Ottawa Redblacks' linebacker Adarius Pickett back to being his disruptive self
The veteran linebacker was enjoying a solid first campaign with the Ottawa Redblacks in 2024 before suffering a season-ending Achilles injury. But the 28-year-old has returned with a vengeance, currently standing second in the CFL in defensive plays and tied for fourth in tackles.
'That was the goal going through rehab,' Pickett said. 'I had an amazing team I was working with in Los Angeles and I'm just thankful to everyone who chipped in to helping me get back to where I am right now.'
The five-foot-11, 195-pound Pickett had 52 tackles, 14 special-teams tackles, a sack, forced fumble and interception last season before being injured in Ottawa's 37-21 road loss to Hamilton on Sept. 14. The Redblacks entered that game with an 8-3-1 record and battling Montreal for top spot in the East but lost five of their final six regular-season games to finish third.
Despite the injury, Pickett was named an East Division all-star. He signed a one-year extension with Ottawa in January, which allowed the former UCLA Bruin to concentrate fully on his recovery.
After starting his rehab slowly, Pickett progressed to multiple workouts daily five, sometimes six times per week. Pickett began those days getting up around 4 a.m. and often worked out at UCLA with a group that included DeShaun Foster, a former NFL running back who's now the Bruins' head coach.
Pickett performed various drills under the watchful eye of John Johnson Jr., a former UCLA defensive back whose younger brother, Jaylon, is a cornerback with the Chicago Bears.
'I had no doubts when I got to camp because I'd put in so much work (during rehab),' Pickett said. 'My physical therapist Dr. Tim (Esguerra) was the guy I worked with in L.A. and he had answers to every question I had and pushed me every day to where I was confident walking into camp.
'When I got there, it was about working to get into football shape pretty much like everyone else in camp. Getting after it on a daily basis in the off-season and putting my body through many of the things you do during camp, I was better able to enjoy myself and being with my team.'
Pickett is in his fifth CFL season and second with Ottawa. Entering this week's action, he has 32 tackles (three for loss), six special-teams tackles and two fumble recoveries.
Pickett is second overall in total defensive plays (43) and tied four forth in tackles. The Berkeley, Calif., native was the East Division's top defensive player with Toronto in 2023 (105 tackles, 19 special-teams tackles, six interceptions and forced fumble).
Ottawa (1-5), however, hasn't enjoyed a solid a start to its season. The Redblacks have dropped three straight heading into their home game Sunday night versus Hamilton (3-2).
The Ticats defeated Ottawa 23-20 last week. Hamilton won the turnover battle 4-1 and secured the victory on Bo Levi Mitchell's three-yard TD strike to Kenny Lawler with 1:54 remaining.
Thursdays
Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter.
Mitchell's second touchdown pass to Lawler capped a 50-yard, six-play drive that was kept alive by a roughing-the-passer penalty against the Redblacks on a second-down incompletion. Earlier in the quarter, Ottawa appeared to go ahead 27-13 on Kalil Pimpleton's 105-yard punt return but it was negated by an illegal block penalty.
Not long after, Hamilton's Mack Bannatyne's recovered Pimpleton's fumbled punt return at the Redblacks 15-yard line. Although the Ticats turned the ball over on downs at the four-yard line with 5:12 remaining, their defence forced Ottawa to punt three plays later which gave Mitchell and Co. an opportunity to mount the game-winning drive.
'We've struggled to play a complete game,' Pickett said. 'Teams are finding a way to get it done against us so we've got to find a way to get it done as well.
'The players in the building believe in the team we have. I believe we'll get this thing turned around … it's really on us to go out there and take what we want.'
