Riders’ Elimimian goes from unemployment to CFL great

Saskatchewan Roughriders linebacker Solomon Elimimian is one of the most decorated players in the CFL. But before all that, he had thoughts of quitting football altogether.

After a successful university career at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Elimimian accepted a free-agent tryout offer with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.

Elimimian was cut and spent an entire year at home, hoping a team would take a shot on him.

“It’s kind of crazy because you’re kind of naive and you kind of think that your phone is going to be ringing but it never rang,” Elimimian said. “Every morning I just worked out. I didn’t really have a job, so I stayed home with my parents. They were pushing me like, ‘Hey Sol, the NFL’s not working out, it’s about time to get a job.’”

As he continued to wait for a call, his brother told him about an opportunity that would eventually change his life — a CFL tryout opportunity in Los Angeles with the B.C. Lions.

“I knew it was my last opportunity. If I didn’t make the roster in Canada, I was pretty much going to retire and try something else, which I didn’t know what I could do at that time,” recalled the 32-year-old.

That wasn’t the first time he looked to his family to help make an important decision in his football career.

Elimimian comes from a family of four brothers and one sister. He said his family has always played a major role in his life.

“My parents stressed academics. My dad’s a retired English professor and my mom’s a social worker,” he said. “That’s one thing I appreciate: my upbringing and having strong parents to guide us and nurture us.”

Elimimian was born in Calabar, Nigeria, but his family moved to Crenshaw, a neighbourhood of Los Angeles, when he was two years old.

Crenshaw is one of the more well-known parts of L.A., with the 1991 film Boyz n The Hood being set there. The neighbourhood has also churned out incredible athletes, such as former New York Mets outfielder Darryl Strawberry and current Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson.

“It’s not necessarily the best part of town, but it has a lot of good in it and that’s what we focus on,” Elimimian said. “A lot of interesting people come from the area, but there’s also a lot of crime and poverty.”

While Elimimian played a bit of baseball and ran track, he shortly turned his full attention to the gridiron.

“In L.A., you need to focus in on what you’re good at and you find out real quick what you’re good at,” he said.

After excelling at the sport in high school, Elimimian had to choose where he would play his college ball. After visiting a few schools, he ultimately chose to follow in the footsteps of his older brother and play at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

“That was a school that recruited me heavily and they offered me a full scholarship and it made sense,” Elimimian said. “It opened my eyes to different things and really matured me as a young adult — that’s one thing I’m appreciative of.”

Elimimian can still recall the first time he hit the field for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors; it was in a game against the University of Southern California Trojans and the dynamic rushing duo of Reggie Bush and Lendale White.

“I was a true freshman and I think I got in in the fourth quarter and the first tackle (I got) was against Lendale White. I smacked him and I was just talking smack to him and saying all sorts of things to him,” Elimimian recalled. “I thought it was a really big accomplishment, especially coming from Los Angeles and watching those guys play and being able to get into the game.”

That was the start of a college career that saw him excel, recording 419 tackles in four seasons. It was highlighted by a 2007 run that saw the Warriors finish the regular season undefeated for the first time in school history, winning their third-ever Western Athletic Conference title. The team received a berth in the Sugar Bowl, which it lost 40-10 to the Georgia Bulldogs.

That 2007 team was honoured in May 2018, headlining that year’s Circle of Honour class.

“I played with a lot of great football players there and had a lot of great coaches there. (Former Hamilton Tiger-Cats head coach) June Jones was one of them,” Elimimian said, noting he had to miss the ceremony because it fell during the beginning of the Lions’ season.

“We were able to accomplish a lot of special things with a special group of guys and it’s always good to be recognized — especially for hard work.”

But even after the success on the gridiron, Elimimian’s journey found him on his couch waiting for a call and one last opportunity. And that came in the form of the then-Wally Buono-led Lions – after Elimimian was told to go home the first time.

“(Buono) said I was a little bit overweight and I always give him hell about that,” Elimimian said. “He told me to come on back in three more weeks. They had another workout in Vegas; I (went) to that, I performed better, they signed me and the rest is history.”

That history includes a bevy of awards and accomplishments in the CFL. He spent nine seasons with the Lions and was named the league’s rookie of the year in 2010. Elimimian was voted the league’s most outstanding defensive player twice (2014, 2016) and was the first purely defensive player to be voted the CFL most outstanding player, winning the award in 2014.

“My first four years I did not like Wally and every off-season I was going to try to prove him wrong,” Elimimian said. “He liked to get under my skin and he pushed me so hard where it brought something out of me.”

Elimimian was released by the Lions in May and eventually signed with Saskatchewan. He now has 750 career tackles and 29 sacks.

Thinking back to his first snap in college, he couldn’t have envisioned where his career eventually ended up.

“If you had told me everything I had to do to get to those accolades, I probably wouldn’t have thought I could have done it because it has been so hard,” Elimimian said. “God’s good and I have a strong family and had good teammates and had good coaches. I think I’ve been in the perfect situation to succeed.”

Elimimian will play against the team that gave him his professional opportunity for the first time Saturday when the Roughriders meet the Lions at Mosaic Stadium. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. with the Green Zone pre-game show beginning at 3 p.m.