Jordan Botel has seen this movie before.
In three seasons, he's had the pleasure of celebrating three B.C. Junior Football Conference championships as a running back with the Vancouver Island Raiders.
But this year is different and he's no longer an understudy. He's playing a starring role with the province's top junior team, and it's earning him national attention.
In 10 games with the Raiders, Botel averaged 10.2 yards through 124 carries and won the BCJFC rushing title with 1,261 yards. He also scored 13 touchdowns.
"It was great to prove that I could carry the workload and the rushing title was definitely nice to have," said Botel, the former high school standout with the College Heights Cougars. "It proved what I can do as that go-to guy.
"It's exactly how I hoped everything would work out."
For his first two junior football seasons, Botel was second-string behind fullback Andrew Harris, who rewrote the BCJFC rushing record book. Harris dominated the junior ranks as a power back and he's now playing pro as a starter for the B.C. Lions. With Botel opening up the holes and Harris at times unstoppable, the Raiders won the Canadian Bowl national championship in 2008 and 2009. Now with Botel leading the rush they are two wins away from making that a three-peat.
"When Jordan was the fullback for Andrew Harris and you're his lead block you have to get off the ball as fast as you can, so we knew (Botel) would play fast," said Raiders head coach Matt Blokker.
"What he does really well is he gets into his runs with power and quickness and he runs inside the tackles and stays in there. He's not a bouncer, but he has an incredible stiff arm and runs with such a low centre of gravity, he's really hard to hit and he extends runs."
Botel, 21, has one more season of junior football left.
"He's an elite running back and he's still scratching the surface. He's getting better and better every week and I think next year you'll see him really break out," said Blokker. "This was his first year as tailback and he was unreal. His upside is huge. We haven't seen the best of Jordan Botel."
Botel is not the only Prince George minor football graduate on the Raiders roster. Mike McMaster, the former Prince George Polar, backs Botel up at tailback and has been one of the Raiders' top kick returner despite missing two games with a broken hand. Rookie Wes Black, who also excelled in rugby and wrestling at PGSS, is the backup fullback, while former Duchess Park Condor Erik Skuggedal started three games at safety.
The Raiders have tapped into the Prince George talent pool ever since the team's inception in 2005. What began as a spring camp sponsored by the Raiders grew into the annual Northern Football Combine that now takes place every February at the Northern Sport Centre.
"The bottom line is that as long as I'm the head coach of this football team I'm going to go up every year and recruit kids out of Prince George and give them an opportunity," Blokker said. "I know what it was like growing up there with football and I think it's pretty cool for kids in Prince George because every year we'll be looking for kids to come out of the north and help us out. It started with just the Raiders coming up there, now every junior team in the league is coming there to recruit players as well and that wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for the Raiders."
