Shawn Bane Jr. enjoyed a running start to the 2024 CFL season without routinely making use of a running start.
Minus the benefit of the waggle, which allows the CFL’s inside receivers to hit the line of scrimmage with considerable momentum as the ball is snapped, the 29-year-old wideout nonetheless caught three touchdown passes to help the Saskatchewan Roughriders post a 29-21 victory over the Edmonton Elks on Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium on the opening weekend of regular-season play.
It was such a command performance that Ty Robinson, the Roughriders’ Assistant Equipment Manager, quickly labelled the Alberta capital as “Bane-monton.”
And it turns out that Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris isn’t the only one who has been calling the number of Bane Jr.
“My phone has been booming,” he said after Wednesday’s practice at Mosaic Stadium.
“It is pretty cool. These are the games that I’ve worked for and just want to be a part of.”
The pass-catching prowess was hardly novel for Bane Jr., who caught 93 passes for 1,104 yards in 2023.
But three touchdown catches in a game?
Just like that, Bane Jr. earned a 1/20th share of the Roughriders’ single-game record.
“They call it a hat trick, but I don’t think it’s an every-day trick,” Harris said with a laugh. “It’s one of those things that’s kind of a rare occasion, so if you’ve got a lot of points in fantasy from him, I wouldn’t trade him, but I wouldn’t expect three touchdowns every game — although that would be nice.”
To this point, Bane Jr. has three touchdowns in every game he has started at wide receiver for the Roughriders.
He was a slotback, and a productive one at that, last season after signing with Saskatchewan as a free agent on Feb. 13, 2023.
Although Bane lined up as an inside receiver 23 per cent of time on Saturday, he was principally the boundary-side wideout.
“When I was in Calgary, I played this position,” noted Bane Jr., who caught 24 passes for 388 yards and two touchdowns in 13 games over two seasons with the Stampeders.
“It was me and Malik Henry, so we would kind of battle back and forth between the practice squad and the active roster.
“The luxury was having to know multiple positions so you could just get on the field. It wasn’t even about catching the ball. It was just about playing, so I have some familiarity there.
“Just get open. That’s the goal. Get open and a be reliable target.”
With Calgary, Bane Jr. scored his first CFL touchdown — against the visiting Roughriders — on Oct. 2, 2021.
That 24-yard TD pass was thrown by Bo Levi Mitchell, who is to start at quarterback for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats when they play host to Saskatchewan on Sunday (5 p.m., TSN, CKRM).
Bane Jr. hopes to continue excelling in the new season at a not-so-new position — one that requires him to begin his routes from a standing start.
“Yes, the waggle is an advantage, but I grew up not being able to move on the line,” noted Bane Jr., who starred at Northwestern Missouri State before entering the pro ranks.
“It’s natural to me more than anything.”
He was quick to note that there are advantages to lining up out wide.
“If you make a defender miss, it is a touchdown, whereas in the middle of the field you’ve got to make a few more guys miss or you’ve just got to get down,” Bane Jr. said. “There’s definitely that upside to it.”
As much as he enjoyed scoring three touchdowns, he is quick to acknowledge that it isn’t a one-man feat.
The offensive linemen have to provide protection, which they did.
The other receivers need to run their routes with precision to enable a colleague to break free, as part of the scheme implemented by Offensive Co-ordinator Marc Mueller.
The pass must be on target — a good bet, considering that Harris sports the best career completion percentage (70.6) in CFL history.
Some extra work doesn’t hurt, either.
“We actually came up to camp kind of early to work out some of the kinks so we could go into camp full stride and I think we did exactly that,” Bane Jr. said.
“That’s only the beginning. I think we can do a lot more damage.”
Especially when you consider one of Bane Jr.’s many assets.
“Speed,” Harris stated. “He’s just got a different gear. He’s one of those guys who can take off and get from zero to 60 in 1.2 seconds.
“He’s just very difficult to defend if you don’t disrupt his route, and it’s very tough to disrupt his route because he does such a great job of manoeuvring at the line of scrimmage.”
The Roughriders’ aggressive passing attack is also a factor.
Of the 31 passes attempted by Harris on Saturday, 15 of them travelled 10 or more yards beyond the line of scrimmage.
Nine of those 15 passes were completed, with that stat including the Harris-to-Bane Jr. scoring strikes of 40, 33 and 27 yards.
The average downfield distance of the Roughriders’ passes on Saturday: 12.1 yards.
Average yards per completion: 13.9.
Average yards per attempt: 9.8.
“Coach Mueller did a phenomenal job,” Harris said. “He’s such a young play-caller, but you would never know it by how he calls the game. ‘He lets it hang’ would be the best way to describe it. He doesn’t mind taking shots when he feels it’s necessary.
“Late in the game, he trusted me to throw a football on second-and-eight when we could really put the game out of reach.
“He’s a tremendous O-Co-ordinator. We’re really lucky to have him calling plays for us.”
Team-wise, the good fortune extends to having a front-line receiving corps that also includes Samuel Emilus, Kian Schaffer-Baker, Jerreth Sterns and KeeSean Johnson.
“(Bane Jr.) did a great job and made the great plays,” Harris said. “He’s a guy who we’re really fortunate to have, but we’ve got some guys out there and every dog’s going to have his day this year.”
