There\u2019s plenty for cornerback Lorenzo Burns and the Montreal Alouettes to be happy about these days.<\/p>\n
After enduring a five-game losing streak, Montreal (8-7) has won three straight games to move within two points of the first-place Hamilton Tiger-Cats (9-6) in the East Division. <\/p>\n
What\u2019s more, starting quarterback Davis Alexander has returned, passing for 350 yards and a touchdown in last week\u2019s 38-20 victory over the Calgary Stampeders.<\/p>\n
Alexander, 26, had missed eight straight games with a hamstring injury and Montreal had gone 3-7 this season without him. But last week Alexander improved to 9-0 as a CFL starter, setting a league record for most wins to start a career.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great thing to get Davis back, he has that fire and that drive,\u201d Burns said. \u201cBut he\u2019s been around the whole time.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has been talking to everybody, he\u2019s been keeping the fire going on the sideline, he has been travelling to road games and been keeping us motivated. Having him back is a big thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Montreal is in striking distance of first in the East, it will help to overtake Hamilton. In the event of a tie, the Ticats would finish higher after winning the season series.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to focus on what\u2019s in front of us and that\u2019s Ottawa back to back (Oct. 13 and Oct. 18) and then Winnipeg (on Oct. 25),\u201d Burns said \u201cWe can\u2019t worry about something later if we don\u2019t handle the business that\u2019s right in front of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Burns, a 27-year-old Californian, signed with Montreal on Sept. 9, 2024 and appeared in five regular-season games, registering 17 tackles and one special-teams tackle. This year, with the benefit of a full off-season and training camp, Burns has played in 13 contests, accumulating 58 tackles, three special-teams tackles, two interceptions and a forced fumble.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, I was just coming off a season in the spring (with UFL-champion Birmingham Stallions) and my body was pretty worn down,\u201d Burns said. \u201cThe Canadian game wasn\u2019t that hard to get adjusted to but the reason why it looks so much different for me this year is because physically I feel much better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Burns also has familiarity with Montreal defensive co-ordinator Noel Thorpe. The two won a 2022 USFL championship with Birmingham.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s so creative,\u201d Bruns said. \u201cHe\u2019s like a painter, when he\u2019s working you\u2019re trying to understand what the final product might look like.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut when he\u2019s done you\u2019re like, \u2018OK, I see what you\u2019re talking about.\u2019 I love playing in his defence, he always has a great defensive plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Burns joined the Alouettes with a definite winning pedigree, having played on three straight Stallions championship squads (USFL titles in 2022 and \u201923, \u201924 UFL crown). Birmingham\u2019s secondary coach\/defensive co-ordinator is Corey Chamblin, who was Saskatchewan\u2019s head coach when the Roughriders won the \u201913 Grey Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s funny because he was showing us film of the year they went to the Grey Cup and it was snowing, I mean pouring down snow,\u201d Burns chuckled. \u201cAnd I thought to myself, \u2018I\u2019d never go up there and play in the snow, I couldn\u2019t do it.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a conversation with him to come up here and all he told me was, \u2018Just do what you do, get adjusted to the rules. The game is going to be the game, you\u2019ll get adjusted to that fast. Just do what you do and you\u2019ll be fine.\u2019 That\u2019s always stuck with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chamblin has an extensive CFL coaching background. He served as an assistant with Winnipeg (2007), Calgary (2008-10), Hamilton (2011) and Toronto (2017, winning another Grey Cup) and was also the Argos head coach (2019).<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat Zo\u2019s doing is who Zo is,\u201d Chamblin said. \u201cHe\u2019s going to attack everything like a bulldog, he doesn\u2019t know any other way but one way.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey (Alouettes) have a good one who\u2019s going to give them stability in their back end. In the playoffs, his experience will show. He has experienced big games so he understands how to thrive and excel in them. He\u2019s not going to have butterflies, he\u2019s not overthinking it. He\u2019s out there with one purpose, to literally the best on every play.\u201d<\/p>\n
The CFL is the latest stop on quite the football odyssey for Burns.<\/p>\n
Following five years at the University of Arizona (2016-20), Burns joined the NFL\u2019s Arizona Cardinals as a \u201921 undrafted free agent. He also spent time with Jacksonville (2021) and Cleveland (2023) and had the stints with Birmingham before signing with Montreal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d be lying if I said I\u2019ve never looked back at my journey and said, \u2018Wow, it\u2019s been wild ride,\u2019\u201d Burns said. \u201cThe biggest takeaway is it\u2019s a blessing to get the opportunity to experience all of these different atmospheres and environments.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut to be honest, any player up here has had similar experiences to mine. You\u2019ve got to be resilient no matter where you go on this football journey, that\u2019s definitely key.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 30, 2025.<\/p>\n
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s plenty for cornerback Lorenzo Burns and the Montreal Alouettes to be happy about these days. After enduring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-180929","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}