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 17, 2025.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski playing with new perspective since cancer diagnosis
Winning still feels great for Gabriela Dabrowski, but it's not the be-all and end-all like it used to be. Ever since her battle with cancer last year, swinging a tennis racket has taken on a new meaning. "Tennis really feels like it's not the No. 1 thing in life anymore," Dabrowski said. "If it was taken away from me tomorrow? Yeah, I would be sad. But if I'm healthy, then to me, that's all that really matters. "There are bigger problems in life than winning a tennis match." Last December, the 33-year-old doubles star from Ottawa revealed months after the fact that she had undergone two surgeries to treat breast cancer following a diagnosis in April. With only a few close friends and family aware of her fight, Dabrowski captured a mixed doubles bronze medal for Canada alongside Felix Auger-Aliassime at last summer's Paris Olympics and claimed the WTA Finals title with her longtime partner, Erin Routliffe. When she returned from her surgeries, every serve and volley felt like a bonus. "Everything was like, `Wow, this is such a different feel than what I've had in the past, which was like, `Don't waste any potential you have, maximize the sport, do the best you can,"' Dabrowski said in a video interview from Ottawa, where she received the key to the city Thursday. "Now I'm doing the best I can because I want to, not because I have to, and that was a huge shift for me. "Even though losses hurt, they definitely don't hurt as much as before, which is nice. And wins still feel great, and being able to share them with the people around me is the best feeling, because we have been through a lot. I know I went through a lot, but they went through a lot, too." Dabrowski and Routliffe, of New Zealand, won the 2023 US Open and reached last year's Wimbledon final. They'll be among the top seeds in the National Bank Open's women's doubles tournament, beginning Sunday in Montreal, marking the No. 8-ranked Dabrowski's first action on home soil since going public with her story. Dabrowski still manages side effects from radiation, surgery and long-term hormone therapy, but credits her medical team for keeping her in top shape with how she eats, sleeps, trains and recovers. Planning ahead to better recuperate from jet lag, which "hits me harder than it used to," is another adjustment she's making on the gruelling, travel-heavy circuit. This season has been especially tough because Dabrowski has struggled with a rib injury since February, an ailment that has forced her off the court more than the cancer diagnosis a year ago. She and Routliffe won the Stuttgart Open in April, but Dabrowski later withdrew from several tournaments, including the French Open in May, before returning to action in time for Wimbledon. The second-seeded pair "did better than expected" under the circumstances, losing to eventual champions Elise Mertens and Veronika Kudermetova in a tight quarterfinal match. "I'm proud of my last couple of months, considering what I went through," said Dabrowski, who said she's playing at roughly 80 per cent capacity. "Really trying to balance the healing component with continuing to increase volume in the gym and on the court, but without doing too much to where I might impede that last sort of stage of healing. "I feel like even though I'm probably not at my most prepared going into National Bank Open, I still have a week to get more training in the tank, and then maybe some practice matches with Erin, she'll be match fit and she can carry me. It's fine." Reuniting with Felix? Dabrowski is hoping to team up with Auger-Aliassime in the US Open mixed doubles tournament in August, although she's not certain she'll get the chance. They are among 25 teams on the entry list, though only 16 will play. Most of the top stars in tennis — including Aryna Sabalenka, Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner — have also entered teams into the revamped tournament, which will take place before singles action and feature a $1-million US prize. The eight teams with the best combined singles rankings will automatically qualify, and the USTA will select the next eight duos, meaning some doubles specialists, like Dabrowski, could be shut out of the doubles event. "That lends itself to a definition of exhibition," Dabrowski said of the format. "I love that they've obviously increased prize money and all that, I think that's amazing. But at the same time, if you don't have any top doubles players in that draw, I don't think that it should be called a mixed doubles championship and you should win a Grand Slam trophy winning that event."
