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Abdi-Nasir Abdi Returns For Sophomore Season

By Ryan Watters (@ryan2tswatters), 06/21/16, 12:30PM PDT

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The coaches are hoping the 19 year old will have an impact

Photo courtesy of Greystoke Photography

One of the questions coming into Main Camp on July 9th will be who will carry the rock for the Sun on the ground in 2016?

Following last season the top two rushers announced they will not be returning this season.  Dillon Fortune graduated and will play CIS ball out east this fall while Kory Nagata left to help the UBC Thunderbirds defend their Vanier Cup title.

The Sun are hoping sophomore Abdi-Nasir Abdi can fill the hole left by these two players.  Just a year ago Abdi came to Kelowna at 18 years young out of Moscrop high school in Burnaby.  As a true rookie he didn’t see much of the field early on despite scoring his first CJFL touchdown in his first CJFL game on the natural grass of the Apple Bowl. After four carries in Week 1, Abdi didn’t touch the ball again until Week 5 when he scored another major.  As a matter of fact Abdi’s first road carry wasn’t until Week 6 in Langley.  However after an injury to Nagata in Week 7, the coaching staff began to insert Abdi in different situations and he earned himself more and more playing time.

His best game was easily the regular season finale in Kamloops when he rushed for 97 yards on 16 carries and scored an incredible four touchdowns.  In all he finished the regular campaign with 34 carries, 212 yards and seven TDs.

In the playoffs the rookie scored a pair of touchdowns on nine carries, giving the coaching staff a glimpse of what’s to come in the future.  The staff is hoping the future is now.

A year ago not only did Abdi show bursts of breakaway speed, but his power makes him a duel threat when he runs downhill.   He tips the scales at over 200 pounds with powerful legs, making it extremely difficult to bring him down with just an arm tackle.  Defenders will be forced to take a blow from Abdi before attempting to bring him down.

The coaching staff is hoping Abdi can lead by example on the field and pick up where he left off a year ago.  He will be one of nine running backs in camp trying to fill the holes left by Fortune and Nagata.  The Sun have had a long list of successful running backs and Abdi would like nothing more than to join this list with the likes of Jeff Halverson, Terrance Huston and Ron Arnold.

Abdi will be joined at camp and in the backfield by veteran Kasey Russell, Brendan Hansen, Levi Stewart, Trevor Ash, Carter Gordon, Dakota Robertson, Kelton Kouri and Ashtton Ewers.

Main camp opens July 9th, then the 2016 season kicks off on the road in Chilliwack on July 23rd.