Eskimos Adarius Bowman finds an extra gear

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This is Adarius Bowman's seventh season in the Canadian Football League, but it's a special one.

The 29-year-old Edmonton Eskimos slotback leads the league in receiving yards and catches, having already hauled in 75 catches for 997 yards and six touchdowns. Just 12 weeks in, Bowman already has more receptions and trips to the end zone than he's ever tallied in a total single CFL campaign. The 6-foot-3, 217-pound pass-grabber has surpassed the 100-yard mark in four games this season, including the past three in a row.

Bowman has only broken the 1,000-yard mark in one CFL season – back in 2011 – yet he could obliterate the 1,153 yards he amassed that year. If he keeps rocketing at this pace, he's on target for some 1,600 yards in 2014. In way of explaining the dramatic boost, Bowman points to a team chemistry he calls exceptional, an offensive system that favours his strengths, and a chance to finally work with Chris Jones, a fellow native of Tennessee he's known for years. He also credits health and a new maturity, a freshly-honed belief that he can't thrive on natural talent alone.

"Before this year, I went in thinking I'm more talented than other people, so I'm not going to study," a reflective Bowman said on Friday after his 8-3 Eskimos arrived at their Hamilton hotel ahead of Saturday's game against the Tiger-Cats. "As a younger player, I heard a lot of stuff from veteran guys, and now, I'm starting to feel like that stuff is making sense to me. It's come with maturity. It was just time for me."

Bowman had seemed destined to star in the NFL. He was a star athlete on the basketball and football teams at Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga, Tenn., and won state titles in triple-jump, long-lump, and the 4x100-metre relay. Jones, who hails from South Pittsburgh, Tenn., remembers watching the standout as a youngster.

"Football is pretty big in the Chattanooga area, and he's probably a top-5 player to ever come out of there," said Jones, who was friends with Bowman's high-school coach.

Bowman was dismissed from the University of North Carolina after one season in 2004 for marijuana possession. He transferred to Oklahoma State and starred. He was projected as a top prospect for the 2008 NFL Draft. But he had an average 2007 season, missed the last two games due to injury, ran a sluggish 4.74 40-yard dash at the NFL combine, and had another drug-related offence. He went undrafted.

Bowman signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2008, then played two seasons for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He came to the Eskimos as a free agent in 2011 and tied Fred Stamps with 1,153 yards, good for third in the CFL. He suffered a season-ending knee injury after just two starts in 2012, and it kept him out until Week 11 of 2013.

"Before my injury, I didn't know I was taking football for granted, but I think now that I was," Bowman said. "Listen, I know when it comes to talent, I'm blessed. I thought I was focused before, but I wasn't. I feel so much more focused and confident now. Those things are showing in me on the field now."

The Eskimos are tied with the Roughriders behind the first-place Calgary Stampeders at 10-1. The Esks struggled through seasons of 7-11 and 4-14. But this team, led by Bowman, Stamps and pivot Mike Reilly on offence, is having the highest year-to-year win improvement in club history.

"Adarius is playing well because we're playing well as a team, and he'll be the first to tell you we don't care about individual stats. We care about wins and we've all bought into that," Reilly said. "He's a big physical target who makes it really difficult for a defence to match up with … he's a load to handle."

Bowman calls this the best team chemistry he's been around and credits Reilly's leadership and the new atmosphere Jones has created.

"Chris Jones is from the South like me, from right up the street from me – same boys, same energy, and we've had the opportunity to get a lot closer," Bowman said. "I had never been on his team. It's way better being with him than having him scheme against me. I love working with him."

While Bowman gets the spotlight, having Stamps on the field forces defences to play both men honestly. Plus, the Eskimos' offence is unpredictable.

"[Bowman] can catch the ball underneath, but he's also a big deep threat," Ticats coach Kent Austin said. "They move him around a lot and feature him quite a bit in their offence, and when they call on him, he's a real playmaker. He's a real challenge for us."

Bowman went as far as to say he believes this Eskimos team could have the beginnings of a squad such as the Montreal Alouettes, who dominated a few years ago as Anthony Calvillo was hitting multiple receivers for big yardage.

"There's a future for us, and while the individual attention is great, what I love more is coming to work every day this year – it's just really fun," Bowman said. "This is my family, and I really believe this is going to be a great year for us."