Chris Tanouye/CFL.ca
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers know what they have in Janarion Grant.
“I think he brings the possibility of a home run every time he touches the ball,” Bombers special teams coordinator Paul Boudreau said on Wednesday, during the team’s media day at the 110th Grey Cup.
Grant, who is five days away from turning 30, is the Bombers’ all-time leader in kick return touchdowns. Through his four years in Winnipeg, he’s established himself as that beacon of hope type of player to deliver a big return when his team needs it.
“That’s what’s in my head every time, I’ve got to score, you know, make plays,” Grant said of his mentality as he watches the ball come to him and gets ready to find his way around and through the 23 players in front of him.
“If I don’t have it right away, just set it up to where I can make a seam for myself, hit the hole as fast as possible and trust myself.”
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Grant’s season got off to a sensational start when he put together an instant play-of-the-year candidate in Week 2 against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. He had 10 different players in green sprawling to the turf trying to take him down on his 90-yard, sideline-to-sideline-to-end zone touchdown.
His early season work was so impressive that it left Toronto Argonauts general manager and one of the most elusive players in CFL history, Michael ‘Pinball’ Clemons, reduced to one word: wow.
Just when it seemed like the rest of the league was one of those clear-cut seams up the sideline for Grant, an injury came out of nowhere, sending the five-foot-nine, 157-pounder out of the game. An ankle injury took 10 games on him this season, leaving the Bombers hurting at points in their field positioning. Grant didn’t get back onto the field until Week 18, when the Bombers battled the BC Lions in a winner-takes-first-place game at BC Place.
“It was damn near almost the whole season,” Grant said of the injury, thanking the Bombers’ athletic training staff and his faith for helping get him back on the field.
“It definitely left a big chip on my shoulder. I know I can definitely do great things. That’s what I plan to do each and every game out. I just take it one day at a time and make sure I do the right things.”
That includes working with his teammates in the return game, who want to see him succeed; especially after this season brought such a promising start to a halt on him.
“The guys love blocking for him because they understand that not only can he hit the home run, but he’s a tough dude to get down,” Boudreau said.
“You look at him and he might not be big in stature, but there’s been a number of times over his career where he’s dragging guys, or there’s two guys on him and he’s able to get out of it and turn another five or seven yards. It might not look like much but at the end of the day, it might turn into what looked like a ho-hum return was 18 yards, and 18 yards on a return is pretty good. I don’t think people see how many good 10-yard or 12-yard returns he has. They always are looking for the 70, but he’s had some really good mid-range 10 to 15, 20-yard returns just by setting up a block or breaking tackles.”
It’s an invaluable component to any team, having a returner that’s got that home run in him, but when he’s not finding the end zone is consistently giving the offence good field position.
“You wouldn’t know to hear him talk,” Boudreau said, “He’s very quiet. But you can kind of see in his eyes, or he’ll mumble a little bit on the sideline to the guys, ‘Let’s go. It’s time to make a move here, to make something big.’ But he’s also smart enough where he’s not going to press the situation if it’s not there. He’s not going to try to do too much on his own.”
The Bombers took their time with getting Grant back on the field this season. After he had return touchdowns in last year’s Western Final and had a record-setting 102-yard punt return in the 109th Grey Cup last year, they know they have an elite weapon in their arsenal as they head into Sunday’s game, where the Bombers will look for their third championship in the last four years.
“It never gets old. It’s something special,” Grant said of the team’s four-year run of success and all of the extras that go into Grey Cup week.
“I think every player in this building even the other team just feels that it’s definitely special. You’ve got to enjoy every day, every moment. You don’t get this always. You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t a special team.”
