Demski piles up yards against Roughriders

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This article was published 11/09/2021 (1458 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Nic Demski has never been a 1,000-yard receiver in the CFL but he has had moments during a six-year career that revealed tantalizing potential.

On Saturday, the 27-year-old slotback put on a display that could mean he is poised to assume a starring role with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Demski caught all five passes thrown his way, accumulating a career-high 134 receiving yards in the process as Winnipeg thumped the Saskatchewan Roughriders 33-9 in the annual Banjo Bowl at IG Field.

Two of those plays came in big chunks in the first half — gains of 54 and 50 yards — that got the Blue Bombers out of a deep hole. All told, Demski had 83 yards after the catch.

He caught three passes for 41 yards and a touchdown in Winnipeg’s 23-8 win over the Roughriders on the Labour Day weekend.

“Last week I thought I had a down week — I didn’t make the most of all my opportunities,” said Demski. “Today I really came to this game just making sure that I capitalized every time the ball came to me. I still feel like I could I could have done a little bit more. I got tackled on my two long ones.

“I felt like I should have scored on those and you know, it’s just something that goes along with it. But I’m happy with what I put out there today. We’ll come watch film tomorrow and we’ll make the corrections.”

Demski’s previous career single game high came on Sept. 5, 2019 when he caught four passes for 105 yards against the Ottawa Redblacks, including 82 yards on one play.

Early Saturday, quarterback Zach Collaros found Demski behind coverage on his first explosion play.

“That’s just something we talked about whenever the team likes to throw all out blitz at us,” said Demski. “We just we just make sure that we really run the right routes and make nobody switch and just catch it and get YAC (yards after catch) yards. I mean, as soon as the ball came in my hands, I was ready to go up field – I knew what coverage they were in. My teammates did a great job blocking and getting me out there. So big kudos to them.”

His second big burst came on a second-and-two with backup Sean McGuire in the game, presumably for a short quarterback keeper. Instead, he found Demski running free in the open field.

“We’ve been game-planning against these guys and we’re really trying to run it last week and you know we didn’t get the opportunity,” he explained. “It’s just something I’ve been visualizing for the last two weeks. I knew once that play got called I knew I’d make something happen.”

The Oak Park High School grad now has 313 yards on 21 catches in four games and is well on his way to eclipsing a career best set in 2018 when he caught 54 passes for 554 yards in 17 games. This season, he missed Weeks 3 and 4 with a hip injury.

“Every year I when I strap up I want to have a career best season so I mean this year I feel like I’m prepared,” said Demski. “I had a little injury that I had to deal with so you know I’m just trying to come back from that and come back stronger and do some good stuff for my team.”

Teammate Collaros believes Demski has already arrived.

“I think Nic’s been a star for two or three years now,” said Collaros. “Watching film of Nic when I’ve been on other teams, seeing what he does outside of the route, catching the ball and running after the catch are hard to find in this league. Tough for me to answer that, really, but he’s a great teammate, a great leader, and it’s a pleasure taking the field with him every week.

Demski’s motivation to succeed is very basic.

“I’ve seen a lot of great athletes out here but you know when… they don’t make the most of an opportunity, then it’s kind of their way out of the door,” he said. “That’s what kind of drives me. I never want to go to the GM’s office and have him tell (me) I’m getting released. I just try to get up, go out there, give it my best and make every play.”

A big performance in one of the season’s biggest games was very gratifying.

“This game is something that I look forward to — Labour Day and the Banjo Bowl — I look forward to that every year,” said Demski. “I started my career in Saskatchewan and then came over to Winnipeg, where I’m from… There’s a lot of emotions out there but I’m just happy to put on some good football for our crowd to enjoy.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14