Former B-CU QB Matt Johnson signed by CFL BC Lions

VANCOUVER, Canada - The BC Lions have added a fifth quarterback for training camp with the signing of Matt Johnson. Johnson played four seasons with Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida where he led the Wildcats to a school-best record of 10-2 and a share of the 2010 MEAC Championship.

The Lions are expected to add a sixth quarterback before rookies report to camp June 2 in Kamloops. BC is talking with University of California-Berkeley quarterback Kevin Riley. Lions coach and general manager Wally Buono says if a team "is going to be in excess at any position, it should be at the quarterback position."


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BC Lions Signs Former Bethune-Cookman QB Matt Johnson

Vancouver - The BC Lions Football Club announced today that quarterback Matt Johnson has signed with the team.

Johnson appeared in 32 games over four seasons at Bethune-Cookman throwing for a total of 3,283 yards on 243 completions as well as 18 TD’s. As a senior, Johnson led the Wildcats to a program-best 10-2 record and a share of the 2010 MEAC Championship. He led the conference in total offense with 2,514 total yards and passing average, connecting on 65.1 percent of his throws (140/215). He also ranked second in the MEAC and FCS in passing efficiency (152.5) and sixth in the MEAC in scoring touchdowns (20).

The Lions also added import running backs Tim Brown and Michael Smith. All three signings will attend BC Lions rookie camp slated to begin in Kamloops, BC on Thursday, June 2nd.

Matt Johnson described as a Damon Allen type

VANCOUVER - Three years ago, the B.C. Lions added a rookie quarterback to their training camp roster who was billed as the next coming of Tracy Ham, a 2010 inductee into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

But the book on Omar Haugabook turned out to be more baloney than prosciutto. The “electrifying” Haugabook short-circuited in rookie camp and was released before the CFL team’s main camp opened.

Thus, Tuesday’s announced training camp addition of a “Damon Allen type” quarterback – Matt Johnson from Florida’s Bethune-Cookman University – must be greeted with not a pinch, but a pickup truck load of salt. Johnson will arrive at training camp in Kamloops 72,381 yards in arrears of Allen, pro football’s all-time passing leader and a four-time Grey Cup winning quarterback.

For now, the only area of comparison is their ectomorphic body types. Johnson is listed at 5-10, 175 pounds. Allen was a will-o’-the-whipish 6-1, 175, and almost impossible to hit squarely because of his elusiveness.

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Bruised, battered, but winners: CFL B.C. Lions 38, Montreal 17

Former FAMU quarterback Casey Printers returned to action from a knee injury as the Lion starter and completed 14 of 28 passes for 235 yard and two touchdowns over the East Division leader, Alouettes.

It still made a lot of sense to look the other way when watching the Lions as has so often been the case during the torturous first half of their CFL season. But for a change it had nothing to do with what they did while slapping around everyone on the Montreal Alouettes with the exception of injured quarterback Anthony Calvillo, whose value to the Grey Cup champions was never more apparent in the Lions' 38-17 win Friday.

The area around the B.C. bench was not for those troubled by misplaced body parts, nor did you want to be around coach/GM Wally Buono trying to figure out how many healthy bodies he will have to replace when his boys face the Toronto Argonauts Saturday at Empire Field.

Korey Banks was first. He had four fingers on his right hand going one way and his ring digit in a different location after an injury in the third quarter. Trainer Bill Reichelt had Banks look somewhere other than the field when he realigned the finger so he could continue.

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Printers and BC Lions lose a thriller at Empire Field

VANCOUVER, B.C. - Fans at Empire Field were pleased with the facility but not with the result of the game. In their first game in their new temporary home the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League lost 36-32 to the Edmonton Eskimos. It was a last second touchdown pass from Jason Maas to Skyler Green that proved to be the winner for the Eskimos. Overall, the Lions had a pretty good game as starting quarterback Casey Printers (Florida A&M University) got a feel for some of his new receivers and running backs. Printers hooked up with Jamal Robertson twice for a couple of scores.

Big plays also came from Printers as he connected with Jamall Lee for a 95-yard play that resulted in a touchdown. Eskimos linebacker T.J. Hill picked off a Casey Printers pass that went off of Jamel Robertson's hands and went 60 yards for a major score on just the second play from scrimmage for a 7-0 lead 54 seconds in. Printers guided the Lions through the first half and finished the day completing 13-of-22 passes for 263 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

Attendance at the first ever game at Empire Field was 24,763. The B.C. Lions ended pre-season with a 1-1 record.

Next Game: SEASON OPENER - Sunday, July 4 at Edmonton Eskimos, 4 p.m.

PHOTOS ( 10 )

Former FAMU Quarterback Casey Printers starter for B.C. Lions

BC Lions look to the past to prepare for 2010 football season‎

With the B.C. Lions set to play home games outdoors for the first time in nearly three decades, much of the talk around the team’s 2010 Canadian Football League season will focus on its past and its ties to the original Empire Stadium on the Pacific National Exhibition grounds. But as the Leos get set to kick off training camp in Kamloops on June 6, head coach and general manager Wally Buono intends to take a different path down memory lane. The man with more CFL coaching wins than anyone else is far more interested in recent history than in nostalgia.

Buono spent much of the off-season trying to figure out how to get his 2010 football club to look and play like the teams he had here four, five, and six years ago, when the Lions truly were kings of the CFL jungle, getting to the Grey Cup in 2004 and winning it all in 2006. Last year, the Lions lost their way as they stumbled to a forgettable 8-10 record. While they managed an overtime win in Hamilton in their playoff opener, they suffered an embarrassing 56-18 thumping one week later at the hands of the eventual champion Montreal Alouettes.

