It’s amazing to think, isn’t it? Janarion Grant was a football player without a job just six months ago. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers, his team for the previous four seasons, weren’t able to get a deal done with the 30-year-old star returner during last winter’s free agency period.
Grant, in fact, didn’t have an agreement with anyone until he signed with the Toronto Argonauts last May, after training camp had already begun.
Now, Grant and the Argos meet those same Blue Bombers in this Sunday’s 111th Grey Cup, in Vancouver. Grant comes in newly-minted as the CFL’s Most outstanding Special Teams Player, an award that was presented to him on Thursday night.
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After four scintillating seasons in blue and gold, Grant pulled off another tremendous campaign, this time in Oxford and Cambridge blues, returning three punts and a kick-off for touchdowns during the regular season, and then adding an explosive, game-changing 71-yard punt return TD against the Montreal Alouettes in last week’s Eastern Final win.
“No grudges, man, it’s all love,” said Grant about playing his old team this Sunday.
“Whatever opponent I got in front of me, I gotta try to make their life a living hell,” he added in his soft-spoken manner. “Try to take my returns back every time.”
Here are three reasons why Janarion Grant has enjoyed such a stellar first season in Toronto.
HE CAN PROCESS THE CHAOS AT A HIGH LEVEL
Ask Toronto special teams coordinator Mickey Donovan about what Janarion Grant can do, and you get more than just what’s obvious to the naked eye; that Grant is blessed with shifty moves and breakaway speed.
As well as explosiveness, Grant can decipher the unfolding chaos in front of him in short order.
“Janarion does a great job recognizing where his blocks are being set up and the leverage points that we’re trying to attack and hit on our opponents,” said Donovan this week. “Understanding that at full speed as he’s getting vertical, I think that is something that is unique about him. Not every returner has that.”
Grant’s talent is one thing and it’s a very important ingredient in making the Argo return game go. But that’s not all of it, according to
Donovan.
“We have landmarks on our returns that we’re all aware of,” the third-year Toronto assistant explains. “Things that I pinpoint on certain returns that help the guys – everyone on the field – so they know where we’re trying to hit it, (depending) on certain leverages and the depth of the punt.
“Everything sets up differently on every return and you never know where it’s going to be. But when the guys understand it, and when it’s all twelve working together, he knows now where his reads are and what he’s trying to find.”
JANARION ADJUSTED TO DONOVAN AND DONOVAN ADJUSTED TO JANARION
Asked if Grant was tasked with completely changing the way he approaches the return game after signing with the Argos, Donovan speaks of give and take. If Grant was joining something new in 2024, Donovan was in need of adjustment as well. He’d just spent two seasons coordinating for another top returner, Javon Leake, who left for the Edmonton Elks in free agency.
“It works both ways,” explained Donovan. “I think Leake is a different returner than Janarion and the way I had stuff set up for him was probably a little bit different. And Leake would hit it differently.
“Janarion was different and I had to adjust to him. In a good way.”
For Grant, that adjustment was smooth enough, and he agreed that assimilation was and is a two-way street between he and Donovan. “We both lock in and I see what I see, he sees what he sees. We learn from each other.”
As the two got to know each other better and better, the tweaks came, the meshing of gears got smoother, and the dividends really started to pay off.
Grant returned a punt for a touchdown against Saskatchewan in Week 5, a kick-off for a TD against Montreal in Week 6 and another punt for a major against Hamilton in Week 7. In Week 10, there was a 86-yard punt return touchdown against Calgary and then there was last week’s shot of adrenaline in the Eastern Final, with the Argos trailing the Alouettes 16-7, late in the first half.
“I was massaging and accepting his way as a player, (so) that I then started to translate my returns,” said Donovan. But I didn’t want to switch them too much,” he added with a laugh.
FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION FOR THE BLOCKERS
Toronto’s punt and kick return blockers are as self-motivated as any other team’s. But they also have to contend with a coach who takes missed blocks very personally. Not for himself, but for Grant.
“When I see him get hit pretty good, and if it’s one of our guys that lost a block, they’re gonna get it on the sideline,” said Donovan. “And they understand. They don’t want him taking those shots either. It just hits a certain chord on me, you know?”
“Because in my eyes, we’re there to protect him.”
Donovan is proud of his special teamers, feeling that he has a brigade brimming with energy as well as that protective personality he himself harbours.
“I think they all have that buy-in of, you know, whatever we’re drawing up, whatever is being asked, they all do it to their best ability. And they give their full max effort.”
At least part of that can be credited to Grant. The way he carries himself, said Donovan, has made him very valuable to the Argos, and very well-liked.
“Professional,” said Donovan of Grant. “Comes to work, wants to be great for his teammates, gives everything he has, doesn’t say much. But the guys love him and I love him.”