How sensationally skilled is Mario Alford?
The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ speedster had 123 yards — including a 91-yard touchdown — negated by a pair of holding penalties and he was still the CFL’s highest-graded return specialist in Week 1 of the 2024 CFL season.
Footage of Alford from Saturday’s game, in which the Roughriders defeated the host Edmonton Elks 29-21, was deemed to be required viewing by Corey Mace.
“We just showed all the clips with penalties and it was the story of the day,” the Roughriders’ Head Coach said on Thursday. “The story is called ‘Mario Alford.’ ”
The message to the players: “Just watch. Why are we shooting ourselves in the foot with somebody back there who we can trust?”
Even with 100-plus yards and six points worth of returns washed away, Alford was named to Pro Football Focus’s weekly Honour Roll as a returner.
(The Roughriders were also Honour Rolan when Rolan Milligan Jr. made the Week 1 select squad as the league’s top-rated defensive back.)
The PFF evaluations took into account the 132 yards of returns Alford was able to amass despite the penalties.
He returned two kickoffs for 62 yards (including a 37-yarder), five punts for 22 yards and one missed field goal for 48 yards.
“I’m really happy that he’s on our team and I’m excited to see the season that he can have,” said Mace, whose staff includes Special Teams Co-ordinator Kent Maugeri. “I’m excited for the guys who are able to block for him, because I know they take tremendous pride in that.
“Coach Kent does an excellent job of getting those guys prepared. We just have to fine-tune it and make sure that we’re doing it the right way, the fair way, and let him do what he does best.”
Fly by would-be tacklers, in other words.
In only 32 games since being acquired from the Montreal Alouettes on July 3, 2022, Alford has become the Roughriders’ all-time leader in special teams return touchdowns (seven).
As a first-year Roughrider, he went the distance after settling under two kickoffs, one punt and one missed field goal. Decoration as the league’s Most Outstanding Special Teams Player soon followed.
Alford picked up where he left off by registering three punt-return TDs (including two in one game) in 2023 and earning West Division All-Star honours.
It was evident on Saturday that he retains the capacity to leave opponents in the dust, even at an age (32) when many athletes begin to slow down.
In Alford’s case, though, his career has taken off since his 30th birthday.
“It’s a blessing,” he said. “I attack my training all season. I take care of myself and I take care of my body. There are little things that I do to keep myself up to par and to keep up with the young guys.”
Alford was very young when he realized that few people, if any, could keep up with him.
“It was actually when I was playing Pop Warner (football) and into middle school,” he recalled. “I knew I was way faster and way more athletic than a lot of guys. There were other guys who were fast, but I was just so much faster.”
Alford’s jets were evident at his Pro Day in 2015, when the graduating West Virginia Mountaineers receiver/returner covered the 40-yard dash in a scorching 4.27 seconds.
“If you know how fast you are and then a lot of guys just don’t have that speed at all, it’s great,” he said with a smile. “It’s something you can’t coach. It’s something you can’t teach.
“It’s just a God-given talent, so I’m very fortunate to blessed with and to have that speed.”
He has also been blessed with an overall aptitude for football, along with the desire to maximize his natural talents.
“I was fortunate to be able to be a great athlete as well and be fast,” he said. “Football was my favourite sport growing up, so I just use my speed to the best of my ability.
“A lot of football players are fast, but they don’t know how to play football, if that makes sense. I was just gifted at football and I just so happened to be fast as well.”
The same could be said of former Dallas Cowboys receiver Bob Hayes, who became an NFL star (and eventually a Pro Football Hall of Famer) after winning the men’s 100-metre dash at the 1964 Summer Olympic Games.
Hayes caught 371 passes for 7,414 yards — an average of 20.0 yards per reception — and 71 touchdowns over 10 seasons and 132 games in the NFL.
Before joining the Cowboys, “Bullet Bob” had excelled in football and track at Florida A&M.
Four years after Hayes won his gold medal, Jim Hines captured the Olympics’ 100m title. Despite the lack of a football background, he was drafted in 1968 by the Miami Dolphins, who hoped to put his blistering speed to good use on the gridiron.
Over 10 NFL games — nine with Miami and one with the Kansas City Chiefs — he caught just two passes for 23 yards.
Conclusion: Raw speed does not guarantee success outside the realm of track and field.
“Exactly,” Alford said. “I was just fortunate enough to be real football player.”
That was his goal as far back as he can remember.
“I just fell in love with the game at a young age,” Alford said. “I used to run around with a football when I was two, three, four years old. I just loved the game and I stuck with it.
“It’s just one of those things where if you’re good at something, stick to it and be great at it, and that’s what I did. I just stuck with it.”
He approached Saturday’s game, despite its setbacks, in the same fashion.
“It’s on film,” Alford said with a laugh. “People see my work on film.
“We’re going to clean up the penalties in the return game and on special teams. We’re going to be good, so I can’t wait.
“The first game went well. I was just getting my feet wet in the first game. I didn’t play in the pre-season, so it felt good to go out there in Week 1 and do that.”
What feels just as good? The autonomy he has been given by Maugeri.
“Coach pretty much gave me the green light to do whatever I want,” Alford said. “He drew up the scheme and he said, ‘Whatever ’Rio wants to do, he can do it.’
“If it’s a return right and I see open field right here (on the left), I can do that.”
Alford beamed when asked how it felt to be granted so much latitude.
“It was great,” he said. “He just told me that if I see green grass in front of me, go!
“Nothing against last year, but it was a little different. This year, he kind of lets me be that player I can be and just be a football player with the ball in my hand.
“You can’t coach how to run the ball or where to run the ball. The schemes are drawn up to do certain things but, as far as me, I just be a ballplayer.”
