Long snapper Crawford gets big praise by Tiger-Cats head coach

Medicine Hat product earned his way to CFL veteran status

Aaron Crawford (#47) blocks on special teams for the Tiger-Cats in 2016.

    Aaron Crawford had to earn everything that came his way in the sport of football, so it was nice to hear the veteran long snapper receive some high praise from a seasoned 65-year-old career coach.

    Crawford has been with the Tiger-Cats since 2013. During a 41-36 loss on Oct. 27, 2017 against the Redblacks in Ottawa, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament and the meniscus in his left knee. He was forced to miss the Tiger-Cats final contest of that campaign.

    On top of that serious injury, Crawford’s contract expired following the conclusion of the 2017 CFL season. There was no certainty the Medicine Hat, Alta., product would be back for a sixth campaign with the Tiger-Cats.

    Instead of returning home to Medicine Hat, the 31-year-old remained in Hamilton to have reconstructive surgery on his knee, and he did his rehab there as well. After officially becoming a free agent in February, the Tiger-Cats continued to allow Crawford to access their facilities and their training staff.

    On Monday, Crawford, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 263 pounds, was resigned to the Tiger-Cats active roster. Hamilton cut St. Albert, Alta., product Tanner Doll to make room for Crawford. Doll suited up for the Tiger-Cats as their long snapper for four regular season games to start the 2018 campaign.

    Crawford is set to hit the field for the Tiger-Cats (2-3) for a clash against the Redblacks (3-2) at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton on Saturday. The contest will be a battle for first place in the East Division.    

    Tiger-Cats head coach June Jones, who has coached in various roles for about the last 35 years mostly in the NFL and major college football in the United States, offered up a big compliment to Crawford during his media conference on Wednesday.

    “Last year, I thought he was the best (long) snapper I’ve ever had at any level,” said Jones. “He is as good as they are.”

    Jones joined the Tiger-Cats in early August of last year and was named their head coach before they embarked on their final 10 games of the 2017 regular season. Considering Jones only saw Crawford perform for a relatively short period of time, his assessment has to be considered really high praise.

Aaron Crawford (#47) sets up for a long snap for the Tiger-Cats.

    Jones reflected on the fact Crawford finished the game he suffered his injury in and even made a special teams tackle. It was originally thought Crawford sprained his knee.

    On the business side of things, Jones said it was tough to allow Crawford’s contract to expire as the Tiger-Cats took the wait and see approach with regards to the veteran’s rehabilitation. Crawford appeared in 17 regular season games in 2017 making five special teams tackles.

    “That was the first time I’ve ever cut a guy that didn’t deserve to be cut,” said Jones. “He did everything right. He even went down and made a tackle.”

    Perseverance has been the word that has defined Crawford through his entire football career. He never followed the straightest line in joining the Tiger-Cats.

    He dreamed of playing in the CFL growing up in Medicine Hat. During his high school years in “The Gas City,” Crawford was a star for the Crescent Height High School Vikings football team being named the club’s rookie of the year in 2003 and a captain in 2004.

    He excelled as a linebacker, which opened doors in the post-secondary ranks. He bounced around the Canadian Junior Football League playing for three teams in four years.

    Crawford was a member of the Chilliwack Valley Huskers in British Columbia in 2005, suited up for the Regina Thunder in 2006 and 2007, and finished playing in B.C. for the then Victoria Rebels in 2008, who are now known as the Westshore Rebels.

    In a game on Oct. 1, 2006, Crawford returned to a fumble 107 yards for a touchdown to help the Thunder down the Winnipeg Rifles 38-21 at Taylor Field in Regina.

    While he was playing in the CJFL, Crawford dressed for the now defunct Medicine Hat Marauders senior tackle football team for the 2005 and 2006 Alberta Football League seasons.

    After toiling for the Rebels, Crawford moved to the U Sports ranks playing for the Saint Mary’s University Huskies in Halifax, N.S., in 2009 and 2011. With the Huskies, Crawford began to master the craft of being a long snapper having previously filled that role in his one season with the Rebels.

    Crawford continued to bounce around to different football homes, when he joined the CFL. In the 2012 CFL Draft, he was selected in the sixth round and 40^th overall by the Toronto Argonauts.

    The Argonauts cut Crawford following their training camp that year, but he resurfaced signing on to the practice roster of the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Oct. 3, 2012.

    The Roughriders released Crawford during their training camp in 2013. He proceeded to join the practice roster of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for a cup of coffee stretch starting July 22, 2013 and ending Aug. 4, 2013.

Aaron Crawford (#47) sets into a block after a long snap.

    From there, Crawford signed with the Tiger-Cats on Aug. 21, 2013 and made his CFL regular season debut on Aug. 24, 2013 in a home game against the Blue Bombers.
    Thanks to the fact he never took “no” for an answer, Crawford has appeared in 67 career regular season games for the Tiger-Cats making 19 special teams tackles and one defensive tackle.

