Hard work pays off on the field for Riders’ Deon Lacey

Deon Lacey is used to being an underdog.

“I wouldn’t say I was an outsider, but just not coming from a lot like some kids would have come from, I didn’t have a lot of opportunity to really showcase anything or my talent,” the Saskatchewan Roughriders linebacker said. “Most of the time why I got good at sports is because coaches could see the potential and the tenacity in me.”

Lacey spent a majority of his childhood growing up in Hueytown, Ala.

“It was kind of rough compared to most places where guys probably grow up and my way out was playing sports,” Lacey said.

He grew up playing track and field and basketball for the most part.

It wasn’t until his Grade 9 year that he found his way onto the gridiron, because he was told he wouldn’t be playing on the hardwood that year.

“The reason why I started playing football was because I didn’t make the team for basketball,” Lacey said. “I was coming up through elementary and middle school and I was a solid point guard. I had nice height on me. I was still working on my dribbling, but my mid-range shot was good and my free throws were solid.”

He said part of the reason he didn’t make it was because the school – Hueytown High School – also had students come in from another middle school that had won the championship.

“They kind of picked up their whole team and the guy that got picked up from my middle school didn’t even play and I was like, ‘He didn’t even play and you chose him? I’m just going to go and play football then,’ ” Lacey said.

But while Lacey has earned a reputation as a hard-hitting linebacker in the CFL, he didn’t start off as someone who was out to lay punishing hits on opposing players.

“I was kind of nervous to tackle. I wasn’t used to the physical part of hitting someone with pads on,” Lacey said. “I had to get used to tackling. I used to shirt tackle – I used to grab guys by the back of their jersey; anything loose on their jersey I’m grabbing.”

But Lacey realized he needed to bulk up if he wanted to continue playing football and become a force on defence.

“I felt like I was too scrawny. I had the athletic basketball tone. I didn’t have a build, though, I was just lean,” Lacey said. “I felt more comfortable going out and tackling guys in my sophomore year.”

Coming out of high school, Lacey received a lot of partial scholarship offers, including interest from the Alabama Crimson Tide.

“Alabama said they found out about me late,” Lacey said. “(The recruiter) said, ‘You’re a heck of a player and we’ve got two athletic scholarships left and we’ve got three guys so if one of them doesn’t take it, we’re going to give the other one to you.’

“I was like, ‘Bro, who’s not going to sign with Alabama?’ Nick Saban had just got there and everyone was signing to Alabama at the time.”

The only school that gave Lacey a full ride scholarship was West Alabama, so he took it.

“My auntie told me, ‘Go where they want you. You’re only going to benefit from it because they want you there,’ ” Lacey said. “It turned out great for me. I went to the CFL for three years, turned around and did four years in the NFL and now I’m in the CFL again. It all just worked out.”

He put together quite the resume while with the West Alabama Tigers, being named the Gulf South Conference defensive player of the year in 2011 – a season that saw him record 97 tackles, four sacks, two interceptions, and a fumble recovery.

But while there was some interest from NFL teams, Lacey wound up going undrafted in 2013 NFL draft.

“I didn’t take it as serious as most guys would take it coming out of college. Guys were like, ‘Guys from (Division 2) don’t make it in the NFL and they don’t get picked up,’ ” Lacey said. “I didn’t even have an agent. I saw guys having cards left in their locker for agents and I’m like, ‘Well, I’m the one with all the accolades and I don’t have any agent cards in my locker. I don’t have anyone telling me to go and work out.’ I got everything on my own.”

Lacey said he had heard from the Dallas Cowboys that the team may take him in the fifth or sixth round but that didn’t end up happening. Instead, Lacey joined Dallas as an undrafted free agent.

“At the time, that was my brother’s favourite team and then my mom pulled out pictures of us from when we were little and we had Cowboys sweaters on, so I guess it was meant to be,” Lacey said.

“Watching those guys practise and how they did stuff, it made me feel like I didn’t work hard enough in the off-season. I was second-guessing myself and I didn’t know what to do.”

He made it to the third preseason game with the Cowboys before being released.

But then, opportunity came knocking in the form of then-Edmonton Eskimos employee Paul Jones, who is now the Riders’ assistant general manager.

Lacey said Jones had come to West Alabama to talk to him even before he had NFL opportunities.

“There’s this big guy sitting in a chair and he says to me in this country accent and he’s like, ‘Hey Deon, why don’t you come up and play some ball in Canada in the CFL? You ever heard of it?’ and I had never heard of it,” Lacey said.

He said when he didn’t make it in the NFL, Jones was right there again asking him to come up and play.

“He came to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and we met at a Shrimp Basket in Tuscaloosa and I signed my contract right there in the Shrimp Basket and I got a Grey Cup two years later,” Lacey said. “He said we’re going to win a Grey Cup, and he said the same thing with the Roughriders now.”

He remembers being flown out to Florida for a camp run by then-Edmonton head coach Chris Jones.

“That was the hardest workout I ever did. I did like nine workouts for NFL teams and to this day the workout I did for Coach Jones for those three days was the hardest I ever did,” Lacey said.

He recalled having to run from drill to drill with different position groups, running the length of the field to get to the different stations.

“(Jones) said, ‘You made the team because you outlasted everyone. Once you got tired and we watched it on film, you grinded harder than anyone,’ ” Lacey said.

He said it was a great experience in Edmonton, where he played three seasons from 2014 to ’16. He amassed 114 tackles, seven sacks, four forced fumbles and three interceptions. He was named a West Division all-star in 2014 and was on the Grey Cup-winning team in 2015.

“Just being out of the country and away from home, everyone would ask if I was homesick and I liked playing ball more than being at home,” Lacey said. “I was happy to be here and every time I talk to Paul Jones, I thank him for the opportunity and believing in me that I could come in and help the team win.”

Lacey eventually jumped back to the NFL, where he played two seasons with the Buffalo Bills and then spent some time in Miami.

He said there was NFL interest in him after the 2015 season, but he wanted to stay in the CFL another year.

“I wanted to stay. I just thought we were going to be good. That was when all the stuff (started to happen) with Coach Jones leaving (for Saskatchewan) and us getting a new head coach,” Lacey said.

“I was mad at (Jones) for a few weeks after I found out what was going on but after I calmed down and talked to a couple guys who said, ‘If you wanted to make the move to the NFL and he wanted you to stay, would he be mad at you?’

“He had an opportunity to make more money for his family so I had to respect that. It turned out to be great because as I was trying out for all these NFL teams, Coach Jones called me and told me, ‘Good luck with all that you’re doing and give them hell.’ ”

In 2021, Lacey returned to the CFL with the Roughriders.

“I wanted to win; that’s the main reason I signed (in Saskatchewan),” Lacey said. “I looked at the defence and I knew it was a veteran secondary so no worries there, and I knew some of the guys on the D-line. I saw Larry Dean had signed here and I remembered him from Hamilton and I remembered he was a dog with the Tiger-Cats.”

But a torn Achilles for Dean just days before training camp meant the two never shared the field.

Lacey has since grown to learn more about the rest of his teammates.

“This is a really solid team and I got a chance to watch (quarterback Cody Fajardo) practise and I thought we had a real chance and guys might not know it,” Lacey said.

Lacey said he was told by the coaching staff he didn’t have to come in and be something he wasn’t.

“I’m the type of player that doesn’t speak with words – I might say a couple things but I’m all about action,” Lacey said. “I wanted to come here and be a part of a championship team and I strongly feel this is a team that can get it done.”

Lacey is celebrating a win after Saturday’s matchup against the Stampeders.

The Riders won 20-17 after losing two straight to Calgary.