It runs in the family!
Jamall Lee was one year old in 1988 when his father Orville made Canadian football history. A graduate of Simon Fraser University, Orville was drafted first overall by the Ottawa Rough Riders in the '88 CFL draft and went on to claim CFL top-rookie honours that same year after leading the league in rushing with 1075 yards. No Canadian running back has accomplished the feat since, and only one Canuck had done so before him.
Fast forward 17 years to 2005. Having travelled all the way from Port Coquitlam, B.C. to Lennoxville, Que., a fresh-faced Jamall was ready to follow in his dad's footsteps and launch his CIS career with the Bishop's Gaiters.
His varsity debut were modest, to say the least. In his first game against Sherbrooke, the freshman was handed the ball twice and gained three yards. A week later against Concordia, he did slightly better, 14 yards on six carries.
Oddly enough, Lee would make his first big splash on the CIS scene in Week 3 against, of all teams, perennial powerhouse Laval. The result wasn't pretty for the Gaiters, a 61-15 road loss, but when Lee ran the ball on 93 yards all the way to the end zone five minutes into the contest, the pro-Rouge et Or crowd of 14,263 couldn't help but go "Ooh!" and "Aah!"
The rest, as they say, is history. After only three seasons, the six-foot-one, 215-pound arts student is already Bishop's career rushing leader with 3,094 yards, only 263 yards shy of the Quebec conference all-time mark. Last fall, he led the nation and set a QUFL single-season record with 1,464 yards on the ground, the fifth best tally in CIS history, and also established QUFL marks with 1,533 all-purpose yards and 181 rushing attempts.
Lee might play on one of CIS' smallest campuses, Bishop's boasting a student population of 1,850, but his exploits haven't gone unnoticed.
"He was as good as advertised. He's an effortless runner. He broke a lot of tackles," offered Acadia offensive coordinator Josh Lambert last October, after Lee burned the Axemen for 266 yards and four touchdowns.
"Jamall seems to be edging into the company of Éric Lapointe and Jesse Lumsden, two of the best running backs in CIS history," said long-time Atlantic sports reporter Alex J. Walling.
Right around this time next year, not a lot of football observers will be shocked if Jamall becomes the second member of the Lee family to go very high in the CFL draft.
Lee’s Accomplishments: |
