebacker, where he started four games down the stretch. Injuries to internationals Sam Eguavoen and Jeff Knox Jr., opened the door for Francis and he walked right on through.
“We’ve won some football games with him there as the starter,” head coach-GM Chris Jones says, “and he certainly looks good right now.”
Francis has been working with Saskatchewan’s starters since Day 1 of training camp, when Eguavoen limped off the field with an injury. With Knox out of the picture — he signed with the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the off-season — Francis could very well be the starter for the foreseeable future.
“Next man up,” he says of the opportunity. “I’ve got some big shoes to fill and I’m grateful for the opportunity. It’s unfortunate that (Eguavoen) is out right now, but I’m just doing the best I can.
“Last year, I was kind of feeling things out. My position was changing, but I went with it and I was grateful for the opportunity. But now I’ve got one year under my belt so it’s time to step up.”
Francis was born in Toronto, but his parents moved to Brooklyn, N.Y., when he was two years old. He grew up in the New York City borough and eventually was named an all-state performer in football, basketball and track and field while at James Madison High School.
He played safety, outside linebacker and receiver in high school, but was a tight end and special-teamer during his four seasons at North Carolina A&T. After he wasn’t selected in the 2016 NFL draft, Francis — armed with his Canadian citizenship — looked north.
He wasn’t declared eligible in time for the 2016 CFL draft, so he went into the pool for the supplemental draft. Two nights before that lottery, Jones watched film of Francis playing on special teams for North Carolina A&T and decided to investigate further.
“I got him to fly over to my hometown and tried him out,” Jones says. “When I saw what a specimen he was, I thought, ‘I’ve got to be able to put him somewhere.’ ’’
The Roughriders surrendered a third-round pick in the 2017 draft to select Francis in the 2016 supplemental draft — a price that Jones now says was well worth paying.
As a rookie, Francis proved to be a force on special teams, registering 13 tackles to finish second on the team (behind Knox’s 20). He added 12 tackles and one tackle for loss on defence, where he had to figure out his new surroundings.
“Of course I had some difficulties learning different packages and stuff coming from offence,” Francis says. “But as far as the mental part and the things that were thrown at me, it wasn’t tough at all.”
That said, Francis still was asked to change positions. The Roughriders turned the safety job over to longtime defensive backs like Matt Webster and Jeff Hecht and moved Francis into the box.
That was fine by him.
“The way our defence is, you have to learn more than one position anyway because you never know where you’re going to be playing,” Francis says. “I played free safety, then I played linebacker and then sometimes I had to go back to free safety, so I just went with it.
“Once you start to understand Coach Jones, you realize that you have to understand the whole defence because you might be playing anywhere.”
So far in training camp, Francis has been the Will linebacker and he hasn’t strayed from that. If he wins the starting job, he gives the Roughriders another ratio-breaker on the defensive side of the ball.
In Jones’ mind, Francis has shown the progress required to potentially be the starter.
“I didn’t know whether a guy who moves from receiver — (after) playing offence his whole career in college — would be physical enough to play in the box,” Jones says. “He answered the bell last year and showed that he was.
“He’s still learning. He’s a real raw athlete and (the necessary) instincts sometimes aren’t there. But the more he sees and the more that he plays, the better he’ll get.”
EXTRAS: The Roughriders announced Saturday the signing of linebacker Derrick Moncrief, a 6-foot-2, 220-pounder out of Oklahoma State University. To make room on the roster, Saskatchewan released defensive back Cedric Hill.
