How Ottawa Redblacks star Adarius Pickett managed to return from serious injury for CFL season opener
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The past 264 days have been no party for Adarius Pickett.
From the deep, scary low of suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon on the first play of the Ottawa Redblacks’ unlucky 13th game of the 2024 campaign, through a gruelling 37-week recovery, to the thrilling, rewarding high of being able to suit up for Thursday’s CFL season opener in Regina, the self-proclaimed “Party Starter” has had a front row seat on an emotional roller coaster.
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“I’ve been working really hard to get back,” the 28-year-old Pickett said as the Redblacks prepared for their much-anticipated meeting with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. “And I’ve been following the protocol they had in place for me when I got back here.
“So I’m really excited.”
Pickett was having another standout year, both as the Redblacks strongside linebacker and on special teams, when he was carted off the field in a 37-21 road setback to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats that also saw Ottawa lose starting left tackle Dino Boyd (for the season) and weakside line backer Frankie Griffin to injury.
Pickett required speedbridge repair before the baby steps of his rehab back home in California.
“After having surgery, I had to learn how to walk,” he said. “Then to step down off one stair, like one step, and I was scared to do that.”
From slow progress, he jumped into a five, sometimes six-day-a-week, workout routine that began with his alarm clock going off at 4:15 a.m.
Then it was off to school — well, his former, famous school — to start building up the muscles with the help of some friends that included former NFL running back DeShaun Foster, who is now the head coach of the UCLA Bruins, and John “Sweetfeet” Johnson, who, along with being Pickett’s footwork and defensive back drills guy, is the brother of Chicago Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson.
“I had a tremendous team working with me back in L.A.,” said Pickett, who played 50 games over four years (2015-18) with the Bruins before stints with the Bears, Los Angeles Chargers and New England Patriots, before ultimately heading to Canada. “My physical therapist, Dr. Tim (Esguerra) did a hell of a job putting everything into place with rehab. He knows everything about the body, all the stuff around my ankle, my knees, quads, all muscles, and my trainer, Jamal (Liggin) put me through it.
“The (UCLA team) staff had open arms for me and the athletic therapist as well. I was out there running the UCLA bleachers with the head coach between 5 a.m. and 5:15 a.m. He was pushing me, I was pushing him. A lot of people came out and ran stairs with me … my brother came out, John Johnson, my barber even came out.
“It was dope for that energy. An amazing feeling just to be surrounded by love, by energy, by support, a lot of people had a hand in me getting back to this point right now. I’m very thankful for the people who support me and surround me and just want me to be me forever.”
Pickett says he feels “great” now and that, once again, all football activities are like “second nature” to him.
“The first question I asked my physical therapist when I went back home was, ‘how fast can I be back?'” he said. “I told him I need to be back by training camp so I can practice. I said, can we make it happen? He was like, ‘if you work like I know you will. I’m pretty sure we can.’
“I had gotten up to, I think, like 225 pounds from being hurt when I couldn’t do anything. Worked myself all the way down to 212, so I lost 13 pounds over six to eight weeks. I was working out like, two, three, sometimes four times a day, making sure I’m ready for my team. And it meant a lot to me to be back here for them.”
It meant a lot to the Redblacks, too.
Without Pickett and safety Alonzo Addae, whose season was cut short by injury after 14 games, the Redblacks’ defence was picked apart by Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly in the 58-38 East Division semifinal loss.
Addae, like Pickett, also was making his return to the roster against the Roughriders.
Along with their talents, both brought back with them an attitude element that should aid the new defensive coordinator, William Fields, and the new defensive backs coach, Myron Lewis, both of whom were on the Argos staff last year.
“Confidence is a huge thing,” head coach Bob Dyce said. “And when you have strong personalities like both those young men have, it bleeds off onto the other guys. So we’re extremely excited to have them both back there.
“They get the communication going and make sure everybody’s on the same page, doing what coach Fields and coach Lewis is expecting, and playing at a high level.”
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