Jason Halstead/CFL.ca
If things had gone a little bit differently, if he hadn’t shown quite so much perseverance, Dalton Schoen might be sitting behind a desk today at an engineering consulting firm in Kansas City.
In 2019, during his final year of college at Kansas State and uncertain about his professional football future, Schoen accepted a job where he could use his degree in mechanical engineering and master’s in data analytics.
RELATED
» Bio: Dalton Schoen by the numbers
» 128 players eligible to be Most Outstanding Rookie
» Vote now for CFL All-Stars
“It’s kind of strange,” Schoen said with a chuckle. “That would have led me on a completely different path. It would have been two or three years now I’d be sitting behind a desk.
“I thank God every day that I get to do what I do.”
The Winnipeg Blue Bomber slotback, who leads the CFL with 1,357 yards and 15 touchdowns from 68 catches, is a favourite to be named the league’s Most Outstanding Rookie.
With one game remaining on the Bombers’ regular schedule, Schoen still has a chance at breaking the rookie record of 1,530 yards set by Matt Clark of the BC Lions in 1991, and the rookie mark of 18 touchdowns set by the Lions’ David Williams in 1988.
Being named the league’s top rookie “would be a great honour,” but Schoen credits his teammates, quarterback Zach Collaros and head coach Mike O’Shea for his success.
“It’s really a reflection on how my teammates have embraced me and helped me along this path,” said the 26-year-old from Overland Park, KS. “How Zach has taken a rookie receiver and made him a good player.
“Also, credit (O’Shea) and the culture he’s built with the Bombers. All of those things have been working in my favour.”
Veteran Bomber linebacker Adam Bighill, a three-time league Outstanding Defensive Player, said Schoen brings a unique awareness to the receiving position.
“There’s so much more than running routes,” said Bighill, who has played against the league’s best receivers. “He understands as a receiver what the quarterback needs and how the defence is playing, so he can find the right kind of window.
“On top of that, he’s exceptional at catching the ball, attacking the ball, and creating space for himself. That’s a whole other part of finishing a play and he’s pretty exceptional at that.”
Collaros said Schoen brings skills that can’t be taught.
“He’s got great instincts and understands the game,” said the league’s reigning Most Outstanding Player. “I’ve run out of good things to say about Dalton.
“His maturation through the entire season has been awesome and we still have a lot left.”
Schoen, a walk-on at Kansas State, had an outstanding college career finishing with 1,569 career receiving yards.
He went undrafted by the NFL, but the company he agreed to work for encouraged him to pursue his football dream. Over the next few years Schoen had stints with the Los Angeles Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs and Washington Commanders.
Former CFL star Danny McManus, Winnipeg’s assistant general manager and director of U.S. scouting, saw Schoen when he was in camp with the Chiefs and contacted his agent about playing in Canada.
Schoen had never been to Canada, and knew little about the league, but realized his window of opportunity was closing.
“There was that kind of thought in the back of your mind, when I decided to come up here, that if this doesn’t work out, this is probably the last stop,” he said. “It kind of freed me up to just go play football, have fun with it.
“It’s been a whirlwind. You’re coming for a training camp as a rookie and you don’t even know if you’re going to make the team. It’s all worked out way better than I could have ever expected.”
O’Shea said from the beginning Schoen possessed the proper balance of confidence and willingness to learn.
“He showed up with a tremendous amount of focus, he knew exactly what he wanted to accomplish and there wasn’t going to be anything that was going to stand in his way,” said O’Shea. “He showed up with a tremendous amount of humility, knowing he had to learn the nuances of a new game.”
The six-foot-one, 218-pound Schoen relentlessly watches film and constantly asks questions.
“If you ask the receivers how many questions Dalton has asked from the beginning until now, it’s going to be an absurd amount,” said Bighill.
Backup quarterback Dru Brown, who connected on a 22-yard touchdown pass with Schoen in Winnipeg’s 40-32 loss to the BC Lions last week, said the young receiver is always trying to soak up information.
“He’s like a sponge,” said Brown. “He tries to learn everything.
“He’s very talented, but he’s very dangerous because of how smart he is.”
It’s just not the yards or number of catches that separates Schoen from other receivers, but when he makes them.
Schoen has made 40 catches on second down, more than any other player in the league. His average of 20 yards a catch is the highest in the league. His 11 catches of 30 or more yards is tied with BC’s Dominique Rhymes for most in the CFL. His average of 79.8 yards a game is second only to Rhymes’ 80.3.
“He manages to get open,” said O’Shea. “He has a high catch rate. If you see a ball go on the ground near him, something has happened. He just catches it all the time.”
Schoen credits his perseverance to the 16 goals of success preached by Kansas State coach Bill Snyder. One of the goals was no self-limitations.
“That’s something I latched onto early in my life and I’ve kind of tried to keep using all the way throughout my journey,” he said. “You never want to give up because we only have a very small amount of time where we’re able to do what we do.
“At the end of the day, I’m here because I love football, I love playing this game. There’s nothing quite like it.”
