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HAMILTON – For more than three years, C.J. Gable wandered through the football wilderness.
Through the cornfields of Nebraska in the Indoor League. A hello, and goodbye, in the NFL with the New Orleans Saints and Denver Broncos. Always hoping. Never sticking. “I always felt I could play. I always fell I should be playing. It’s just that I couldn’t get the opportunity,” said the Tiger-Cats running back, who finally found his oasis last season in Hamilton.
In a bounce-back year for the Tiger-Cats that saw them go all the way to the Grey Cup, Gable had an outstanding season, with 12 touchdowns, including seven on the ground.
He endeared himself to the Oskie-wee-wee crowd when he rushed for 118 yards, a touchdown, and 48 receiving yards to defeat the Argonauts 24-18, earning CFL player of the week honours. He would become the Eastern nominee as the league’s top rookie.
Now, as the Tiger-Cats put the finishing touches on training camp, Gable has bigger plans with a football career that has regained its legs.
“I want to get 1,000 yards rushing; 1,000 receiving. If that happens we will light up the scoreboard,” said Gable. If that happens, he believes the Ticats have a chance not just to go to the Grey Cup, but to win it. This team, he says, is faster, younger, perhaps hungrier, than the one that won the East before being ambushed in the Grey Cup.
And, he wasn’t too happy either watching Calgary offensive lineman Brett Jones take the trophy as the CFL rookie of the year at the league gala during Grey Cup week.
“It hurt a lot. It made me work harder than ever in the off-season because it was all I thought about … those two things (losing rookie of the year and the Grey Cup). Our team, I, have something to prove this year.”
And, they can start proving it Saturday when the Ticats open the pre-season at McMaster against the Montreal Alouettes.
“I think we are going back to the Grey Cup. When you lose like we did last year, it should just make us play harder.”
Gable has certainly practised harder. The 26-year-old spent the winter back home in California, hitting the gym, working with his former high school coach on conditioning and route running. Last year he was just another face in a crowded training camp, hoping to make an impression. This summer he came into camp as the No. 1 guy on most peoples’ depth charts. But he has taken nothing for granted. Given the transient nature of the CFL, there are never guarantees. Players move around like pieces in a game of speed-chess; yesterday’s mainstays are today’s afterthoughts.
“In some ways, it isn’t a lot different than last year, in that I didn’t come in here thinking that I had a spot. Nothing is guaranteed. I don’t know what (management’s) thinking. Besides if I start thinking that I’ve got a spot guaranteed, I’ll slack off. I can’t afford to do that.”
Still, with a year on the resume under Austin, Gable admits a familiarity with the system. And, even though quarterback Henry Burris is gone, likely replaced by Zach Collaros, Gable believes playing together for a season has resulted in a smoother, more well-orchestrated offence.
“This year is different in that I’m more comfortable,” Gable said. “I know what to expect. I know the plays so I don’t have to think as much as when I came in last year. You can play faster when you know where you have to go, and you already know where everyone else is on plays. That makes everything work smoother.”
Ticats coach Kent Austin has called him one of “the best pure football players, period, in this league, on either side of the ball.”
In the 15 games he played in 2013, he mostly was dominant, rushing for 782 yards (fourth in the CFL) and hauling in another 598 on 54 receptions.
“I love playing in this league because I think it lets me use all of my athletic abilities,” Gable said. “I really enjoy running routes and catching the ball. In the CFL, a running back is much more involved in that part of the game.”
What makes Gable a complete player is his blocking, which in a pass-oriented league like the CFL, is an equally important part of any running backs game.
“I actually enjoy that part of the game,” he said. “Some running backs can do it. Some can’t. I learned how to do it when I got to USC. My coaches there told me I had to know how to protect if I wanted to play.
A lot of running backs don’t want to block. It’s just ‘gimme the ball, gimme the ball!’ But you don’t win that way. Some running backs want someone else to come in for them if (a scheme calls for a running back to block). But other teams can see that, too. So, it tips them off as to what kind of play is coming.
“I want to be in there all the time.”
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