TORONTO, CANADA - JULY 26: CFL regular season game action between the Winnipeg Bluebombers and the Toronto Argonauts at BMO Field on July 26, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Christian Bender/Toronto Argonauts)
There are some stats that make you triple check to see if they’re accurate.
For example, Toronto Argonaut defensive end Andrew Chatfield leads the entire Edmonton Elks team in sacks 5-4, or Argo defensive back Tarvarus McFadden leads the Elks team in interceptions 2-1, and Edmonton’s only interception is by former Argo defensive lineman Jake Ceresna.
The weirdness of those stats may pale in comparison to this one; through seven games this season, the Argos leading rusher is…Nick Arbuckle.
The odds are high that you’re now heading to CFL.ca to check if this stat is accurate. It is.
Yes, over a third of the way through the season, the Argos quarterback has rushed for a career-high 105 yards on 19 carries, and last week passed the injured Miyan Williams by 3 yards to take the team lead.
This indicates a couple of things; there have been injuries to running backs, and the team’s ground game has been mostly ineffective.
In last week’s win over Winnipeg, the running game finally showed signs of life. The Boatmen totaled a season high 116 yards on the ground, 49 more than their previous game high of 67 yards recorded against Calgary, but still shy of the 121.3 yards they averaged in 2024.
Arbuckle rushed for 32 yards last week, Deonta McMahon added 34 more, while the Khalan Laborn led the way with 50 yards, 30 of which came on the Argos longest running play of the season.
Laborn’s story is one of persistence. When the Argos acquired Jake Ceresna from Edmonton last year for Kurleigh Gittens Jr., they insisted the rights to Laborn be included. He attended training camp in 2024, but with McMahon, Ka’deem Carey, and Dan Adeboboye winning jobs, the Marshall product was released and subsequently signed by Ottawa.
He played a half-dozen games for the Redblacks, amassing over 300 rushing yards, adding 152 receiving yards, and scoring one touchdown against, you guessed it, the Argos.
After a quick stint in Saskatchewan in the off-season, Laborn signed with the Argos on July 2. The time off was not an easy period mentally for the native of Virginia Beach, Virginia, who relied on his support group and faith to get him through the darker days.
“I had an optimistic mindset about it, about everything,” Laborn explained to Argonauts.ca. “About preparation, about getting a call. Just being optimistic and staying ready so I didn’t have to get ready. I just trained hard, took care of myself. The new thing I did was try to run ten-plus miles a week during training to mix in running with lifting (weights) every other day.”
The signing not only reunites him with his former organization, but with someone who has become a friend, McMahon, the man he’s competing with for playing time.
“Last year he came into camp and obviously you’re going to go through competition and stuff,” McMahon told Argonauts.ca. “But off the field we click, chopping it up, chatting to each other. We actually knew a few guys we played with prior to coming up here, so it was an instant connection. He’s almost like a brother to me.”
Laborn feels the same way about McMahon.
“That’s my dog, that’s my homie,” said Laborn. “We have one of the best relationships I’ve ever had with someone in a running back room. It helps a lot knowing we’ve built trust and that we know we can work hand-in-hand and make things happen. Whether he’s on the field, or I’m on the field, or we’re both on the field and he’s running and I’m blocking, or he’s blocking and I’m running. It doesn’t make a difference; we’re still going to make it happen.”
When Laborn broke the 30-yard run against the Bombers you could almost hear a collective sigh coming from the Argos bench.
“I loved seeing it,” said McMahon. “It let me know that we can get the job done in the run game. It really comes down to us executing plays and being disciplined.”
With McMahon and Laborn getting the carries on Friday, combined with some well-timed runs from Arbuckle, flirting with, or surpassing the 100-yard rushing mark is once again attainable, and would go a long way in helping the Argos earn a couple of much-needed points.