Don Landry | Argonauts.ca Insider
Hard to imagine that Tori Gurley has ever made a better catch than the breath taker he made for a touchdown against Calgary, last Saturday.
Diving, stretching, cradling as he hit the ground and bouncing to his feet with the ball in his hands, Gurley’s effort was rewarded on the CFL’s website as number one in the Keg Size Plays of the Week.
As good as that reception was, Gurley can recall a twisting, turning one-hander he made back in high school. It’s a grab that he thinks remains his best ever.
“It was probably… to this day I’m still shocked that I was able to make that play and people back home talk about it,” he says of a touchdown grab under Friday night lights at Rock Hill High School, in South Carolina.
Gurley has had a marvellous first season as an Argo, that is no secret. He’s made routine catches, catches in traffic, and spectacular snags on the way to taking the CFL lead in touchdown receptions with ten. With 789 yards on 57 catches, Gurley might be on his way to a thousand yard season, although he will need to increase his per game output a touch (52 yards) over the last three games of the regular season to get there.
But hang on a sec. We’ll get to the present day in a moment, but If Gurley’s made a better catch than that one against the Stampeders, we need to hear about it.
“It was a one hand catch,” he says, launching into a detailed description of the reception they still remember back in his hometown. “I was on the right side of the field. One of my best friends, Phillip Adams (now a defensive back with the Atlanta Falcons) threw me a fade. It was supposed to be a post route and it ended up being a fade in the back of the end zone.”
So, Gurley is cutting his route to his left and expecting the football to come to him there. It doesn’t. His first read of the ball coming towards him is that it’s a bit too high. As he goes airborne he realizes the line is off too, and he needs to make a twisting adjustment as he’s going up.
“I remember jumping up with my right arm (extended) and I realized the ball was thrown back across my body to the left side, so, I tucked in my right arm and stuck out my left.”
As his body was rotating back towards his left, Gurley says, he stretched his left arm out for all he could.
“I caught the ball with three fingers and I was able to bring it in,” he says. “It stuck in my fingers. I was able to bring it into my chest and I torqued my body. I ended up doing almost an aerial somersault or something. It was the craziest. It was a crazy reaction,” he says.
“It was a lucky play.”
Well, maybe some luck was involved, sure. However, Argos’ fans know well enough that Tori Gurley relies on more than luck to make plays. His big, imposing frame, long, long reach and a desire to flat out go and get it were evident in even his first game in Toronto, when he caught seven passes for 188 yards and a touchdown in a pre-season tilt with Winnipeg.
MUST WATCH: TORI GURLEY MAKES SPECTULAR CATCH FOR TD VS. STAMPS
