REGINA -- It’s safe to say Saskatchewan Roughriders' receiver KeeSean Johnson won’t be flying under the radar of Canadian Football League teams again.
It was around this time last year the second-year veteran began to find his stride in the CFL game, getting more and more targets each outing and rewarding that decision with more and more yards on the field.
By season’s end, Johnson caught 75 passes for 746 yards and five touchdowns, leading head coach Corey Mace to label the Fresno State grad as one of Saskatchewan’s secret weapons heading into the current campaign. As it turns out, that assessment was correct, and Johnson isn’t so secret anymore.
With 55 catches for 794 yards and three touchdowns, including four catches for 112 yards during Saturday's 32-15 loss to the Calgary Stampeders, Johnson has already surpassed his 2024 yardage totals. That also has him ranked fourth overall in receiving yardage in the entire CFL, a further sign that things are coming along in his game rather nicely -- and attracting more and more attention around the league.
“I think people respect his game,” Mace said. “He's dependable, he’ll go into the tough areas, make catches, get his YAC (yards after catch). Whenever we've called his number, he's been up there at a high tick, making sure he gets the job done for the team. So incredible, we're happy to have that guy.”
For his part, Johnson is happy to play the game and let his reputation build on its own -- especially if it helps his team win games.
“I'm still new to the league and it takes time to build your name coming over and that's fine with me,” he said. “As long as my team wants to know me each week, I'm good with it.”
As Mace mentioned, a large part of Johnson’s notoriety is a complete lack of fear when it comes to going after balls. That’s resulted in a handful of spectacular catches through the first nine games this season, and a growing reputation as a player who’ll do whatever he can to succeed in high-traffic areas.
“When I see the ball [coming his way], my eyes light up, I'm ready to go get it,” Johnson said. “Once I see the ball, I'm doing my best and giving my best effort for my team to go out there and make the play.”
It certainly doesn’t hurt to have competition pushing him along, and Johnson has someone close by doing exactly that -- roommate and close friend Dohnte Meyers. The duo have been one-two in receiving for Saskatchewan much of the season, with Meyers currently second on the team and seventh in the CFL with 41 catches for 673 yards and six touchdowns.
And when we say ‘competition’, well, that applies to everything -- from targets to yardage to touchdowns to playing cards and even cooking.
“We battle on everything, it doesn't matter what it is,” Johnson said, adding that they’re always in good spirits. “We're going to make it a competition to get each other better. That's the main thing to get each other better each week, each day -- that's our goal.”
The Riders will be looking to rebound from Saturday's tough loss in Calgary next Sunday when they take on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the biggest regular season game of the year: the Labour Day Classic at Mosaic Stadium. While the fans might have had that game circled on the calendar for a good long while and sold the game out last week, Johnson and his teammates are trying to approach it as just another game.
“You can't look at the bigger picture further down the road if you can't get past this one,” Johnson said. “So that's going to be our goal every week, I'm going to try to look at it like that.”
Teagan Witko, Justin Dunk and Wes Cates have the pre-game show at 2 p.m. Sunday while Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder have the game call at 5 p.m. Listen to all the extensive coverage on the 620 CKRM Co-operators Rider Broadcast Network.
