Riders’ Lanier makes big impact off field with charity foundation

There’s no place like home for Anthony Lanier II.

“We have a very tight-knit community to the point where every child is raised by the community. We say ‘It takes a village to raise a child,’ ” the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ defensive tackle said.

“At a young age, I had older people who watched over me and (instilled) things in me about loving the community.”

Lanier is originally from the Carver Heights neighbourhood in Savannah, Ga. It’s a place that Lanier continues to make an impact in, even as his football career has taken him across the U.S. and into a new country in 2021 with him signing in the CFL.

He said his grandfather, who helped out in the community with Operation Clean Sweep, showed him the importance of helping people.

“Clean Sweep took us out of a camp and we went around to the elderly and cut their grass and picked up trash around the community. That’s where I grew to love my community and actually giving back to my community,” Lanier said.

“I branched out more as I got out into my football career by being able to use those platforms and the teachings instilled in me to reach out to people who are either less fortunate or just didn’t get their opportunity or just need a little guidance and that’s what I use to help me run the foundation.”

Lanier created the Undefeated Warrior Foundation in 2016 after he signed with the NFL’s Washington Football Team.

“I wanted somebody to come back to my city from my city and from my environment to show it is possible to make it out of anything and any situation,” Lanier said. “(It’s about) showing the kids you don’t have to just go play basketball, you can play football or anything outside of sports.”

It started with football camps and classes that showed the many different occupations that could await kids when they grow up. It grew into things like turkey drives, golf fundraisers and different functions for families in the area.

“Now I have everyone locked in and saying we are a community that stands for each other,” Lanier said.

And for all the work he has done, Lanier was given a prestigious award – a key to the city of Savannah.

“It was a dream come true because when I was younger, the (now) mayor (Van Johnson) helped out with different events we had in the city and I had a conversation with him where I said, ‘You’re going to be mayor one day,’ and he said, ‘You’re going to have the key to the city one day if you keep on the right track,’ ” Lanier said.

“He made it a point to take time out of his busy schedule and presented me with the key for all the hard work and dedication that I had put back into the community.”

While Lanier became a pro in the sport, football wasn’t something he put a lot of time into for the most part. He was a basketball player from a basketball family and only threw on the pads and played contact football for the first time in his junior year of high school.

He said he had some doubters he would ever find success on the gridiron.

“Most of the time you have those people who say you can’t do something because they can’t do something or they feel like their kid or some other kid is better than you,” Lanier said.

“They constantly kept telling me I wasn’t going to make it and I was determined and blessed enough to have that drive from my teachings and church and my family saying I was going to be undefeated and wasn’t going to let them talking about me stop me from achieving my dream of being great.”

Lanier said he had more than 40 offers to play basketball and football after high school. He chose to go to Alabama A&M University because of the family atmosphere it had and because it gave him the chance to play basketball as well as football.

He didn’t decide to focus solely on football until his sophomore year of college after a game against Grambling State when then-head coach Doug Williams told him he could go far if he kept working at it.

“The next time when we got to practice, a scout from the Chicago Bears came in thinking I was a senior who was about to leave and when he found out I was a sophomore he was like, ‘Keep doing what you’re doing, the NFL has their eyes on you and you can make this a career,’ ” Lanier said.

“I ended up going to the basketball coaches and they said, ‘You’re a good basketball player but you’re a hell of a football player, you might want to focus on that,’ and at that time I took my basketball shoes and hung them up and focused on my football career from there.”

Lanier’s next journey was to the NFL, but it came after waiting through the 2016 draft, just to not have his name called.

But he says his phone started to ring as soon as the draft was over and he eventually signed with Washington. He made his NFL debut that season and in Week 11 recorded his first pro sack — and it came against one of the game’s biggest names.

“It felt great because I didn’t even realize it counted as a sack. When I got into the locker room, I was like, ‘I tackled Drew Brees,’ and a guy comes up to me and congratulates me on my first sack,” Lanier said.

“It was amazing to be able to be on the field with those guys because coming from the city of Savannah you didn’t get to see a bunch of football players in the NFL walk around that much, so me being in there and my first sack being Drew Brees, it was like a dream come true.”

But after a few seasons in the NFL with time split between Washington, the Los Angeles Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs and New Orleans Saints, he found himself out of football in 2020.

“It’s kind of dark if you don’t have the right mindset (waiting for a call),” Lanier said. “I was like, ‘You know what? Canada wouldn’t be so bad.’ ”

He admitted he wasn’t completely sold on coming to Saskatchewan but having players here whom he knew – defensive back AJ Hendy, lineman Cam Jefferson and defensive end Pete Robertson – convinced him to come.

“Pete Robertson called me and said, ‘Hey I’m going up there, why don’t you come up with me and create a little havoc?’ ” Lanier said.

Now Lanier and the rest of the Riders’ defence will look to get the Riders back in the win column against the Calgary Stampeders on Saturday. Game time is set for 5 p.m.

While Lanier hopes to be a force in that game, he’s still making a large impact off the field.

“I went from being Anthony Lanier II, Yolanda’s boy or that kid from Alabama A&M to being called sir and Mr. Lanier from these children because they are looking at me as a role model and it’s just a feeling to me that’s unexplainable,” Lanier said.