KeeSean Johnson reaches 1,000-yard plateau in second straight CFL season

KeeSean Johnson is in the midst of his second straight 1,000-yard CFL receiving campaign.

And quarterback Trevor Harris thinks he could already have three under his belt if he had been given more of an opportunity in his rookie season.

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“There’s a lot of tremendous football players that come up and some don’t make it. You just never know how they are going to project out. It was pretty early on in camp and you watch KeeSean and know how smooth he is and how much he understands leverage and spacing zones and the waggle and being under control with all of his routes,” Harris said.

“He’s sneaky good after the catch,” Harris said following Wednesday’s practice at Leibel Field. “He’s a 1,000-yard receiver waiting to happen and if he doesn’t get to 1,000 yards, he needs a new quarterback.”

The Riders aren’t practising at Mosaic Stadium due to setup for the Foo Fighters concert on Sept. 15.

Currently, Johnson has 81 catches for 1,022 yards and seven touchdowns this season. He is second in the CFL in catches and fourth in both touchdowns and yardage.

The 29-year-old pass-catcher said reaching that milestone is one of the goals he sets prior to a season.

“Those feel good. The personal goals are always what you set for yourself at the beginning of the year but they always feel better with a win,” Johnson said. “As long as we keep winning and the personal goals keep getting checked, I’ll feel even better.”

While he crossed the 1,000-yard threshold against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in a 32-26 win, he had just 32 yards on four catches as the visiting team keyed in on the veteran receiver.

“They rolled coverages towards that way a little bit. You have to expect that at certain times and they are a team that’s doing it. I take pride in myself in still being able to kind of make some plays no matter what so it’s something I have to do more,” Johnson said.

With the coverage focused on him, it allowed other receivers to get opportunities to make some big plays. That included Dhel Duncan-Busby, who had 10 catches for 148 yards in the game.

The two clubs will meet in a rematch on Saturday in Winnipeg. Kickoff for the game is set for 2 p.m. The Green Zone pregame show begins at noon.

“You have to expect the same thing our crowd brought for us that their crowd is going to bring for them. We know we are going to have fans in there too, rooting for us. The biggest thing is to go out there and execute when we have to, knowing the environment is going to be the same but just opposite roles. How do we take that challenge,” Johnson said.

One of the things coming out of the Labour Day Classic was the Riders’ kicking struggles. This season, Alex Hale has made only 75 per cent (24-of-32) of his field goals, including two more misses last week.

“One of those things here similar to last year and even earlier this year with Alex, you put them out there, you push through and see what the week looks like. They have a good week and you have some confidence and you go a few games (with makes) and we’re not talking about it,” Mace said.

“But ultimately, like anybody in that spot, you have to get the job done. We will look at it throughout the week, see how it goes and make a decision at the end of the week.”

Kicker Dawson Hodge is the other option at the spot.

Wide receiver Shemar Bridges was with the starting offence as Daniel Wiebe (head) was a non-participant. Linebacker Nick Wiebe (knee) and Josh Woods (ankle) also did not practice. Offensive lineman Jermarcus Hardrick (hip) and slotback Kian Schaffer-Baker (knee) were both limited. Running back A.J. Ouellette (knee), fullback Albert Awachie (ankle) and linebacker Antoine Brooks Jr. (wrist) practiced in full.