The Okanagan Sun have a secret weapon.
They just haven’t been able to unleash him yet — which suggests Jerome Blake may not be much of a secret at all.
The world-class sprinter, who has competed against Canadian Olympic sensation Andre De Grasse on several occasions over the past few years, joined the Sun as a rookie kick returner this season.
Only one problem — nobody is kicking to Blake, at least not through Okanagan’s first four games of the B.C. Football Conference schedule.
The Kamloops Broncos purposely kept the ball out of Blake’s hands in his BCFC debut on July 30, though he was hopeful of getting his first touch in last night’s rematch at the Apple Bowl.
“I do (want the ball). Everyone wants their shot, and I’m just patiently waiting for it,” said Blake, who is listed as a receiver on Okanagan’s roster but is specializing in kick returns for the time being, with the potential to add punt returns to his repertoire as well.
The waiting is the hardest part and, with every passing game, Blake is experiencing a gauntlet of emotions — from excitement and anxiousness to nervousness and now frustration.
“It’s kind of getting frustrating . . . you’re out there and the kicker is a lefty, so you’re thinking he’s going to kick it to my side, but he squibs to the other side,” said Blake, who even tried switching to the right side to receive a kickoff, but the opposition caught on and angled it away again. “I’m just going to keep practising and keep trying to get better. My time will come.”
And when it does . . .
“Jerome’s ball skills have improved to the point where if he does touch it, he’s going to be very tough to catch,” said Sun head coach Ben Macauley. “He was kind of nervous that first game because he hadn’t really done it before. I think he’ll be all right — he just needs to get that first one done.”
There is a first for everything and Blake’s first exposure to football actually came in high school, at Rutland, but that was short-lived because of his track aspirations. This summer, at the urging of a few friends already playing for the Sun, Blake got his arm twisted into action.
“They forced me to come try it, but I wanted to try it again to see how I would actually do,” he said, crediting Matt Robinson, Reuben Marin and Raquille Cespedes for the necessary push to put on the pads. “At first, I didn’t like it. Then I started to get a little better and they just kept telling me ‘you can do it, just keep practising.’ With the motivation from them, I applied myself a little more and I started to get it.”
Now that he’s got the basics down, Blake just needs to get the ball.
“He’s incredibly fast. His ball skills are still developing, but we were so impressed with him in practice that he’s worked his way into getting some reps on the field,” Macauley said. “We’re curious to see what he does in a game situation. We’re ready for it.”
At 6-foot-1 and bulked up to 208 pounds, Blake appears built for football. But his focus remains on running and representing Canada internationally in the future.
Born and raised in Jamaica — home of sprint superstar Usain Bolt — Blake only moved to Kelowna three years ago to live with his mother. Blake celebrated his 21st birthday on Thursday and spent all week watching the Rio Olympics, where Bolt won three more gold medals before announcing his retirement at 29 years old.
De Grasse, an Ontario product who turns 22 in November, was the breakout performer with three podium finishes in the same events as Bolt — silver in the men’s 200-metre sprint, plus bronzes in the prestigious 100 and 4x100 relay as Canada’s anchor.
“That’s a big motivation right there for me, to see Andre as a 21-year-old and a guy that I’ve raced with, to be doing so well on that stage,” Blake said. “I’ve already declared to run for Canada. If and when I get my citizenship, hopefully I’ll be representing Canada one day with a Maple Leaf on my chest. That’s a big goal for me.
“Even if it’s not at the Olympics, then at some other meet where I get to represent Canada, which would be a highlight for me,” he added.
De Grasse’s success in Rio has him getting hyped as the future of that sport, with the silver-medallist, Justin Gatlin of the United States, also on his way out at 34 years old.
As a result, De Grasse is the early favourite for gold at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, though Blake is striving to become a household name by then too.
“I’ve raced against him six times (including the world championship trials and twice in Vancouver),” Blake said of De Grasse. “It’s a competitive relationship. I’ve talked to him and I’ve hung out with a few (of the Olympians) in the National Track League this year and last year. They’re pretty cool guys, just out there doing their thing.
“That’s everyone’s dream. That’s the pinnacle of every single sport out there, whether it’s the winter sports or the summer sports. It’s the Olympics — that’s where everyone is dreaming to be one day.”
Blake isn’t far off that elite level. His personal-best time in the 100 metres is 10.36 seconds, while the eight runners in the Olympic final ranged from Bolt’s winning time of 9.81 to 10.06, with De Grasse placing third in 9.91. Bolt holds both the world (9.58) and Olympic (9.63) records, while De Grasse won the 2015 NCAA championship at 9.75.
“I need to get down there in times, but eventually with working at it and progressing, I feel like I’ll get down there sometime soon. The aim is to get under that 10-second barrier,” said Blake.
As for the question everybody is asking — what is Blake’s time in the 40-yard dash? The sprint drill that football players are judged by.
“I honestly don’t know what I could run the 40 in. I wasn’t here for testing because I was away for a track meet,” said Blake, who jokingly tells his teammates ‘like three seconds.’
“It’s not going to be three seconds, but under five seconds for sure,” he added. “All the guys do know I run track and they’re like ‘you’re pretty fast, we just really want to see you get the ball and you take it back to the house.’”
That hasn’t happened yet, but Blake is finding football beneficial regardless of his impact on the games.
“I feel like it’s helping a lot. I’m getting stronger and getting more explosive,” he said. “I wouldn’t say it’s just a fun thing to do because football is obviously really hard. The reason I’m doing this is I just wanted to work on different skills.
“It’s a great environment, a lot of fun. There’s been a lot of learning, a lot of different things I need to know to become a better football player, but the coaches have been really helpful.”
