KAMLOOPS — It was a training camp that starting out with so much promise for Derek Yachison.
The Kamloops Broncos alumnus was catching the eye of coaches and teammates. Then, a knee injury forced him out of the first preseason game in Saskatchewan.
But Yachison is back on the field, hoping to get his chance to play Friday night against Calgary.
“It’s good enough,” says Yachison about his swollen knee that has been getting better. “I spent the time throughout the last preseason game to heal it up. It’s been a bit of a process, it’s not a quick fix, it’s a bit of a longer thing. I’ve got it as good as it could be where I can get back to what I was doing and now I’m back out here.”
Yachison will dress Friday night, the Lions’ final preseason game before an encore in the season-opener at B.C. Place against the same Stampeders.
It’s something he did last year before landing on the Lions practice roster. This time around, he wants that opportunity to earn a spot on the final roster.
“It would be awesome,” says Yachison, who’s never tasted CFL action. “Being able to dress is always a good thing. Being able to to get in is definitely a bonus, something I’ve been working towards. Now that I’m getting healthy, it’s going to be good to have that opportunity.”
Yachison, when healthy, has made a good impression on both his teammates and coaches, who say he can play at this level.
“Derek’s improved significantly from the beginning of camp to the end, and obviously from last year to this year,” says Lions’ first-year receivers coach Marcel Bellefueille, who spent the better part of four seasons as the head coach of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats from 2008 to 2011.
Geroy Simon, a guest coach at camp who also happens to be the CFL’s all-time leading receiver, has been impressed with Yachison’s character in battling through the knee swelling that kept him out for a week.
“Even though he did get hurt, he had to sit out, he still studied, he still was out here, still was learning,” says Simon, who’s also the Lions’ director of CIS scouting. “He didn’t lose a beat, because when he came back, he played well. He still caught the ball well and he still competed hard.”
Whether Yachison actually plays on Friday, or makes the team, coaches and players say he’s proven enough to play in the CFL.