Winnipeg Free Press
11 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Now at UCLA, Iamaleava tries to move beyond the drama and focus on football
LAS VEGAS (AP) — College football's future wore a baby blue suit, a gold pin that said 'UCLA' and a pair of diamond-encrusted hoop earrings. He glided toward the mic, sat down, then prepared for the grilling about how much money he makes, why he left Tennessee, who betrayed who when he departed, and what it all means for the college football world that his story now defines. Bottom line: If quarterback Nico Iamaleava handles the rest of the season as well as he did with his half hour of Q&A at Big Ten media days Thursday, chances are, UCLA will be good — maybe even very good — in 2025. 'I think, it's just, keep my head down and be humble,' the 20-year-old lightning rod of a quarterback said. 'And try not to let the outside noise affect you.' If he succeeds at that, he will have more discipline than a great majority of college football fans, experts and journalists who have filled the internet and air waves with timelines and tick-tock analysis of a decision that shook the sport and seemed to say everything about the burgeoning power players wield in a world of name, image, likeness deals and a rapidly rotating transfer portal. The thumbnail of the story is that Iamaleava was a successful quarterback who led Tennessee to the College Football Playoff last season, then abruptly picked up stakes to head closer to home and play for UCLA. Money seemed to be the most obvious motive. Reports circulated that he was looking for a raise — maybe a doubling to nearly $4 million a year — to come back to the Vols. Then, one day last spring, Iamaleava missed practice. Just as abruptly, he was gone. Tennessee coach Josh Heupel handled it diplomatically. 'Today's landscape of college football is different than it has been,' he said. 'It's unfortunate, the situation, and where we're at with Nico.' Before he'd even enrolled at Tennessee, Iamaleava was causing his share of turmoil. It was his NIL deal with the Vols that triggered an NCAA investigation and a lawsuit by the attorneys general of Tennessee and Virginia in January 2024. The NCAA settled that lawsuit, and though there aren't as many questions about who makes the payments to the players (the colleges can do it themselves now), recriminations that flowed when Iamaleava enrolled at Tennessee kept flowing after he made his move to UCLA. Asked about what triggered his move and exactly when it happened, Iamaleava said it came around the time 'false stuff about whether it was a financial thing or not' started coming out that made him 'not feel comfortable in the position I was in.' Then, in a revelation that not everyone appears quite ready to accept, he said moving closer to where he grew up, in Long Beach, California, about 30 miles from the UCLA campus, was the biggest piece of the puzzle. 'My driving factor to come back home was my family, and I hope every Tennessee fan understands that,' he said. 'It was really one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make.' He will not delve into finances, though most of the reporting has shown that Iamaleava will make about as much, or just barely more, with UCLA than he was making at Tennessee. 'All that stuff is for my business team and my agents to handle,' he said. 'I just focus on football.' Among the other questions consuming college football, and that Iamaleava's saga reflects as well as anyone's, is how a player who makes more money and generates more hype than anyone else in the locker room can possibly fit on a team that is still, at its core, filled with teenagers whose football lives will end in college. UCLA's second-year coach, DeShaun Foster, said he scouted that part when the prospect of Iamaleava coming to Westwood became real. 'He's a team guy and a family guy,' Foster said. 'It just felt good that we were getting the right kind of quarterback.' From a pure talent standpoint, hardly anyone argues that. Iamaleava was considered one of the country's top prospects coming out of high school. He threw for 2,616 yards and 19 TDs last year in leading the Vols to the playoffs. But, as one of the theories about his departure goes, he and his family were less than thrilled about Tennessee's ability to protect him. None other than ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit dove into the mix when he said he'd heard Iamaleava's dad had gone to Heupel in December and said 'like, hey, listen, you've got to get better at offensive line, better at receiver.' Speaking not so much about that specific story, but to the realities of football, Foster said he knows keeping things clean in the pocket for Iamaleava will be key to his success. 'If he stays upright, things are going to go the right way,' Foster said. And if they do, there's at least a chance Iamaleava could be a one-and-doner at UCLA. He is widely thought to have NFL talent if he improves his mechanics and accuracy — two areas that will be helped by better protection. During his back-and-forth with reporters, the quarterback brushed aside questions about pro football. He also said he pays no mind to the billion-dollar questions swirling around the college game every day — all revolving around money, freedom to transfer and other issues that have turned UCLA's quarterback into a villian in some places, a hero in others, and a player to watch everyhwere. 'I love college football,' he said. 'Everything that goes on with my name, that's not going to change my love for the game. Obviously, everyone has to move on. I'm excited about what's next for me. But I'm where my feet (are), and right now, I'm a UCLA football player and I'm excited to go to camp.' ___ AP college football: and
Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
USC-Notre Dame rivalry expires in '26, with no sure bet it will go beyond that
LAS VEGAS (AP) — All the reshuffling of schedules, conferences and playoff formats in college football has placed one of the sport's best traditions in peril: the USC-Notre Dame game. The contract for a rivalry that dates to 1926 expires after their game in 2026. Both schools have expressed a willingness to lock down more games, but differences over how many appear to be holding up the negotiations. USC's move to the Big Ten gave the Trojans less flexibility on their non-conference schedule. Big Ten teams have nine conference games and only three open slots. Speaking at Big Ten media days Thursday, Trojans coach Lincoln Riley said he was, of course, hopeful that the series will continue. But not at any cost. 'I want to play the game. Absolutely. It's one of the reasons I came here,' Riley said. 'But, also, my allegiance and my loyalty is not to Notre Dame, and it's not to anybody else. I'm the head football coach at USC, and I'm going to back USC.' Some of the uncertainty revolves around the College Football Playoff. The Trojans have lost six of the last seven against Notre Dame. If CFP leaders decide to award four automatic bids to the Big Ten, which is the conference's preference, a long-term deal to play the Irish might be more palatable to USC. A system with more at-large bids, however, would make it more difficult, from a CFP standpoint, to absorb a non-conference loss. An (entertaining and much better) encore for UCLA's Foster If UCLA improves on the field as much as coach DeShaun Foster did behind the mic at Big Ten media days, this could be a good year for the Bruins. Foster spoke Thursday and made fun of his 2024 appearance, which included a cringeworthy 72-second opening statement highlighted by this observation about the program he was taking over: 'I'm sure you guys don't know much about UCLA, our football program, but we're in LA.' In heading to the lectern Thursday, Foster didn't shy from that moment. He acknowledged he took some ribbing from players and others after last year's effort. 'Last year I stood up here and reminded everyone that UCLA is in L.A.., which, looking back, might have been the most obvious geography lesson in Big Ten history,' Foster said. 'But you know what? Important things are worth stating clearly. We are in L.A., and we're proud to be in L.A.' Underneath all those laughs, though, was a serious message. Foster, embarking on his second season at Westwood, said the moment 'taught me a valuable lesson. Authenticity resonates more deeply than perfection.' He faces a big challenge. The Bruins haven't won a conference title since 1998 and haven't played on Jan. 1 since that season's Rose Bowl. Bolstering UCLA's hopes is the arrival of quarterback Nico Iamaleava from Tennessee. Iamaleava helped the Vols make the College Football Playoff last year. Northwestern video vibes Preston Stone is a good ol' Texas boy who starred in high school for Parish Episcopal and then spent four years at SMU. After entering the transfer portal following last season, however, he finally got to visit a team he once admired from afar — behind a video-game controller when he was 11 years old. 'For absolutely no reason whatsoever, when I was a little kid playing NCAA 14, I would always be Northwestern,' Stone said. 'They had really cool black uniforms and they had a fast quarterback in Kain Colter, who I used to love playing with in the game.' So, after touring the campus and meeting Wildcats coach David Braun and offensive coordinator Zach Lujan, Stone was sold on transferring from the Lone Star State to Evansville, Illinois. 'Facilities are incredible, I think we have the best indoor in the whole country,' Stone said. 'You could feel a level of sincerity from coach Braun. That was just different. And first meeting coach Lujan, you could tell from the first couple minutes with him, how incredibly smart of an offensive mind he is. I knew that if I came here they were going to set me up for success.' Son of 'Chocolate Thunder' returns to Penn State Penn State's Nick Dawkins, the son of NBA legend Daryl Dawkins, will be one of four returning starters on the offensive line this season. That might not have been the case had the Nittany Lions not lost to Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff. 'After that game specifically, I was pretty dead set after that for sure,' Dawkins said of his decision to return. 'I had some thoughts prior to the season ending, from a personal standpoint for my NFL Draft stock, if it would be the best decision to come back. But when something like that happens, it kind of trumps all the individual stuff. Dawkins said it became more about the legacy of Penn State football and what he wanted to leave behind for the program's history. 'My whole life, I've been representing my last name, and my last name has had so much legacy and worth attached to it before,' said Dawkins, an all-Big Ten honorable mention last season. 'I've always been a part of something bigger than myself, and that's how I view my life, and Penn State falls right into that category.' __ AP college football:
