Lawrence in for injured friend White as Eskimos prepare for Redblacks

This year Lawrence, a five-foot-nine, 195-pound all-purpose running back/receiver/kick returner didn’t make the Eskimos out of training camp but is back on the roster this week because White is again out for the season, this time with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

It’s made for some interesting times for the pair, who have become good friends since they first met in Edmonton and are now roommates.

“Since I came here in ’14 we just kind of like saw the same thing, saw eye to eye,” Lawrence said this week as the Eskimos prepared for their Friday night home game against the Ottawa Redblacks. “Being on the field together that year was a lot of fun so we just been trying to reconnect that for the last two, three years.

“This year, we felt we’re finally reunited and looking into it long term,” he said of becoming roommates. “Whether it be two, three, five years, we were just excited to be back playing together. The whole deal about the roommates, that’s nothing man, that’s my brother, so us living together it’s nothing, it’s like being back at home.”

It hasn’t all been fun and games, however.

“Yes, it’s really difficult,” Lawrence said of dealing with the situations the two of them have faced. “But at the same time, we’re each other’s biggest fan. Me not being on the roster, we both understood the business part of that but that never stopped us. If I was laying around he would get me up to go do stuff. He was motivating me every morning.”

Now the roles are reversed, and its Lawrence’s turn to support and motivate White through his second major injury in three years.

“My role, with him not playing right now, I want to motive him, stay on him, make sure he’s staying positive. Make sure he’s working hard and he still has the love of the game”

Even the topic of conversation can be touchy. One of the last things an injured athlete wants to hear is how well his teammate is playing, especially when one is on the roster at the expense of the other. Still, they’ve both played football all their lives, it’s in their blood so in the end there’s really no escaping the topic.

“We try not to, but we love football so much we end up talking about it, whether it’s a play, whether we see something, if we see a new technique we can learn from, it just happens,” said Lawrence. “The love of the game just never goes away.”

Ottawa comes into the game coming off a close 26-25 loss at home to Toronto last week. The defending Grey Cup champions are looking for their first win of the season, after trying and losing a two-game series with Calgary to open the campaign.

“Every time you lose a tough game like (Toronto) you want to move on and get back on the field,” Ottawa head coach Rick Campbell said on the team’s website. “Edmonton’s going to be a big challenge, it’s always tough to go out there, but we have every intention of going out there and playing good football.”

John Korobanik, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Lawrence in for injured friend White as Eskimos prepare for Redblacks

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