Photo Electric Umbrella/Liam Richards
Caleb Holley has a number in mind for the 2018 CFL season.
“I need to get 1,000 (yards receiving),” the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ third-year pass-catcher said after Wednesday’s closed practice at Mosaic Stadium.
“My first year, I came in halfway and I still think I could have got it. My second year, if I didn’t get hurt, I definitely would have had it.”
The 27-year-old product of Anchorage, Alaska, will begin his pursuit of that magical number Friday, when the Roughriders play host to the Toronto Argonauts in the regular-season opener for both teams.
Holley joined the Roughriders after the 2016 season had started and caught 56 passes for 655 yards in 11 games. Extrapolated over a full 18-game regular season, that’s 1,072 yards — but that’s not the way the CFL’s statistics operate.
In 2017, Holley missed two games with a shoulder injury and three others when he was scratched. He finished the campaign with 39 receptions for 608 yards in 13 games (an 842-yard pace over 18 games).
Armed with a contract extension he signed in November, Holley is back for his third season — and he wants that century mark.
“It’d be my first 1,000 in professional football — and my first ever in life,” he said. “I came close once; I had 970 in college in my senior year (at East Central University in Oklahoma in 2013).
“I’ve got to get 1,000 yards. Once I get it, I can keep doing it. I’m ready for that.”
Roughriders receivers coach Travis Moore completely understands Holley’s desire, but offers a cautionary tale.
Moore played 11 CFL seasons, the first eight of which were spent with the Calgary Stampeders.
He had 690 yards receiving in his first full season in 1996, 931 in ’97 and 818 in ’98 before finally cracking the 1,000-yard plateau with 1,198 in 1999.
That was the first of four straight 1,000-yard seasons for Moore, who also got there in 2004 with the Roughriders.
But it was those close calls that Moore wants Holley to think about.
“My first few years, (1,000 yards) was my goal — and I didn’t reach it,” Moore said. “I was the only one (of the Calgary receivers) who always came up short. Me, Allen Pitts, Terry Vaughn, Vince Danielsen. Who came up short? Travis Moore …
“I always tell (receivers), ‘Believe it’s going to come but don’t make that your focal point. Just make plays every time the ball’s in the air. If it’s a five-yard play, you’ve got to always think of doubling it. At the end, look at where you’re at and I guarantee you’ll be over 1,000.’
“I was the same way and I keep saying, ‘I guarantee you, if you keep looking at numbers, you’re going to end up short.’ I stopped setting goals like that and it just came naturally.”
Moore is well aware that 1,000 yards is the measuring stick for receivers, but he’d much rather see a player who blocks, runs crisp routes and catches the ball well.
Moore believes Holley has all of those attributes, so the former 1,000-yard receiver believes his pupil has a chance to get there — provided he continues to work at his game.
“He’s eager to show what he has,” Moore said. “He has got to continue to improve every day and to fight. He has a good chance right now. He’s in a starting spot so he can prove what he wants everybody to know: That he’s a good player.”
Holley officially moved into a starting spot Sunday, when the Roughriders released veteran Bakari Grant. Holley said he thought it was a joke when he heard the news, but he quickly realized the transaction actually had happened.
“That’s when I started thinking, ‘What does that mean for me?’ ” he said. “I thought, ‘I’ve got to step up now. I’ve got to step into those shoes and help carry the receiving corps — and the team.’ ”
Holley joins returnees Naaman Roosevelt and Duron Carter as the backbone of the Roughriders’ receiving corps. The other relatively unproven players in the crew are veteran Canadians Devon Bailey and Josh Stanford, sophomore Christion Jones and CFL rookies Shaq Evans, Kyran Moore, Mitch Picton and Jordan Williams-Lambert.
Holley hopes to take the lessons he learned from the receivers he played with over his first two seasons and use them to his benefit — and to the benefit of his team — in 2018.
“You listen to how they talk in meetings and see how they carry themselves on the field; that rubbed off on me,” Holley said. “I put it on myself to step up and be a leader this year. I’m ready for it, so I’ll take that role.”
The last time Saskatchewan faced the Argos in a regular-season game, Holley scored on a 75-yard pass-and-run connection from Brandon Bridge on the final play of the third quarter. That gave the Roughriders a 24-17 lead and they went on to win 27-24 at BMO Field on Oct. 7.
Six weeks later, the Roughriders once again visited BMO Field — and on that occasion, Toronto prevailed 25-21 in the Eastern Final to earn a berth in the Grey Cup game.
The result of that Nov. 19 contest, in addition to his numerical target, gave Holley a goal for the 2018 season.
“I want to stay healthy and I want to win a Grey Cup,” he said. “You can’t get that close to a Grey Cup and have it taken away from you like that.”
