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Deandre Lamont may never become a modern-day Deion Sanders, but if the Redblacks ever found themselves in need of an emergency receiver during a game, the 25-year old cornerback would gladly volunteer for the position.
Along with his team-leading nine tackles Friday in the Redblacks’ 20-14 win over the Edmonton Elks, Lamont had a key, diving interception on the Ottawa 26-yard line with just over six minutes left and his team up 17-11.
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After Monday’s back-to-work practice, he admitted that pick may have been the second-best catch of his life, right behind “more of a jump ball over two people” grab he made at Goose Creek Memorial High School in his hometown of Baytown, Texas, where he was a three-year letterman as a defensive back, quarterback and, yes, wide receiver.
How close was he was to becoming a full-time catcher of passes, rather than a defender?
“I was really close, actually,” said Lamont. “Coming out of high school I had a couple of offers … a DB offer at Colorado State and then Central Arkansas made me an offer as a receiver, then came on the home visit probably a couple weeks before signing and brought a DB coach. I’m like, this don’t make sense, and they talked to me about wanting me to play DB. At that point, I was like, I just wanna play football, I don’t care. I got there and switched to DB and it was great choice.
“As a receiver, you gotta depend on the quarterback to get you the ball. Now I can take the ball from him. I’m still the receiver at that point.”
Redblacks head coach Bob Dyce explained that the defence was stellar against the Elks because of the pressure the line put on quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson as well as the communication between the linebackers and secondary.
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The interception was proof of the latter, with weakside linebacker Davion Taylor “picking the right drop” vertically underneath the inside route runner, leaving Bethel-Thompson without a “true window” to hit the outside receiver, Eugene Lewis.
That forced the QB to throw the pass higher than he wanted.
“So it was really a whole unit effort,” said Dyce, who praised the defensive coaches for the job they have done motivating the players, getting them to buy into the system and playing at a high level. “Deandre just did a fantastic job, he was in the right position over top of the receiver and he was right there to make the play. We always talk about complementary football and that was a fantastic example of it.”
Lamont had a far less enjoyable game when he made his first start for the Redblacks last July 28 in Calgary.
That night he was burned for two Stampeders touchdowns and benched.
“It was a tough game for me,” he remembered. “They came out, hit me with a double move, and scored. I went back out, lined up, pressed up and they threw a fade … it was great coverage, but getting used to this field, it’s bigger, so (the quarterback) led him out to the sideline, he caught the ball and scored.
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“I bounced back later on in the season, and now I feel like I got a little more knowledge of the game. When to press, when not to press, stuff like that.”
In the off-season, Lamont says he spent a lot of time working on “press man stuff … if you can take out a receiver, pressing him up all game long, that was the main thing for me.”
After earning All-Atlantic Sun Conference honours in his last of fourth seasons at Central Arkansas, Lamont transferred to Illinois State in 2022 and received honourable mention All-Missouri Valley Football Conference.
His college background has made him a comfortable fit in the CFL.
“It’s a passing league … you’ve only got two downs, so they’re going to pass the ball more,” said the 5-foot-11, 190-pounder. “Even when I was in college, I played a lot of run fits, especially at Illinois State, because you’re playing against North Dakota State, South Dakota State, South Dakota … they have a lot of big guys up front. So I don’t have a problem coming down, tackling, getting in the box.”
Lamont also has no problem remembering the best season of his life.
It was before Illinois State, before Central Arkansas, before Goose Creek Memorial.
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It was one of the very first years he played football.
“We went undefeated, nobody scored a touchdown on us, we won the ‘Super Bowl’,” said Lamont. “That was the greatest season of my life.”
“But it does feel good to be 4-2 right now,” he added of the Redblacks start, then looking ahead to Friday’s home game against the same Stampeders who taught him a “learning lesson” almost one year ago. “It would be lovely to go 5-2 going into the bye week, and then come back and keep going where we left off.”
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GOING DEEP
The Redblacks expected to hear more about the status of DB/return specialist Tobias Harris after some testing later Monday. Harris left the field on a cart on Friday after getting twisted up in a fourth-quarter pile. If he can’t play Friday, likely to take his spot in the secondary will be Adrian Frye, a former Texas Tech Red Raider who played three pre-season games with the New Orleans Saints in 2023. Frye was a late cut by the Redblacks at training camp. “He’s just working his way back into the mix,” said Dyce. “When you look at his movement skills out there, he’s a very fluid athlete. It’s a matter of having a great understanding of everything that we’re trying to accomplish defensively. He was pressing very hard early in camp, so look forward to him getting more reps and seeing how things work out.” … Return specialist DeVonte Dedmon was back at practice after missing Friday’s game … Ottawa has released defensive lineman Deshawn Stevens from the practice roster. Stevens played 31 games over the past three seasons for the Redblacks … The Alouettes have signed former Carleton Ravens WR Nate Behar, who spent the past four seasons with the Redblacks before being cut this past winter.
dbrennan@postmedia.com
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