And, of course, there is Casey Printers (Florida A&M University), who comes to camp as the starting quarterback after his much-ballyhooed return to the club late last season. Unlike last year, though, Printers will have the luxury of a full training camp to begin putting his stamp on the Lions. Buono believes that Printers can get his game back to the level it was at in 2004, when he was the CFL’s most outstanding player.

“When he came here last year, he worked hard and won the locker room, and not only excited the players in the locker room but everyone in the organization and the fans,” says Buono. “He wants to lead this team. It’s the number-one position on any football team, and we feel right now we’re in excellent hands. Casey is in the prime of his growth and development as a quarterback.”

"You talk about offence, you talk about excitement, you talk about a guy who raises everybody else up, and the guy that did that for us last year was Casey Printers. I think he excited not only the players in the locker-room, but everybody in the organization and our fans. It was something we needed." -- Coach Wally Buono on his No. 1 QB.

Lowered expectations for once mighty Lions

VANCOUVER — The once-mighty B.C. Lions have fallen from the “expectant” category in the Canadian Football League into the “hopeful” group. In an eight-team league, that’s a precipitous drop and a significant change as the rookies gather on the Hillside Stadium fields of the campus of Thompson River University in Kamloops, B.C., for the beginning of training camp on Wednesday.

There are, of course, reasons and explanations for the downgrade. Foremost is team performance the last two seasons in which the Lions, firstly, were bumped from the top perch by the Calgary Stampeders (2008); then forced to qualify for playoffs by crossing over to the East Division when their ugly 8-10 record was superior to two woeful teams in the have-not division.

Heading to camp, instead of grand expectations, the Lions are hoping quarterback Casey Printers is, indeed, the answer to revitalizing a moribund offence. They are hoping they have the line protection needed so Printers or Jarious Jackson or Travis Lulay will have time to look off their primary receiver without fear they are going to be killed by the blind-side rush. Heading for Kamloops, they are hoping that, at 33, running back Jamal Robertson has one more good year in him or until Jamall Lee can get his feet under him. They are hoping they discover another Emmanuel Arceneaux to augment established stars Geroy Simon and Paris Jackson.

LIONS ROAR INTO HILLSIDE

Local football fans are in for a treat. For the next 17 days, the B.C. Lions will be at Hillside Stadium preparing for the upcoming Canadian Football League season. The action gets underway today (June 2) with the beginning of the team’s rookie camp, followed by full two-a-days beginning this weekend. Between June 6 and June 19, the squad will practice twice each day on the artificial turf at Hillside. The only exception will be June 13, when the Lions face the Saskatchewan Roughriders in a CFL exhibition game in Regina.

Jeff Putnam, sport development and business operations manager with the City of Kamloops, said the fact the Lions are holding training camp in the Tournament Capital speaks volumes about the city’s facilities. “It means a lot with an outward perspective,” he said. “It solidifies the fact that our facilities are at a professional calibre.” And it means a lot for local football fans. On-field training camp practice sessions are open to the public — and there’s no charge.

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CFL Game of the Week, Eastern Semi: BC 34 ...

Starring Casey Printers, B.C. Lions, (FAMU); Hamilton WR Marquay McDaniel (Hampton University) and Hamilton RB Martell Mallet (Arkansas-Pine Bluff). Mallet is now 2010 member of NFL Philadelphia Eagles.

Click here to listen to Casey Printers on the TEAM 1040

B.C. Lions sign quarterback Casey Printers to contract extension ...

Just as he was during a magical run in the summer of 2004, Casey Printers is once again the go-to guy for the B.C. Lions. The Canadian Football League's Most Outstanding Player in that 2004 season returned to the Lions Den late last year and showed enough in limited action for the team to anoint him its starting quarterback moving forward. That was made official when the two sides agreed to a new contract on Sunday (March 7).

It's been an interesting six years for Printers since he left the Lions to pursue his dream of playing in the National Football League. When that didn't pan out, he returned to the CFL and had a less than successful stint with the Hamilton Tiger Cats. Printers looked like he may have played himself out of professional football at this time last year when there were no takers for his services. But when the Lions ran into injury problems at the most important position on the field last September, they reached out to Printers, who jumped at the chance to resurrect his career and led the Lions to a playoff win in Hamilton and showed enough to earn the new deal.

He's only 28, an age when many pro quarterbacks are coming into their primes. It seems the professional hardships he's been through may have given Casey Printers some perspective and allowed him to mature. He's got the physical tools to play the game as he displayed with his electrifying performances six seasons ago. And now he's got the contract he was looking for and the starter's job that goes with it. He's taken a less than conventional route to return to his roots, but Casey Printers is back to lead the B.C. Lions in 2010.

Lions release Champion

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The B.C. Lions' remake of the quarterbacking depth chart continued Monday with the release of Zac Champion.The Louisiana Tech grad was mostly a third-and fourth-stringer in his two years with the Lions, although a rash of injuries last season meant he saw action in one game. He went four-of-14 for 35 yards with two interceptions.

Earlier in the off-season, after re-signing Casey Printers to a long-term deal, the Lions released former starter Buck Pierce. He later signed with Winnipeg. Jarious Jackson, also a onetime starter, and Travis Lulay are the other quarterbacks currently on the depth chart behind Printers. General manger/ head coach Wally Buono expects to add one more thrower before the start of training camp June 6 in Kamloops.

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