Underdog mentality continues to drive Als’ Lemon
When Shawn Lemon was looking for his next team in the middle of last season, he wanted to join an organization that embodied the way he felt. Since he was a young high school football player, Lemon has often felt overlooked. He developed a chip on his shoulder all those years ago, and he felt like the Alouettes were in a similar position last July.
“I felt like the team matched the adversity I was going through as an individual player,” Lemon, who was released by the B.C. Lions in May and didn’t sign with the Als until July, said. “It just worked out really well. I felt a lot of emotions and there was that underdog mentality from a team aspect and from an individual player aspect. (This championship run) just meant a lot to me.”
When you dig a little deeper into Lemon’s football background, it’s easy to see how he developed that underdog mentality.
“I’ve always played with passion,” he explained. “Even since high school, I’ve always been a player that’s been overlooked.
“Going into my senior season at Westlake High School (in Waldorf, Maryland), coming off a great junior year, I didn’t have any scholarship offers. I was one of four Division I guys on my high school team that didn’t have a scholarship going into my last year. I just wanted to prove myself from then. Going into college, I still had that same prove-it mentality. I’ve never been afraid to bet on myself and prove it. Coming up mid-season here in Montreal and betting on myself and trusting in the coaching staff…I’ve always continued to bet on myself because I know the work I put in and the passion that I play with.”
Lemon eventually got a scholarship offer from the University of Akron, where he played with current teammate and good friend Almondo Sewell. But even at Akron, he continuously had to prove himself year after year.
So, the fact that the veteran didn’t have a team, despite being the top defensive player in the West Division last year, wasn’t new to him. Everything came together perfectly for him in 2023, but there were some tough days when he was sitting by the phone at home in Washington, D.C. last summer.
“A few weeks before I got signed, I told my mom that I’d wait until Aug. 25. If I didn’t get signed before my birthday, I was probably going to be done,” Lemon admitted. “But I didn’t want to get a phone call (from a team) and not be ready for that moment. I knew that would be one of the biggest regrets of my life. That’s what woke me up every day to go train as hard as I could so that I would be in shape.”
Lemon eventually got the call from Als general manager Danny Maciocia in July, and he made his debut with his new team on July 30th in a home game against the Calgary Stampeders. All that training paid off, because he finished the regular season with nine sacks and two interceptions in only 13 games. He also added 10 tackles, four quarterback sacks and a forced fumble in three games during the postseason.
Even though most of his American teammates have gone back home already, the three-time Grey Cup champion has decided to stick around the province of Quebec in December.
“I wanted to be able to thank all the great fans that have supported me since I’ve been here. I wanted to make sure I got out with the Grey Cup, sign autographs, take pictures, and just make sure I connected with the community. Me arriving mid-season didn’t allow me to do all the things I wanted to do in the community.”
Now that his contract is out of the way, Lemon can focus on training and bringing the Grey Cup back to Montreal in 2024. Championship hangovers might be an excuse in other cities, but he’s determined to make sure that doesn’t happen to this squad next season.
“In our last team meeting, I discussed it with the guys on the team,” Lemon said. “I let guys know right before we started planning for the parade that they needed to understand what drove them this year and understand the feeling we had after that game. If we want that feeling back, we need to understand that we’re going to have to work probably five times as hard now because we’re not sneaking up on anyone. Other guys know that we’re a great football team. We have to put in more work. It’s going to be harder the second time around.”
