August 5, 2018

REDBLACKS rookie Howell embracing opportunity

(Chris Hofley/Ottawa REDBLACKS

TORONTO — Justin Howell is making his opportunities count.

The 21-year-old Ottawa REDBLACKS rookie has established himself on special teams in his rookie CFL season, and picked up his first career tackle in Week 5 against Calgary on a Romar Morris punt return.

As the team’s seventh-round draft pick in this year’s CFL Draft, Howell was guaranteed nothing entering his first professional training camp.

“I tried to make sure I got the playbook down on defence and showed the coaches they could trust me,” Howell told CFL.ca prior to Ottawa’s Thursday Night Football contest in Toronto. “Coach (Steve) Sumarah told me, make sure you show them everything you have in those two pre-season games. That’s your first impression (and) your biggest impression.”

Show them he did, with a pair of tackles — one on defence, one on special teams — in Ottawa’s final pre-season contest against the Argos on June 7.

From there, it’s been a “dream come true” for the Carleton alumnus, who made it his goal to play on a CFL field like TD Place more often than the Ravens’ once-a-year Panda Game.

“I remember walking out into the north side (stands) there, for the first time ever and watching the REDBLACKS play, and I knew I wanted to be there some day,” said Howell, smiling in retrospect. “Not having to move cities, and (having) familiar faces around me — I built a lot of relationships in the community already — made it a much easier adjustment to pro.”


CFL draft guru Marshall Ferguson thinks players like Howell represent an undervalued opportunity for teams in the CFL Draft.

“I didn’t think he’d become a pure cover guy, I thought he’d be a rotational half-back, free-safety depth guy,” said Ferguson, the play-by-play voice of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. “He came ready to have success, like Marco Dubois. They got two really good special-teamers out of the box, guys that came ready to play.”

As for Howell’s production on special teams — three tackles in his last four games — Ferguson thinks his performances are right on par with what the REDBLACKS expected from their 55th-overall selection. It’s also something other CFL teams can look to as an example of late-round value.

“The smart teams in the CFL, including the REDBLACKS (with) Marcel Desjardins, seem to target guys that can make an impact on the lower-ranked stuff,” he explained. “Ottawa’s realistic. 6th, 7th round, we’re going to go get somebody that we can right now put on a punt coverage unit that’s athletic and smart. They saw the same thing I did: (Howell) prepares himself correctly (and) probably interviewed extremely well.”

What the draft guru and others may have missed during the scouting process was Howell’s ability to make an immediate contribution at the next level.

“I should’ve had him graded higher, my gut was he was the most purely talented DB, but I got burned in 2017 looking at other Carleton guys,” said Ferguson. “When I compared year-to-year, (BC’s Nate) Hamlin to (Calgary’s) Tune Adeleke, to Howell, they all snowballed into one because they were on the same defence — I should have viewed him on his own, as his own thing.”

In terms of a comparable in the 2019 CFL draft, Ferguson has two names circled from the East-West Bowl which may be similar value plays for GMs: Malcolm Lee (UBC) and Lautaro Frecha (Waterloo).


Howell is part of the first generation of professionals from Carleton’s still-relatively-new football program, and leaned on former head coach Steve Sumarah and former teammates who’d already joined the CFL ranks to prepare him for his first training camp.

“This whole offseason, Coach Sumarah and the staff at Carleton helped me out, mentally preparing me to go into training camp and (telling me) what to expect,” said Howell. “All the guys that played last year, the first wave of them — Tunde (Adeleke), (Nate) Behar, Kwabena (Asare) — I was picking their brains on what to expect mentally and how to adjust.”

Both the near and far future have the same end goal for Howell: help the team, improve daily and eventually work into the defensive rotation.

“I want to contribute wherever possible, wherever they see fit,” said the 5-foot-9, 199-lb. defender. “For now, it’s really just (about) learning the system, being ready for whenever my name’s called. Coach (Noel) Thorpe and rest of defensive staff do a great job of getting us prepared, (and) the vets have been helping me out since day one.”

Those opportunities don’t appear to be too far on the horizon: Howell was listed as the backup safety against Toronto on Thursday night and recorded a pair of tackles.