Tommy Stevens’ touchdowns cost him dozens of doughnuts from Tim Hortons

Photo courtesy: Tim Matwey/CFL.

Saskatchewan Roughriders’ quarterback Tommy Stevens rewards the big men who help him get into the end zone with sweet treats.

“After every touchdown, they get a box of doughnuts, a dozen doughnuts. It’s going to be an expensive trip to Tim Hortons this week. The room gets a dozen, so there’ll be three days of doughnuts,” the 29-year-old QB said after his team beat the Edmonton Elks 28-26 in Week 9.

Stevens logged a CFL single-game career-high 13 carries for 29 yards along with his three majors at Commonwealth Stadium. The six-foot-four, 245-pound athlete leads the three-down league with eight rushing touchdowns through seven regular season games.

“You look at the touchdowns; those are huge for us. But it’s what he can do to close the game out. He’s versatile. People are going to load the box up, but Tommy may have the strongest arm of our quarterbacks, so we’ll see,” head coach Corey Mace said, teasing future play-calling possibilities.

“When we get inside the 10-yard line, if teams are going to play us with lighter boxes, we feel like our offensive line can come downhill and be physical. We have a big, strong, fast, tall quarterback — he does a great job. Could be a [running back] but Tommy can throw the football too. Some day he’ll get a chance to go in there and throw the ball; he’ll shock the world doing that more than what he does now,” Trevor Harris said post-game.

Despite his hat trick of touchdowns, Stevens was focused on protecting the football post-game. Late in the third quarter, it was second-and-goal from the four-yard line. He ran off the right side, but rookie Canadian linebacker Dariel Djabome knocked the ball loose and American defensive back Kobe Williams recovered. However, Edmonton was flagged for too many men with 13 players on the field.

“My heart sank farther than you know what. I would rather throw a pick than fumble, truthfully. I wanna protect it and got lucky on one down there,” Stevens said. “They had too many men on the field — dodged a bullet there. Gotta take better care of the ball; I think he put his helmet right on it, good play by whoever it was. Gotta do a better job taking care of the ball.”

Stevens noted he played running back until his sophomore year at Decatur Central High School in Indianapolis, Indiana. As a junior, he rushed 109 times for 785 yards with seven touchdowns in 10 games while completing 97-of-197 passes for 1,526 yards with 13 touchdowns and five interceptions. In his senior season, he carried the football 172 times for 842 yards with 10 touchdowns in 11 games while completing 126-of-212 passes for 1,891 yards with 16 touchdowns and six interceptions.

“We ran the triple option, used to 100 carries a year I’d say,” Stevens said.

In the NCAA, Stevens ran 151 times for 887 yards with 12 touchdowns, while completing 121-of-202 passes for 1,459 yards with 15 touchdowns and six interceptions during four years at Penn State University and one season at Mississippi State University.

His performance in the Alberta capital put Stevens over 1,000 rushing yards in the CFL. He has produced 1,010 yards on the ground with 251 carries and scored 38 touchdowns in 75 career games. No. 17 has completed 12-of-21 passes for 83 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions.