Johany Jutras/CFL.ca
Anthony Orange knows who he is and he knows it firmly, and confidently.
“Always the risk-taker,” he says of his defensive backfield style. “I try to go after it.”
Orange and his defensive teammates are the talk of the CFL these days, a ball-hawking secondary that plays the vast majority of its time in man coverage as opposed to zone, with a mobile and hard-hitting trio of linebackers (just wait until Solomon Elimimian gets back into the line-up) in front of it as well as a formidable defensive line that gets after quarterbacks like few others in the league.
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Anthony Orange says his aggressive style of play is exactly what got him to BC, citing his skill set suits what the Lions are trying to accomplish on defence. (The Canadian Press)
“I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else,” Orange says, contentedly. “It’s a perfect defence for the kind of player that I am.
“I’m good at playing man, they let me play man. That’s where I’m happy.
“I know what my strengths are and they’re letting me play to my strengths.”
You already knew Anthony Orange, even if you did think he was a CFL rookie when he first suited up with the Lions at the outset of this season.
That’s because he’d been in the league since signing with the Toronto Argonauts in 2015, only the name he scribbled on that contract and all others up until this year read A.J. Jefferson.
He legally changed his name earlier this year, about a month before he signed with the Lions and had a very good reason for doing so, in the form of his newborn daughter, Cecilia, now a month and a half old.
“I was named after my father but I didn’t really know my father growing up,” Orange explains. “My mother’s maiden name is Orange. The rest of my family’s last name has always been Orange.
“I talked to my family about wanting her (Cecilia) to have the same last name as my family. So before she was born, I went ahead and changed my name too, just to match. So that she would come in and I would be an Orange, my wife (Cecilia’s mom and Anthony’s fiancée, Christina) would be an Orange, my daughter would be an Orange. Her grandparents and everybody else would have the same last name. I kinda just did it for my family, really.”
His name has changed. His style of play has not; Aggressive, aggressive, aggressive.
It is, Orange says, precisely why BC general manager Ed Hervey and head coach Wally Buono brought the 30-year-old native of Bakersfield, Calif. in as a free agent this past off-season.
“Talking to Ed, he said he wanted aggressive corners and that I fit what he was looking for,” recalls Orange. “I don’t know if it was the reason why it didn’t work out for me in other places, but I know that’s why I’m here. My style of play, it just ended up fitting in and it worked out.”
Indeed there were other places for Orange, who burst onto the scene with the Argos three years ago, showing off his ball-hawking nature and hauling in six interceptions in thirty games over the course of two seasons. He signed with Ottawa when he became a free agent and was with the team for the early portion of last season, but was released after just two regular season games. He stopped in Saskatchewan and then Edmonton before the year was over, not seeing a lick of game time on the field for either team.
During his two years in Toronto, Orange jumped routes, impressively. He also got burned, impressively, and that kind of attacking style is not for every coach, not for every organization. Whether that played a role in his leaving each of those teams is a matter for speculation but what should not be questioned is how successful Orange’s 2018 campaign has been, with 36 tackles and six knockdowns to go along with his four picks, even if the occasional decision does mean something big for the opposition, instead of the Lions.
Defensive Coordinator Mark Washington seems to have touched on designs and philosophies that resonate with Orange and the rest of the BC defenders. Washington promised, Orange says, good things would begin to happen as the season progressed. Those good things are now in evidence, with confidence soaring and the Lions’ defence trending northward on the statistics page.
Orange is having a good year. Rose is, too. As mentioned, he and Orange are tied for the team lead with four interceptions, while T.J. Lee is right behind with three, adding eleven knockdowns to his stats. Garry Peters has two picks and Anthony Thompson has one as well, meaning every starter in the B.C. secondary has a swipe, accounting for fourteen of the team’s league-leading total of sixteen (linebacker Bo Lokombo has the other two).
The Lions play a ton of man to man coverage, according to Orange, around 80 per cent, he figures. And that suits him just fine. “Even some of the zones that we play, end up turning into man,” he says, laughing delightedly.
“I like playing man,” he continues. “It eliminates the thinking process.
You say ‘you got that guy,’ and you go out and you cover him. But it’s good to mix it up.”
“He’s a pressure guy,” says Orange of Washington’s defensive personality, when asked why the Lions forego zone coverages so much.
“Get after the quarterback and play man in the backfield. We’ve got a lot of guys that can play man. That way, we can send more people towards the quarterback that can get pressure on him.”
If Washington wants his pass defenders to be instinctual, that plays perfectly into Orange’s nature. That makes for a very enjoyable existence for a player who likes to go for it. Orange says he feels confident that taking those risks will not land him in hot water with the bosses.
“The coaches tell us ‘don’t be afraid of the double moves. If you see an opportunity to go get a ball, go get it.’ If I see something, I’m gonna jump it. If I see something short and I break on it and it’s a three-step read and the quarterback throws it, it’ll be intercepted for sure.”
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Last Saturday night, Orange bit on a move by Hamilton receiver Mike Jones and a subtle shoulder shift by quarterback Jeremiah Masoli. The short pass wasn’t coming, however, and Jones sprinted up field, wide open, hauling in a 75-yard touchdown pass, with safety Thompson too late on the deep scene to help out.
“You’ve gotta have a short memory and move on to the next play,” says Orange, speaking generally about the life of a corner.
It is the way the BC secondary will continue to do things, it appears; dancing on the edge of a blade as the season winds down and the playoff drama begins to heighten.
For Anthony Orange, that’s just fine. He kinda likes it on the edge of that blade and is glad he’s found a place where they want him on it.
