Nelson Lokombo has been waiting for a season like this … and a game like this.
Lokombo, who is in his first year as a full-time starter with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, is eagerly anticipating Saturday’s crucial CFL clash with the B.C. Lions (5 p.m., Mosaic Stadium).
A victory would clinch a home playoff game for the Roughriders, who selected Lokombo second overall in the 2020 CFL Draft after he starred for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.
“It’s a big week,” the 25-year-old safety said. “These are the games you want to play in and the games you hope for — high-stakes games that can win you home-field advantage.
“It’s going to be a good game to watch, a good game to play, and I’m excited.”
Prior to this season, Lokombo had played in 23 CFL games and started in five.
He re-signed with Saskatchewan in late January, shortly before he could have tested free agency, with the objective of playing in every game and making an impact in any way possible.
Mission accomplished.
“It has been a good year,” Lokombo said. “We’ve obviously made the playoffs. It’s always a goal to have an opportunity to get that end goal, which is a Grey Cup.
“As for myself personally, it has been a good year. It’s great to be out there playing defence and helping the team.”
He is doing precisely that, in the appraisal of Corey Mace.
“He has certainly come into his own,” the Roughriders’ head coach and defensive co-ordinator said. “You can see it during practice. You can see it in a game. He’s gaining more confidence at that position.
“We ask him to be the vocal communicator and the conductor, so to speak, on the back end and still speak the same language with the linebackers.
“We ask a lot and I think for Nellie early, maybe it was something he wasn’t super-comfortable with. Now he’s getting a little swagger to him. He’s getting comfortable back there.
“With the amount of games he has played now, he feels like he can certainly command and conduct.
“I know there’s so much more he wants to accomplish, so we’ll keep chopping wood from that standpoint, but we’re pleased with what he has been able to bring.”
ELEVATION IN RIDER NATION
A leaping touchdown catch by KeeSean Johnson was a key play in the Roughriders’ 28-24 victory over the host Edmonton Elks last Saturday.
At 10:53 of the third quarter, the 6-foot-1, 201-pound wideout made a contested catch at the one-yard line and accessed the end zone for a 28-yard major that, once converted, gave Saskatchewan a 28-21 lead.
“I was like, ‘I’m just going to put this in a spot for him to get a rebound,’ ” quarterback Trevor Harris said of what proved to be the game-winning major.
“I felt like we had a size mismatch, so I put it up in a spot where I felt like he could just get a rebound off the rim.”
The result was Johnson’s fifth touchdown in a span of seven games.
“It felt great,” the first-year Roughriders receiver said. “It was a play that was needed in the game for us.
“Trevor just having the confidence and being able to throw the ball up in the air and give me a chance, that’s what felt the best.
“As a football player and as a competitor, those are the plays that you want to make against whoever it is out there. Even if it’s in practice, I still want to make a play against my teammates.”
Johnson’s playmaking skills have produced 51 catches for 688 yards over his first 11 CFL games.
Over the last three games, he has 19 catches for 294 yards.
“From camp, we saw the potential of the player that he could be when he got familiar with the game and game speed,” Mace said of the former NFLer.
“None of that kind of stuff shocks us around here. We see it every day. We’re happy that he’s making the plays that are coming to him.
“The one he got last week was a heck of a play but, if you watch his tape through college, that’s kind of a routine play for him.
“I’m happy for him, but I know he’s looking for what’s next, and that’s this week.”
