Former Eastern Washington standout T.J. Lee continues to see success with CFL’s British Columbia Lions
T.J. Lee III is used to being challenged.
Lately, though, it’s been by his former Eastern Washington University teammates.
The three-time first -team All-Big Sky Conference cornerback has carved out a fabulous career as a defensive back in the Canadian Football League for the British Columbia Lions. He is in his eighth year as a professional, and before that became one of the most productive and decorated defensive backs in EWU history as a two-time All-American.
Lee has earned CFL Western Division All-Star honors in 2018 and 2021, and in 2018 was All-CFL. Only a handful of former Eagles have earned that distinction, including Bo Levi Mitchell, who has earned the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player honor twice in his illustrious career.
Lee has helped the Lions to what is currently the second-best record in the CFL at 8-2. He ranks in the top 25 in the CFL with 36 tackles, and also has a pair of interceptions and a fumble recovery.
What Lee says he learned as an Eagle – and the challenges he faced – have paid dividends in the wide-open spaces and wide-open play of the CFL. There is give-and-take for a DB north of the border – the “give” part is the expanded field, multiple receivers in motion and rigid pass interference rules; the “take” part is three downs instead of four as in the American game.
Lee also fully understands that he plays on the dark side of the ball because in the CFL the offense sells tickets. The CFL has a 20-second play clock and this year even narrowed its hash marks to make the game more explosive.
“It’s an offensive game, I understand that,” he said just three days after he played in his 100th game in the CFL on July 29. “The more touchdowns you get the more the fans yell and the more exciting it is. People don’t get as excited about the defensive game, unless you are a real footballer or a defensive guy.”
Back in his EWU days from 2009-13, he faced in practices such quarterbacks as Matt Nichols, Mitchell and Vernon Adams Jr.; as a junior and senior he had the task of covering a young Cooper Kupp, who was among the annual cadre of gifted receivers the Eagles had.
There are no former Eagles receivers in the CFL right now, but for the past seven seasons Lee has had to match wits across the line of scrimmage with Nichols, Mitchell and Adams.
“I see those guys as brothers – we’re cut from the same cloth and the same mindset,” he says. “I love battling against them, and I love hugging them before and after games. We’ve all had our own great professional careers, and nobody could have wrote it up the way it’s turning out for us. It’s nice that this is our reality.”
In winning three-straight first team All-Big Sky honors as an EWU cornerback, Lee became only the third Eagle in school history – and the first on defense – to accomplish that feat. A 2009 graduate of West Seattle High School, Lee closed his career with 263 tackles, four interceptions, 25 passes broken up and 31/2 sacks in his 49-game career (35 starts).
As he entered the world of professional football, Lee pondered his path into the National Football League, and weighed the proverbial risk-reward. Eventually, he decided not to wait for the NFL in 2014 and headed to some familiarity in British Columbia after a tryout with the club in Seattle.
Lee signed a free -agent contract with the BC Lions on May 22, 2014, and in what seemed like a whirlwind, he was bumped up the depth chart before the team’s first preseason game that spring when another defensive back quit. He started seven of the eight regular -season games he played that season.
“I got a passport and next thing you know I’m up at camp,” he recalls. “That first preseason game changed everything. I wasn’t getting a lot of reps but I had potential. That was kind of how it happened – it was crazy.”
Enter Mitchell, who quickly established himself as the starting quarterback in Calgary after last playing for EWU in 2011. The Stampeders were the opponent for Lee’s CFL debut. Lee had a pair of interceptions – one for a touchdown – in the Lions’ 37-13 preseason victory over Calgary on June 20, 2014.
“Bo Levi put my career on track,” explains Lee of having interceptions against Mitchell and another Stampeders quarterback that day. “He threw an interception right to me, and that was my first interception. Ultimately it kept me on the roster, so I’ll always be thankful for that.”
Together, that pair helped EWU win the NCAA Division I title in 2010, but in the CFL they’ve been rivals, as well as Adams and Nichols, who is now retired.
An even more important relationship with a former Eagle was formed the day Lee stepped foot in the secondary for the Lions. He played at BC from 2014-16 with fellow defensive halfback Ryan Phillips, who played for EWU in 2003 and 2004 and was a 2000 graduate of Franklin High School in Seattle.
Phillips, a four-time All-CFL selection and five times selected as a CFL West All-Star, wasn’t away from the Lions for long though. He returned this season to become the team’s defensive coordinator.
“It was like he never left,” Lee said. “He’s a good role model and brother, and taught me a lot on how to approach the sport, watch film and ultimately how to prepare and be professional. When you play alongside somebody like him and he becomes your coach, you hold those standards in high regard.”
As a player, Phillips eventually retired in 2018 after playing an incredible 214 games (212 with BC), having missed just four games in his 12-year career and compiling a record consecutive games played streak of 181 games. He closed his career with 47 interceptions and 528 total.
By comparison, in his first seven seasons with the Lions entering the 2022 season, Lee had 410 tackles (26 of them on special teams) to rank seventh in Lions history. He also had 20 interceptions, 51 pass knockdowns, four sacks and seven forced fumbles in 94 games (93 starts).
“That’s unbeatable,” Lee said of the amount of games Phillips played. “I already told him I won’t make it that far, and I don’t know how he did it. He didn’t battle a lot of injuries so he was healthy for a lot of games and had a lot of interceptions. That was his story; my story is just a little different.”
Together, they are hoping to return the Lions to their glory days when Phillips helped lead them to Grey Cup titles in 2006 and 2011 prior to Lee’s arrival .
British Columbia and Calgary both got off to great starts, with their only losses through July coming against two-time defending Grey Cup champion Winnipeg. Since then Calgary has stumbled a bit to 7-4, while Winnipeg is 11-1.
After the Lions scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to stun Calgary 41-40 on Aug. 13, Lee was so joyous he jumped into the line of Calgary cheerleaders and did his best imitation as they danced along to the music of Shania Twain. He’s been waiting for this opportunity to contend for a championship, since, well, he was at EWU.
“We have something for Winnipeg,” claims Lee. “They are a good team, but we’re always shooting to beat them – they have to get knocked down and we want to do it. We’re building our team to hopefully win a championship. We need to win when it counts the most, and that comes in the playoffs.”