Kalija Lipscomb couldn’t wait to get to Saskatoon and attend training camp with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
After Wednesday’s introductory workout with the CFL team, the 25-year-old receiver reflected on another relocation of note — one that was made by necessity instead of by choice.
In September of 2005, Lipscomb and his mother, Kiesha Washington, were displaced from their home in New Orleans due to Hurricane Katrina.
“Katrina happened when I was in the first grade,” Lipscomb recalled on Day 1 of rookie camp — a prelude to Coors Light Riders Training Camp — at Griffiths Stadium.
“We had friends when I was in kindergarten and the first grade, and those people never came back to New Orleans after Katrina.
“My mom and I went to Houston, temporarily. When we came back to New Orleans, life basically re-started.
“It was a completely different social situation. You’re going to different schools, because you’re one very small piece at that point of a whole city trying to rebuild and trying to reidentify and to rebrand itself.
“To a degree, I guess the city still is rebuilding. Getting back to normal isn’t finished yet, but it is trying to get there.”
Lipscomb also had some rebuilding to do on a personal level before joining the Roughriders.
After NFL stints with the Kansas City Chiefs (in 2020), Green Bay Packers (2020) and Tennessee Titans (2021), he was emotionally spent and needed an intermission — one of nearly two years’ duration.
“My journey coming out of college was a little bit different, coming out of COVID,” the former University of Vanderbilt standout said. “Going to the NFL, there was no pre-season, so I did the practice-squad thing.
“My last ride on the NFL carousel was a pre-season camp. From there, I was so beat-up mentally, I was kind of like, ‘I don’t know if I can do this.’
“Over the course of the last year and a half, two years, with the grace of God, the help of my family, the help of my friends and the support of my girlfriend, I’ve been able to kind of mentally rehab and get myself to a point where I’m able to compete.
“I’m able to approach every day as a professional. I’m able to be confident in my skill set and also be able to inject a level of energy into not only the receivers’ room, but also into the team.”
That was the kind of impact Lipscomb had for the Nashville-based Vanderbilt Commodores, on whose behalf he caught 198 passes for 2,356 yards and 22 touchdowns over 46 games and four NCAA seasons.
As a junior in 2018, he made 87 receptions for 916 yards and nine scores. In October of that year, his good name was added to the Biletnikoff Award Watch List. The award is presented annually to the top receiver in U.S. college football.
Coming out of university, Lipscomb hoped to emulate what Biletnikoff — a former Oakland Raiders star and the most valuable player of Super Bowl XI — accomplished in the professional ranks.
“I think everybody has expectations of how they think things are going to go,” Lipscomb reflected. “My parents have a saying: ‘If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plan.’
“My life, my direction and the path I was walking wasn’t really how I planned it to go. Over time, those misdirections start to feel like losses and they start to feel like failures.
“After a while, those build up and you start to feel disappointed in yourself. Then you start to think, ‘Wow, maybe others are disappointed in me,’ and then it hurts your self-confidence, which hurts your self-esteem. It hurts your energy, which hurts your overall outlook in life.
“It was definitely a learning experience. I definitely believe, on top of everything else, that everything happens for a reason. So it was very possible that I was meant to go through those things and meant to learn those lessons that felt harsh at times in order to be able to come out here and put my best foot forward.”
That he did on Wednesday, making a couple of impressive catches during the 20-minute offence-versus-defence period.
“I try to make as many plays as I can,” said Lipscomb, whose No. 86 quickly became recognizable. “The first day of rookie mini-camp is always hard because, coming from the States, it’s a different system.
“We don’t do the waggle down there, so I’m learning that, learning the timing, and trying to get right with the quarterbacks. I’m trying to grow in the receivers’ room and get a rapport with the receivers’ coaches and ultimately allowing that rust from the two-year break to shake off.
“When you do something for 20 years and then stop, it does something to your body, but I do think that it did allow me to heal physically and it did allow me to get healthy.
“I’m coming out here and I know my body’s right. I know I’m in shape. I’m still getting used to that CFL cardio — there’s a lot of running.
“All in all, I think there are unlimited boxes to be checked. I want to get in game-time situations, make plays, try to be the best teammate I can be, and then let it build from there.”
