Chris O’Leary
Edmonton Journal
As you scan the Edmonton Eskimo Locker Room, the groupings become evident.
For the most part, the oblongshaped room is sectioned off by position. The defensive backs are in one area; the receivers sit on the opposite side. The quarterbacks – Steven Jyles, Matt Nichols and Kerry Joseph – are together, while the defensive line weighs down its own place beside the DBs.
The only stall in the room that seems genuinely out of place belongs to Yamon Figurs. The five-foot-11, 189-pound wide receiver and punt returner sits with the offensive linemen, looking like a broken chunk of rock in Stonehenge.
“There were no more lockers left on (the receivers) side, so I’m over here with the O-linemen,” Figurs said, laughing. “But they’re talking to me and I’m learning a lot from them.”
The 29-year-old Figurs said his new pals are trying to make him one of them. “They always get on me, telling me I need to eat,” he said.
He’ll politely pass on their buffet offers, though, if we wants to keep the job that landed in his lap last week.
Figurs spent the majority of the past month on the stationary bike on the sidelines nursing a knee injury. Saturday against the Toronto Argonauts, he went from being a cutdown day victim on June 24, to being re-signed by the Canadian Football League club, to the starting lineup in the season opener – a 19-15 victory over the Toronto Argonauts. On Sunday, the Eskimos visit the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Figurs had a modest 20 yards on five punt returns in the Eskimo win. If anything, it’s a starting point for a guy whose speed has caught the organization’s attention.
“I took a lot of mental reps in training camp, so when I got there I knew what to do,” said Figurs, who ran a top-ranked 4.31-second 40-yard dash in the 2007 NFL draft combine. “It wasn’t tough, it was just adapting to what I had to do on the field out there. I slowed the game down a little there and I knew what I had to do.”
Eskimo Special Teams Coordinator Marcello Simmons said Figurs’ debut – especially considering the circumstances – was a good one.
“It’s pro football, so sometimes you get thrown into the fire and you get your one chance to respond and I think taking into consideration the factors, the obstacles that he’s had since training camp, I think he’s done pretty well.”
Figurs got an idea of what to expect from talking to legendary returner Henry (Gizmo) Williams. The ex-Eskimo was a fixture at training camp and gave Figurs advice wherever he could.
“I was picking his brain, trying to get in his head and see what he knows that I need to know when I’m out there,” said Figurs.
Simmons thinks Figurs will be worth the month-long wait.
“He is a special player,” said Simmons. “I think he’s been ahead of schedule in regards to the injury he had. . . . When you have someone like a Yamon Figurs, there is a period of adjustment.
“And depending on how long that is, it’s really about whether or not he makes that adjustment and I think he’s on the right track to do so.”
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