Despite significant knee injury, Riders’ Albert Awachie never gave up

Fullback Albert Awachie has become one of the unsung contributors to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2019.

That the 26-year-old even has a chance to contribute is a testament to his perseverance. A devastating knee injury suffered in January 2015 at the University of Toronto could have meant the end of his football career.

“I was told there was a 50-per-cent chance of coming back and I wouldn’t be performing at the level I would be,” Awachie said in advance of Saturday’s CFL game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (5 p.m., Mosaic Stadium).

“(The doctor) was just trying to be a realist with me but if you want to be a professional athlete, you need to have a different mindset.”

Awachie suffered a major dislocation in his left knee that tore the ACL, PCL and other ligaments while the then-University of Toronto receiver was working out.

“It was my first major injury so it was surreal a little bit,” Awachie said. “You begin to think about what’s next and all the work you put in leading up to that point so it was definitely devastating.”

But despite his football future having a major question mark surrounding it, the driven Awachie wasn’t going to let it dampen his spirits.

“I knew that I could bounce back from it with my effort and the team I had supporting me,” he said.

And so began a vigorous 10-month rehab process.

“It was tough. I’d go (to rehab) two or three times a week. Some weeks they would crank on my leg with the belt or I’d do a lot of transitioning or icing and just strength rehab, sometimes anti-gravity stuff — anything to get me moving again and get my blood flowing,” Awachie said.

“I just never wanted to stay stagnant. It was intensive and that’s what I needed.”

And through it all, Awachie’s confidence in his ability to come back from the injury never wavered.

“I had to visualize the end and visualize the result of it and that just got me excited to push through it,” he said. “I thought it was a tall task for me but I’m also known as overambitious and driven a lot so that’s what motivated me to get to the end.”

And once Awachie reached the end and was able to run out on the football field again, it ended up being one of the biggest moments of his life.

“It felt great. It probably took me 10 months just to get back on my feet and on the field. I made a video of it as soon as I did that of just me running down the field and it just felt like bliss,” Awachie said.

“I remember that moment. It’s something I look back on before every game as well. It motivates me as well.”

His drive and work ethic come from being the youngest of five children and having to try to live up to the standard his siblings set before him.

His oldest brother Martin played football at the University of Northern Colorado, his oldest sister Frances works with Syncrude in Fort McMurray, Alta., his sister Vera lives in Spain, and his other brother Charles completed an engineering degree.

“There was a lot to live up to in terms of my family. We had master’s degrees here and football excellence there so it all trickled down into my work effort,” Awachie said.

Along with his siblings pushing him, Awachie’s parents also helped instil a hard-working attitude in him.

“They definitely showed the work ethic that I needed; they always pushed me. Even when I got injured, they wouldn’t let me get down,” Awachie said.

“(With) my parents, (it was) just seeing how they worked. They came from Nigeria and I would just say their work ethic transpires in what I do today.”

He described his parents, Raphael and Florence, as his heroes while he was growing up. Awachie was born in Toronto but moved to Fort Collins, Colo., when he was in the first grade to live with his mother.

While there, he spent the summers in Toronto with his dad. It was there that Awachie first picked up the pigskin. Despite only playing soccer, his older brother asked Albert to come play for their high school football team.

“I played about every position, whether it was safety, defensive end, running back — you name it,” Awachie said. “I had the feel of the big-game atmosphere with the Friday night lights and stuff like that.”

After he graduated from high school, Awachie’s family moved back to Toronto, and he decided to continue his football career in the city he first called home.

“Toronto was my hometown and I wanted to do something for my city. I wanted to represent my city and I thought that was the best way,” Awachie said.

Awachie also decided he wanted to try out a new position as well, playing receiver for the first time in his football career in 2013.

“I hadn’t been a wide receiver before I went to the University of Toronto. I knew I was athletic so when I came back to Toronto, I wanted to do a position to get my name out there and I thought receiver would be the quickest way to do it,” Awachie said.

Awachie also played defensive back while at the University of Toronto. He went undrafted in the 2017 CFL draft but signed with the Roughriders as a free agent.

Much like Awachie had to work hard to come back from an injury in university, he had to put his nose to the grindstone on the practice roster.

“It was rigorous but that’s definitely what I needed. It was demanding of me, it was demanding of my body and focus and concentration. I feel like that time on the practice roster really helped,” said Awachie, who played seven games in 2017 and five last season.

“My first year, I felt I was physical enough but it was definitely the system that I had to adapt to. After Year 2 and Year 3 of trying to get off the practice roster, I felt like the transition was pretty smooth.”

The Roughriders traded fullback Spencer Moore to the Montreal Alouettes for a conditional eighth-round pick this past off-season, opening the door for Awachie to start.

While his name doesn’t pop on the stat sheet — he has only two catches for 12 yards in 2019 — Awachie has made key blocks for a rushing attack that has scored a league-leading 22 touchdowns.

And that’s just fine with him.

“There’s 12 guys on the field and I’m just one of them,” he said, “so I just try to perform my job to the best of my ability.”