CALGARY, Alberta — Even in just his fourth season of professional football, B.J. Emmons already is well-versed in the importance of making a good first impression, particularly through playing well in valuable preseason minutes.
The Burke County native running back’s most recent such opportunity might have been his best.
In his first contest donning the team’s red and white colors, Emmons helped the Calgary Stampeders start the Canadian Football League’s preseason on a high note, scoring a pair of rushing touchdowns in Saturday’s home victory over the British Columbia Lions, 30-6.
Emmons turned seven carries into 32 yards and the two scores to lead Calgary on the ground.
The 26-year-old Emmons, who rewrote the Burke County high school record books before graduating from Freedom High School in 2016, has slotted into a bit of a journeyman role as a professional player after playing for three college programs at Alabama, Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College and Florida Atlantic.
People are also reading…
The Stampeders, who are classifying Emmons as a rookie, are his seventh different pro team and this is his eighth stint with an organization after he spent time with the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks as both a preseason and practice squad player in 2021 after the team signed him as an undrafted free agent. Emmons also spent part of that preseason and a brief time on the practice squad with the Las Vegas Raiders. He ended 2021 on the Jacksonville Jaguars’ practice squad.
Emmons spent his first games on an active roster in the spring of 2022, playing for the Tampa Bay Bandits of the USFL. He spent a brief time with the Houston Texans during the 2022 NFL preseason, then signed in the CFL for the first time in October 2022 with the Saskatchewan Roughriders as a practice roster player.
After spending the 2023 season out of football, Emmons signed with Calgary in December and made the most of his first time on the field at McMahon Stadium, wearing jersey No. 27, though he is listed as No. 47 on the team roster and that numeral appears on the back of his helmet.
His first touchdown on Saturday was a 5-yard run in the third quarter to put the Stampeders up 20-3. His 6-yard rushing TD on Calgary’s next scoring drive made the hosts’ lead 27-3.
“It feels great, but it was just guys doing everything they can for me,” Emmons told reporters after the game. It wasn’t easy getting here. It took a lot of trust from my teammates to put me in this position, and my coaches. This wasn’t all just me.”
Emmons had to reverse his field and make some B.C. defenders miss on the first touchdown.
“God closes one door and he opens up another one,” Emmons said. “So, I found the end zone. I was able to put points on the board for my team. It was a great play, I will say that, but I wouldn’t be able to do it without the blocking up front.”
Emmons is one of nine running backs currently on the roster for the Stampeders, alongside fellow Americans LeVante Bellamy, Peyton Logan and Dedrick Mills; Canadians Sebastian Howard, William Langlais, Paul-Antoine Ouellette and Lucas Robertson; and international player Ron Tiavaasue.
“Iron sharpens iron, the way we see it,” Emmons said. “We all come in and compete. I feel like everybody in the room can do it, so there ain’t no hate or any sneakiness, none of that. We support each other, and I feel like that’s how we build and how we grow as a team.
“We take a lot of ownership as running backs. We feel like we carry a lot of weight for this team. It doesn’t matter what it is, we always answer the bell.”
Calgary will conclude the preseason on the road on Friday versus the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The regular season is scheduled to start at home on June 7 against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
