Hollins, Stanback to carry load early for Lions' offence

28/04/2024 16:03

TORONTO — The 2024 BC Lions added a tank on the ground to their aerial firepower.

After dominating the skies in 2023 and leading the CFL in passing yards, BC went out and signed Grey Cup champion running back William Stanback, bolstering a rushing attack that can take advantage of lighter boxes due to their passing threat.

One of their vertical weapons is wide receiver Alexander Hollins, who had a breakout season with 1,173 receiving yards and nine touchdowns for the Lions last year.

The Yazoo City, MS, native has learned to trust his quarterback when it comes to deep passes, but also free agency acquisitions.

“Whenever (Vernon Adams Jr.) knows a guy he lets me know about it,” said Hollins to Donnovan Bennett and Henoc Muamba in this week’s edition of The Waggle Podcast. “I’m just looking forward to going into camp, getting ready to work with this man (Stanback).”

“It’s gonna be a fun year.”

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Stanback (who played with the Lions pivot in Montreal) joined Hollins on The Waggle Podcast to talk about moving to BC in the off-season after reaching the pinnacle last year with the Alouettes.

“Coming off of a win in the Grey Cup is unbelievable,” said the running back. “My mind was obviously all over the place this off-season with where I’m going to be at and what’s going to be in store for me for in the future. But you know, I stay positive and stay grounded and it landed me somewhere that I feel like I’m gonna have a lot of success.”

The Lions are hoping that Stanback’s experience in the post-season helps push them over the top in the West Division. BC has lost to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Western Final in back-to-back years after staying in the thick of the run for the division title all season long.

The veteran rusher brings with him not only a championship ring but also 3,716 career rushing yards and 11 majors over five seasons in Montreal, establishing himself as one of the best backs in the CFL. Stanback has made it clear that he’ll just continue to do in BC what he has always done.

“Picking up where I left off,” answered the Hempstead, NY, native when asked about his mindset going into the off-season. “Making sure that I’m ready, making sure that I’m getting back to the old William Stanback that this this league knows me for.”

While the Lions strengthened their ground game, their league-leading passing attack will be missing a couple faces with the departures of Dominique Rhymes to the Ottawa REDBLACKS and veteran Lucky Whitehead, who’s still available in free agency.

That means a heavier workload for Hollins, especially with fellow running mate Keon Hatcher potentially missing time with an injury sustained in 2023. The duo had their contracts extended by the Lions over the off-season and project to be the top two weapons for BC come season end.

“It’ll be more targets for me, obviously, with Keon Hatcher probably missing the first half of the season,” said Hollins. “But you know, we’re losing (Rhymes), losing Lucky Whitehead, that’s going to be big so, myself and other guys that we still have there now and new guys that we’re bringing in (are going to have to) step up to the plate.”

Among those who will have to carry the load through the air are National receivers Justin McInnis and Jevon Cottoy, who combined for 1497 yards and nine touchdowns in 2023. They’ll also benefit from a strong one-two punch at running back with Stanback being paired with last year’s starter Taquan Mizzell, who had 773 rushing yards and three majors.