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Offensive lineman Daniel Johnson might be finally finding his footing in the CFL.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders 25-year-old fifth-round pick in 2024 has been given some high praise at training camp from head coach Corey Mace so far.
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“Last year, he came in a little bit dinged up. We had the time, we saw little flashes of it towards the end of last year when he was practising with us — I would go out on limb and just say he’s probably been the most improved player for us at this camp. He’s been outstanding,” Mace said. “Can’t say enough good things about DJ.”
Johnson is not small at six-foot-five and weighing 307 pounds.
In college, he played at Kent State University before being offered a spot at Purdue University for two seasons, but over the course of his college career he had to deal with injuries. The most notable injury was in 2022 at Purdue when Johnson suffered a torn ACL.
After spending the last year and a bit recovering from the ACL tear and other nagging injuries, Johnson had to reshape his body and figure out how to use it on the football field again.
After a good off-season, Johnson said he’s feeling more and more comfortable.
“There’s a lot of things that I had to work on my body, my knees and all that,” Johnson explained. “So this off-season, we got to figure that out and I’m now way more comfortable in my body, feel way stronger.”
Johnson’s road to the CFL has been anything but traditional.
He was temporarily raised in a refugee camp in Kenya before his family moved to London, Ont.
He doesn’t remember much from when he lived in Kenya, but said he remembers his parents raising his family in Canada and trying to build a new and better life.
“I just remember being young coming into Canada and my parents not knowing English. It’s just me and my brothers hanging out with my mom while she’s going to school learning English,” Johnson said.
“I remember a lot of those things and I’m very grateful for my parents and the people that were around them to help us grow. It was really helpful.”
Saskatchewan might not be close to Ontario, but for Johnson it could end up feeling a bit like a second home as his uncle lives in Regina.
After years away playing football down south, Johnson is excited to play in front of his family.
“I get to see them all the time,” Johnson said. “I get to be with them. Being in the States, I was away from family and now I get to know what it feels like to play in the city where my family’s at. It’s amazing.”
News and notes from Day 7 of training camp
Day seven of Riders training camp was not a pretty one.
The weather was brutal with rain, gusty winds and cold weather causing some passes and hand-offs to be dropped and not executed as cleanly as the players and coaches would’ve liked to see.
Coach Mace admitted Victoria Day Monday wasn’t the team’s best practice.
“I didn’t honestly think we had our best practice. But we talk about looking at this as as an investment opportunity for us — all the important games where we play at are going to be this or worse. I didn’t quite think we met the standard, but again with this group of guys I know how the response would be,” Mace said.
The offensive line continued to be a topic of conversation at training camp as Philippe Gagnon was seen walking back to the locker room midway through practice with a trainer by his side.
Mace didn’t have an update on Gagnon’s status going forward.
“I don’t know, I gotta go and see what the heck was going on. But you know, sometimes big boys in the cold weather — it might be a little bit a quick action movement — so we’ll see.”
Defensive lineman Aaron Patrick was also seen on the sideline with his jersey on. Mace said it was just a maintenance day for him.
When it came to plays, there weren’t as many highlights reels as we’ve seen in camp so far.
Both the offensive and defensive lines were battling throughout the day. The defensive line was really deciding to finish their tackles and make their presence known.
With the wind at their backs, both quarterback Trevor Harris and Jake Maier were slinging the football to find receivers deep down the field.
Defensive back Phalen Sanford had a nice interception on a deep ball that was deflected to him in double coverage.
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