Montreal Alouettes
MONTREAL — All Ernest Jackson had to do was be patient.
Patient enough to wait until he was given an opportunity to join a lineup permanently and for the Rochester, NY. native, it took almost two years for that to happen.
Jackson’s breakout season came in 2014 with the BC Lions – when he found himself regularly slotting into the lineup late in the season – after spending most of 2012 and 2013 on Lions’ practice roster.
His patience paid off as he signed with the Ottawa REDBLACKS the very next year (2015), where he found a permanent starting role and put together back-to-back 1000-yard seasons. And, in the most memorable moment of his career, Jackson caught the game-winning touchdown pass in the 104th Grey Cup presented by Shaw, helping to solidify himself as one of the elite pass-catchers in the league.
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Jackson participating in Alouettes’ mini-camp in Vero Beach, Florida (Montreal Alouettes)
After Jackson hit the free agent market this February (he and the REDBLACKS weren’t able to come to an agreement for him to stay in Ottawa) he decided to sign with the Montreal Alouettes.
Joining Montreal this spring – the Alouettes have already had a mini-camp down in Florida – Jackson will be reunited with an old teammate.
Montreal running back/returner Stefan Logan and Jackson played together in BC, back when Jackson was still fighting to get a regular role on the team. At that time, Logan saw something special in Jackson and passed on a piece of advice to the wideout – just be patient.
“He’s made a big splash in his career,” Logan said. “And I’m happy for him because I remember that same year, 2014, actually sitting there talking to him and he was kind of frustrated, he wanted to play. And I was like ‘man, look, just wait, your time will come’ and I told him ‘your time will come and when it comes, you’re going to shine and not look back’.
“I don’t know if he’ll remember but that’s what he’s done, he’s been shining and now he’s one of the guys in the CFL now.”
Jackson put together the best season of his five-year career in 2016, catching 88 passes for 1225 yards and 10 touchdowns. The season before? 84 catches for 1036 yards and five majors.
With that kind of production, and a winning attitude in his back pocket, there’s no question that coming into Montreal he’s going to be expected to help lead the charge of the Alouettes’ offence.
But for Jackson, being the guy really isn’t that important to him, he just wants to be a guy.
“That’s what everyone says, (for me) to be the number one guy,” Jackson said. “I don’t mind being the number one guy but I’d rather it be like how we had in Ottawa. We could contribute to the team and do our own thing personally. I feel like we can do that in Montreal with all of the veteran guys. We have the talent to have four 1000 receivers in Montreal.”
Having four 1000-yard receivers could potentially become a reality for the Alouettes this season, especially with their biggest splash of the off-season – the signing of veteran quarterback Darian Durant.
Durant, who spent his entire career donning the green and white in Saskatchewan, will have plenty of options to throw to on offence when things get started this season.
S.J. Green, who is making his long-awaited return this season, Nik Lewis, who is playing some of his best football since 2012, B.J. Cunningham, Sam Giguere and, of course, Jackson will all be at the veteran’s disposal.
“I feel like Montreal’s ready,” Jackson confessed. “I feel like the key thing they were missing was offence (last year). Their defence was great throughout the year. They had a lot of up and downs at the quarterback position. I figured they just didn’t have a great situation for offence and now that they’ve got everything settled, they’re bringing guys in and I feel like they could be a great competitor this year.”
Jackson says head coach and offensive coordinator Jacques Chapdelaine has a “complex but simple at the same time” kind of offence. He knows Chapdelaine and that complicated, straightforward offence pretty well, the duo was together in BC when the Als’ bench boss was the Lions’ offensive coordinator from 2010-2013.
Jackson likes the way Chapdelaine runs the show behind the bench and that was one of the reasons why he decided to sign in Montreal. That offence, along with the veteran presence in the locker room and the allure of the city of Montreal itself, is what Jackson is most looking forward to this year as he hopes to bring the momentum from his Grey Cup win to help lead the Als to a championship run.
“I’m basically looking forward to getting with the offence,” he confessed. “I know there’s a lot of veteran guys and I feel like it’s going to be a great chemistry. Especially on and off the field just hanging out with those guys and getting to explore the city. I’m definitely excited for that.”
