By Canadian Press

Ticats colourful linebacker Simoni Lawrence enjoying banner ’19 season

Oct 24, 2019 | 9:42 AM

HAMILTON — Simoni Lawrence is good with being public Enemy No. 1 across most of the CFL.

Like him or not, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ colourful linebacker is a leading contender for the league’s outstanding defensive player award.

The eight-year veteran, who leads the CFL in tackles this season with a career-high 91, was a finalist for the top defensive player award in 2015 — Adam Bighill, then of the B.C. Lions, won it.

In 2015, Lawrence had 78 tackles, five sacks, two interceptions and a forced fumble.

On Sept. 27 of this year, Lawrence had a CFL-record 17 tackles in a 33-13 win over Winnipeg. But the 30-year-old native of Upper Darby, Pa., cares far more about being a key cog on a Ticats squad that has registered a club-record 13 wins with two games left.

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Hamilton (13-3) chases a 14th win Saturday in Montreal versus the Alouettes (9-7). Both teams have clinched playoff berths but could meet again in the East Division final Nov. 17 at Tim Hortons Field.

“I feel like I’m always going to be a productive player,” Lawrence said. “But I feel like I’m more proud of the whole picture this year.

“We’re 13-3, (with) all the adversity I faced early and just being able to keep pushing forward.”

The six-foot-one, 231-pound Lawrence received a two-game suspension for a high hit on then Saskatchewan starting quarterback Zach Collaros in Hamilton’s season-opening 23-17 win. Collaros, who was subsequently dealt to Toronto and then Winnipeg, suffered a concussion on the play.

Lawrence has been fined twice since, including a max penalty for hitting Edmonton quarterback Logan Kilgore in the neck and head during a 30-27 Hamilton win at Commonwealth Stadium on Sept. 20. That prompted Lawrence’s skeptics to compare him to Vontaze Burfict, the controversial Oakland Raiders linebacker who was suspended for the remainder of the NFL season following a helmet-to-helmet hit.

It was the most severe punishment in league history for an on-field infraction. But unlike Burfict, who has been suspended 10 times for on-field incidents, Lawrence’s suspension was the first of his CFL career. 

However, the hits on Collaros and Kilgore have helped make Lawrence a polarizing figure.

“You’re not supposed to like me if you’re a fan of any other team because I’m trying to get to your best players and I’m doing it every week so it’s annoying,” Lawrence said. “I understand, I get it but all I care about, and you can ask anyone who’s gone through this locker room . . . are my teammates.”

That includes offensive lineman Chris Van Zeyl and running back Tyrell Sutton, who both played for other CFL teams before joining the Ticats this season.

“Chris Van Zeyl, we used to call each other everything in the book,” Lawrence said of the longtime Toronto tackle. “He came here and put that aside and I love Chris, we do things with each other.

“The same with Tyrell Sutton. I was trying to kill Sutton (who was with B.C. last year in Hamilton’s 48-8 East semifinal win) . . . and now I’m his biggest cheerleader. It’s crazy but it’s the atmosphere that’s here.”

Hamilton is seeking its first Grey Cup title since 1999. Lawrence has played in two CFL title games with the Ticats, losing 45-23 to Saskatchewan in Regina in 2013 and 20-16 to Calgary in ’14 at B.C. Place Stadium.

Lawrence admits the CFL’s top defensive player honour is important to him. But unlike ’15 when Lawrence and teammate Brandon Banks — the league’s top special-teams player that year — represented the Ticats at the awards ceremony, Lawrence would prefer being in Calgary next month for Grey Cup week with his entire team.

“I’m not going to lie and say it (defensive player award) isn’t (important) because we work hard to get everything,” he said. “When I’m training in the off-season, that’s on my list of goals along with the Grey Cup.

“I want to be the best player in the league every single year.”

Lawrence had a feeling this year would be special for Hamilton with rookie head coach Orlondo Steinauer. Steinauer was the Ticats’ defensive co-ordinator from 2013-16 before spending the ’17 season as Fresno State’s defensive co-ordinator.

He returned to Hamilton in 2018 as assistant head coach under June Jones before being promoted to the top job this off-season. Defensive co-ordinator Mark Washington and linebacker coach Robin Ross are in their first seasons with the Ticats after working together with B.C.

“When you have such good players around you, you can just trust them,” Lawrence said. “I used to try to make every play and now I’m much more patient and I’ve got to give a lot of credit to coach Washington and coach Ross, who’s done a great job of helping me slow down my eyes and be patient.

“Coach Orlondo keeps my head in everything right. What I’m most excited about is watching his vision that I saw (2013-16) now influencing the whole organization. That’s just the coolest thing for me. We have a system that’s, ‘Do what makes sense.’ If you feel like you can be great, be great. But if you think you can be good, just do your job.”

Steinauer, who was a defensive back with Hamilton’s last Grey Cup-winning team, said there’s no middle ground regarding Lawrence.

“Simoni is a passionate player,” Steinauer said. “You either love him or hate him . . . but he wants to be great.”

However, Lawrence said many people base their opinions of him solely on his aggressive, trash-talking on-field persona. That’s not who he is away from football.

“I like people, I like interacting with people and I love kids, they’re my passion,” Lawrence said. “But on the football field, I love being a monster, I love being able to let it all out.

“But off the field, I just love people and to just chill.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2019.

Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press