Speedy CJ Sims eager to end Edmonton Elks' drought by scoring a return touchdown (2024)

Before CJ Sims played a single down for the New Mexico Highlands University Cowboys in 2021, he was likened to a National Football League star.

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“I don’t think a Jakeem Grant or a Tyreek Hill is a far-off comparison for what he can do,” then-head coach Josh Kirkland said in a pre-season interview with the Las Vegas (N.M.) Optic newspaper.

Given the vast expanse between the NFL and a Division 2 program in the National Collegiate Athletics Association, it seemed quite a stretch. But Sims injected that snippet of hyperbole with a mad dash of reality. The diminutive dynamo returned the season-opening kickoff 93 yards to pay dirt against the Fort Lewis Skyhawks.

“That play basically summarizes what happened when Sims got the ball in his hands, he raced past everybody and scored,” Optic reporter Gabriel Myers wrote in a post-season tribute. “When you think about Cowboy football in 2021, it’s CJ Sims running past the opponent. He reportedly runs the 40-yard dash in 4.3 seconds and on the football field he looks even faster.”

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Sims scored another kickoff return later in the season and added a rushing TD and 12 receiving TDs to earn the nod as offensive player of the year in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. In one game against Adams St., he scored four times.

A year later, he was still at it, winning RMAC special teams player of the year honours for new head coach Ron Hudson, who recalled a typical Sims outing against Black Hills State, then undefeated.

“He takes a slant first play of the game for about 70, which is fine. He’s a really talented receiver,” Hudson said Wednesday. “Well, they get up on us a little bit, they score a touchdown and they mess around with 30 seconds to go in the half, they kick off to him. And he takes that sucker back to the house. In the third quarter, he takes a punt to the house. And then he takes another one to the house, but it got called back for a block at the back.

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“And that’s basically the last time anybody kicked to him the entire year.”

On Sunday in Edmonton, Sims announced his intention to do the same kind of things for the Elks in the Canadian Football League. Proving that what happens in Vegas (N.M.) doesn’t have to stay in Vegas (N.M.), Sims lit up the Toronto Argonauts’ cover teams for 181 kickoff return yards and 104 more on punt returns.

The 5-foot-8, 160-pounder from Covington, La., looked like a threat to leg one all the way back almost every time he touched the ball. And, if history is any kind of teacher, he’s going to keep doing it as a receiver, should he get the chance.

“He’s a great route runner and a great improviser,” Hudson said. “His speed is definitely not his best asset. He’s got good speed, not elite, but good. His route running is spectacular. His vision may be his best asset; his vision and his swagger. There is not a play he can’t make in his mind and he’s near impossible to cover because of his ability to run routes. Tremendous ball skills and instinct and vision. It’s like God made him to play this game.”

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Though injuries to veteran receivers Manny Arceneaux and Eugene Lewis have clouded the offensive picture for the Elks this week, it appears Maurice Ffrench will draw in against Ottawa on Friday and Sims will have to wait for his turn.

“When it’s my chance to get out there, I’m going to make a play for my team and it’s going to be an explosive play for sure,” he promised.

He was signed for his ability as a returner, and goodness knows the Elks need a legitimate threat to handle those duties. There hasn’t been a kick return TD for the Green and Gold since 2015. Sims said he had no idea the drought was that lengthy, and he is committed to ending it.

“I’m excited for that. I’m the player for that. It’s like backyard football; just try to tackle me. I’ll make somebody miss. That’s about it.”

That is indeed about it. He is a man of action, not words. He said Sunday’s performance was made possible by his blockers, and is something he can easily replicate with more help from his teammates.

“Man, if I see a hole, I’m just hitting it, and I want to thank the blockers for making the hole for me to hit, and that’s about it, for real.”

dbarnes@postmedia.com

twitter.com/sportsdanbarnes

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