    With the latest efforts Crawford made to recover from his knee injury, Jones felt he had to give the veteran a chance to play.

    “I kind of have a thing you can’t lose your job via injury, and I thought Aaron was one of the best snappers I have ever been around and he is a little bigger body in there,” said Jones. “I was hoping he was going to be ready for training camp, and he wanted to come.”

    Thanks to this latest chapter Crawford wrote in his story of perseverance, he will continue to live his football dream.

Longevity the hallmark of Fantuz’s CFL career

An Andy Fantuz card from 2007.

    Considering how starved CFL teams are for Canadian receivers and Canadian talent, maybe Andy Fantuz could have played another season or two.

    On July 19, Fantuz announced his official retirement from the CFL. The announcement came shortly before his two former team in the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Hamilton Tiger-Cats collided in Hamilton. The Roughriders took that encounter 31-20.

    The 34-year-old from Chatman, Ont., hadn’t been active with any team this season. He played six campaigns with the Roughriders from 2006 to 2011 and six seasons with the Tiger-Cats from 2012-2017.

    What might be the most amazing thing about Fantuz was how good he was in the later stages of his career. In 2016, he appeared in 17 regular season games with the Tigers-Cats hauling in a career high 101 passes for 1,059 yards and five touchdowns.

    He was the East Division nominee for the CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian award, which ultimately went that season to Calgary Stampeders running back Jerome Messam.

    Fantuz, who stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 218 pounds, wasn’t able to finish the 2016 season tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in one of his knees in a game on Oct. 28 of that year against the Edmonton Eskimos.

    He returned late in the 2017 season appearing in three contests catching six passes for 55 yards.

Overall, Fantuz will go down as one of the CFL’s all-time greats appearing in 148 regular season games catching 637 passes for 8,363 yards and 44 touchdowns. He came to the CFL as a highly touted prospect from the University of Western Ontario Mustangs in the U Sports ranks and lived up to expectations.

An Andy Fantuz card from 2010.

    His statistics could have been greater had he not missed significant time due to injury in the 2008, 2015 and 2017 campaigns. Fantuz was limited to four regular season appearances with the Roughriders in 2011 returning to the team late after trying to land a spot on the roster of the NFL’s Chicago Bears.

    One of Fantuz’s most memorable moments came in the 2007 Grey Cup in Toronto, where he scored on rumbling 29-yard touchdown reception early in the fourth quarter to help the Roughriders edge the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 23-19. He had four catches for 70 yards in that contest to be named the game’s most valuable Canadian player.

    He appeared in the Grey Cup with the Roughriders in 2009 and 2010 and with the Tiger-Cats in 2013 and 2014, but he was on the losing end of the scoreboard in each of those outings.

    Fantuz’s best regular season with the Roughriders came in 2010, when he appeared in all of the team’s 18 regular season games catching 87 passes for 1,380 yards and six touchdowns. He took home honours as the CFL’s most outstanding Canadian player and was named a CFL all-Canadian all-star.

    Throughout his 12 seasons in the league, Fantuz was always a high performer.

Back in the Express with Duchene family, other notes

The Duchene family is deeply connected into the sport of football.

    I was back in the pages of the Saskatoon Express this week with a feature story on the Duchene family, who are very active in the sport of football.

    Michelle and Eric Duchene first met in the 1999 U Sports campaign, when Eric was a rookie defensive back with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team and Michelle was one of the team’s trainers. They began dating three years later, got married and now have two children in daughters Jada, 12, and Halle, 10.

    Michelle and Eric both play touch football, and Michelle is the general manager of the Saskatoon Valkyries of the Western Women’s Canadian Football League. Jada and Halle play flag football.

The story on the family’s involvement with football can be round right here.

• Forward Ashley de Sousa Martins was named to Canada’s under-18 women’s basketball team on Thursday. She players her high school hoops with Saskatoon’s Aden Bowman Collegiate. The Canadian squad is slated to play at the FIBA under-18 Women’s America Championship, which runs Aug. 1-7 in Mexico City, Mexico. Guard Kaitlin Jockims, who plays Saskatoon’s Centennial Collegiate, was cut from Canada’s final 12-player roster. Martins has committed to playing for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s basketball team when her high school days are done.
• The National Lacrosse League Cup will make an appearance at the party in the park before Saturday’s Saskatchewan Roughriders game. The National Lacrosse League champion Saskatchewan Rush are bring the NLL’s championship trophy to the tailgate party in the park, which begins at 4 p.m. Fans can have their picture taken with the National Lacrosse League Cup. The Roughriders (3-2) are slated to take on the Calgary Stampeders (5-0) in a CFL regular season clash slated for 7 p.m.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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