By Stampeders.com Staff
Now that’s he made the team, rookie receiver Lemar Durant knows he’s still got a lot of work ahead of him.
“I feel I still have a long ways to go, it’s only just the beginning right now,” says the Simon Fraser product. “I felt that I had a good game last game but there are a lot of things I need to work on so I’ve just got to make sure I stay focused and try to get better every week.”
Durant played the second half of the Stamps’ pre-season finale on Friday night and his “good game” saw him lead all the receivers on the field with five catches for 85 yards. Among them, he had an impressive leaping catch for a 25-yard gain and a 14-yarder just short of the goal-line.
“He had a very good game out there,” says head coach and GM John Hufnagel. “He caught the ball in a crowd and had some yards after the catch. He has always been good with his assignments and from the sidelines I didn’t see him have any mental busts. It was a good outing for a rookie.”
“Once everyone believes in you and feels you can make the plays that you think you’re capable of doing, that’s all that you really need to push you to the next level,” says Durant. “I was just happy that everyone believed in me and the quarterbacks had the trust to throw me the ball and I made the plays I made.”
It was a good confidence booster for a guy who may feel he has something to prove in the CFL. Projected as a possible first-rounder in this year’s draft, Durant was still available when the Stamps picked him at the bottom of the second round.
Durant admitted he was a bit disappointed in his draft position, but was nonetheless happy to join the defending Grey Cup champions.
Competition among the pass catchers was high during training camp and cracking the Stamps’ deep and talented receiving corps was a challenge. Durant showed enough promise throughout the first couple weeks of camp that the team made the decision to release veteran national receiver Jabari Arthur after the first pre-season game.
“Jabari was in a dogfight,” said Hufnagel on the day he was released. “Lemar Durant has shown very promising things during training camp and we thought that was the direction we needed to go.”
One of the first things he did when he found out he made the team was ask to switch his jersey to the familiar No. 1 he wore in high school. Stamps fans have already seen glimpses of the talent that made him the Coquitlam Sports Wall of Fame’s Male High School Athlete of 2009 and are looking forward to seeing what’s ahead for the 22-year-old.
Durant can’t wait to get started. Officially being a member of the 2015 Stampeders is a goal he can now cross off his list.
“It’s definitely a big relief,” says Durant. “You work so hard in training camp and then this is the final result that you’re hoping for so once you come in here and you know you made the squad, it’s definitely a good feeling.”