Argonauts.ca
TORONTO — It has been a long and patient wait but former Pro Bowl running back Dexter McCluster is set to make his CFL debut as a backup in the Toronto Argonauts backfield.
The Boatmen activated McCluster after seven weeks on the injured list and will backup James Wilder Jr. when the Double Blue visit McMahon Stadium Friday night to take on the Calgary Stampeders.
McCluster arrived in Toronto in mid-July but just a few days into workouts with the club was sidelined with a hamstring injury.
The addition of McCluster pushes backup RB Brandon Burks off the 46-man unit. The Argonauts have dressed two international tailbacks all season but a spot was freed up two weeks ago after they traded Martese Jackson to Edmonton.
McCluster, 30, was originally drafted 36th overall by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2010 NFL Draft. In four years (2010-2013) with the Chiefs, McCluster played 58 games amassing 662 rush yards, 1,500 receiving yards, 959 punt-return yards, 1,087 kick-return yards and nine total touchdowns.
“I’m healthy as an ox right now,” McCluster told the Toronto Sun’s Ryan Wolstat Thursday. “It’s been a long time coming and I’m happy to have this opportunity finally show what I can do … Right now I feel like my legs are ready to go.”
Dexter McCluster is preparing to make his CFL debut Friday after being acquired by the Argos in July. The former Pro Bowl RB will back up James Wilder Jr. against the Stampeders (Adam Krueger/Argonauts.ca)
In 2013, McCluster was selected to his first NFL Pro Bowl after returning 58 punts for 686 yards (fourth best in the league) and two touchdowns. Following the 2013 season, the versatile 5’9, 165-pound McCluster signed with the Tenessee Titans, playing two years and racking up 378 rush yards and one touchdown as well as 457 receiving yards and two touchdowns. The Largo, Fla. native played one more season in the NFL in 2016 with the San Diego Chargers, playing in six games.
In four very productive years at Ole Miss, McCluster exploded for 1,955 rush yards, 15 rushing touchdowns, 1,703 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. He was named third-team All American and first-team All-SEC as a senior in 2009 and second-team All-SEC as a junior in 2008. His senior season saw him become the first player in SEC history to run for at least 1,000 yards and have at least 500 yards receiving in the same season.
