Coastal Carolina record-holder joins Johnny Football with Hamilton of the CFL
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League made headlines when they signed Heisman Trophy winner and former Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel on May 19.
They also added another former NFL player this week, as former Baltimore Ravens and Coastal Carolina University running back Lorenzo Taliaferro signed with the Tiger-Cats.
He did not play in Hamilton’s season-opening 36-18 loss to Toronto on Friday night, when Hamilton used three running backs and rushed for 140 yards on 23 carries.
Taliaferro had been out of football since the Ravens released him on Sept. 1, 2017 while cutting their roster to 53 for the 2017 season.
Taliaferro was selected in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Ravens and played three seasons in Baltimore, gaining 339 yards with five touchdowns on 82 carries and adding 16 receptions for 153 yards.
Taliaferro spent a brief time as the Ravens’ featured back as a rookie in 2014 and had 400 all-purpose yards and rushed for four touchdowns in 13 games.
The 26-year-old Yorktown, Va., native, who is listed at 6-feet and 232 pounds, was beset by injuries during his three years in Baltimore, specifically foot, hamstring and knee injuries.
“Unfortunately I’ve been plagued by injuries,” Taliaferro said recently on the Spring Forward podcast. “I don’t think it has a lot to do with my skills because when I’m healthy I played. I can’t speak for teams, but if I had to guess I think my injuries was one of the main concerns. . . . What’s going to happen has already been written, I just have to make the most of it.”
Taliaferro played two seasons at Coastal Carolina in 2012-13 out of Lackawanna Junior College and as a senior he rushed for 1,729 yards on 276 attempts with 27 rushing touchdowns, which are all still CCU single-season records.
He was a finalist for the 2013 Walter Payton Award, was selected to play in the 2014 Senior Bowl, was named the 2013 Big South Offensive Player of the Year and was named to four All-America teams.
This story was originally published June 2, 2018 at 1:58 PM with the headline "Coastal Carolina record-holder joins Johnny Football with Hamilton of the CFL."