2024 CFL Week 9: BC Lions at Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Steven Chang/BC Lions
Written by Nic Hauka- As training camp quickly approaches, all the gruelling work put in by players, coaches and management during the offseason will begin to pay dividends on the field. As Keon Hatcher Sr. prepares for the start of camp and his fifth season with the BC Lions, the wide receiver finds himself in a position he hasn’t been in for years: healthy and feeling like himself before the start of the season. It’s now about fulfilling his big aspirations.
At this time last year, Hatcher found himself still rehabbing his torn Achilles tendon. An injury he sustained in the Lions’ Western Final loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers the previous November. As documented ahead of his 2024 regular season debut last August, Hatcher’s road to recovery was extensive and lengthy. Like a few others packing their bags for Kamloops in the next 10-12 days, Hatcher finds himself approaching the 2025 campaign as a chance to hop into the time machine and remind people exactly what he’s made of.
“Shout out to my wife. She was there the whole time, helping me the whole way. Man, it was long. It was tough, but I feel like I was built for things like that,” said Hatcher in a discussion with bclions.com last week.
“I feel like those types of things have happened in my career, you know. Just got a battle back from it, man. So you just put your head down and work and grind until you’re back,” he said.
Hatcher returned to the Lions’ lineup in week nine of the 2024 season, just eight months and 22 days after his injury. He battled to beat the typical timetable of an Achilles injury of 9-12 months and succeed, but his explosiveness in and out of his breaks wasn’t quite right, and his play wasn’t up to his standards.
“It altered it a little bit, just with it being that short period of me coming back and playing. Most Achilles injuries usually take a year and a half until you’re fully comfortable strength-wise and all that to be able to feel like yourself,” he said.
“I feel like I could’ve played a lot better. I don’t think I played badly, but, you know, it wasn’t the Keon Hatcher of the prior year before the injury,” he admitted.
This offseason has given Hatcher time to fully recover. The standout receiver is feeling better than he has in a long time.
“I’m feeling great. I’ve been working all off-season, running routes, you know, working out, strengthening my Achilles more and my left leg in general. I’m excited to see what’s coming, man. I’ve got big aspirations for this season,” he said.
Hatcher is enjoying being back to full strength while getting back to work with Lions’ starting pivot Nathan Rourke, who was his quarterback during his first 1,000-yard receiving season in the CFL. With Rourke under centre, Justin McInnis, Jevon Cottoy and the rest of the Lions’ receiving room coming into their own, as well as the addition of new weapons like James Butler, Hatcher thinks the sky’s the limit for the team’s offence.
“I honestly don’t even think we have a ceiling, man. To be honest, I think we can do a lot of great things. We have a lot of great players in the right positions,” Hatcher said.
After four seasons, 50-plus games and back-to-back seasons of 1,000-plus yards in black and orange, the Tulsa, Oklahoma native finds himself in the right position after he put his head down while working and grinding away to get to 100%. He’s excited about the opportunity to play his first full season in nearly two years and can feel the old version of himself emerging. Defensive backs beware, Keon Hatcher Sr. is back with big aspirations.