The CFL world was saddened to hear about Jearld Baylis recently passing away at 62 years old.
Glen Suitor said on The SportsCage. "I know it sounds to listeners at times that I use that phrase and talk about guys as great teammates quite often. I honestly don't, it sounds like it's taken for granted but it's really not. If you're a great teammate, that's the greatest compliment that I can give anybody because it means so much and anyone who's played organized sports and team sports knows what I'm talking about."
According to the Baylis was supposed to be inducted into the 2020 Canadian Football Hall of Fame but they could not find him. The new plan is that he will be posthumously inducted in 2025 or 2026.
Suitor and Baylis were teammates during the 1992 and 1993 seasons, where the Green and White finished 9-9 then 11-7 the following year.
"Jearld was the guy that you'd sit in the locker room with after making a mistake in a game and he'd be one of the first to come and give you that pat on the shoulder: 'Forget about it. Let's move on, it doesn't matter," Suitor recalled. "He was always there with a smile, ready to work and ready to play. You had to follow that example."
For Suitor, one aspect of Baylis' style that he liked was his great motor when he was on the field.
"When we talk about him as a player, he never took a play off," Suitor explained. "Most of the time, D-linemen almost have to take at times a play off. You hope that they don't and you don't want them to, but they're human. If you're getting blocked like that every single down, at those collisions at the line of scrimmage, at some point, you're peeking up, and you're not going full because you have to take that second to catch your breath. Baylis never did that, he never ever did that."
Baylis had a 10-year career in the CFL, playing for four teams. He initially played for the Toronto Argonauts from 1986-1989. Later, he played for the B.C Lions for one season in 1991, then go to the Riders from 1992-1993. The last team he played for in the CFL was the Baltimore Stallions from 1994 through 1995. He won the Grey Cup with the Stallions against the Calgary Stampeders on November 19, 1995, in Regina. He is also a multiple All-CFL player and was nominated four times in his career. Plus his resume also includes the CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player award which he won in 1993.
If there was a comparison for who Baylis played like with today's Riders, then Suitor would agree that Micah Johnson would fit the mould.
"One of the things that Micah Johnson has done so well is that he's able to move that massive, strong body of his like a linebacker or even a DB at times. When offensive linemen have to deal with a guy that's that big, can power rush or bull rush, but is also so quick that they can go around him in a heartbeat, it's almost impossible to consistently block a player like that," Suitor said. "Jearld Baylis was that type of player, his low centre of gravity, tremendous strength and size for his height, that’s what he was, but the quickness of a DB or linebacker and that combination is Micah Johnson."
