Friday night was going to be a big night for Calgary Stampeders rookie Tim Hawthorne.

The wide receiver from Alabama was going to be playing his first-ever CFL game and his family and girlfriend wanted to experience it with him. 

They couldn’t make the trip north, so they wanted to figure out a way to watch it whatever way possible. 

“I’m telling you now, my mom and my dad and my girl, they are so mad right now because it was not on TV and it was not livestreamed,” Hawthorne said. “They’ve been calling me, I’ve got about 50 text messages, 50 calls asking when the game is and where can they watch it.

“Unfortunately, they weren’t able to do it.”

It turned out to be a game they definitely wished they could have watched.

With a chance to separate himself from the rest of the receiving corps, the 25-year-old led the Stampeders with 70 yards on three receptions Friday night in the pre-season game against the BC Lions.

It doesn’t bother Hawthorne too much that his family wasn’t able to join in on the glory — he hopes they have plenty of times to see him play.

“We’ve got another game next week, ” he said,” and hopefully I make the cuts and make the team so they’ll have plenty of games to watch.”

Despite missing a few days in training camp with a nagging hamstring injury, 6-foot-2, 218-lb. Hawthorne was able to develop early chemistry with Stamps quarterback Kevin Glenn.

After Glenn took over in the second quarter, his first pass was to Hawthorne — a 12-yard completion.  A few plays later, with the Stamps facing a second and 20, Glenn and Hawthorne connected for 27 yards, leading to a Calgary touchdown the next play. 

On the next series, Glenn again turned to his favourite target of the night. Evading a tackle in the backfield, Glenn turned to the backside of the play and found Hawthorne breaking off his route, turning it into a 31-yard gain. 

“It’s just one of those things that I guess you could say I have a knack for, but we actually do practice scrambling drills,” Hawthorne said. “It’s just one of those things where I felt him getting flushed to my side and I broke my route back to the side and he found me.” 

And with the three grabs, Hawthorne completed his goal to get recognized by the coaching staff.

“Tim Hawthorne has been a guy who has been steady throughout camp,” said head coach John Hufnagel. “He had a hamstring and missed a few days but kept on top of things, so he’s pretty good assignment-wise.”