Ricky Foley wants everyone to know: He's Ricky Foley, not the second coming of Cameron Wake.
"I don't know how many sacks I'm going to get, I don't know how many tackles I'm going to get, I know I'm going to make plays," said Foley, 27. "I made plays over the last two years, that's not an issue. It's just putting my signature on the game."
Wake, two times the CFL's most outstanding defensive player, left B.C. for a big contract with the NFL's Miami Dolphins. Foley, a 2006 first round draft pick out of York University, is getting his chance to fill the vacant defensive end position.
"It's been a long road, but I'm ready," said Foley, who has eight sacks and 21 tackles over three seasons.
Foley and the Lions make their 2009 regular season debut on Friday in Regina against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the team they knocked off in the West semifinal last November. Foley said the 2009 Lions are regaining some of the hunger he felt in 2006 when B.C. won the Grey Cup. But he likes to start the season as an underdog.
"We lost a lot of key players, but mostly all of our stars are back on both sides of the ball," he said. "We're going to surprise a lot of people."
