TORONTO — Samuel Oram-Jones has no regrets about trading in his racing helmet for football headgear but does wonder daily about how different his life might be had he remained behind the wheel.
The five-foot-eight, 195-pound running back is among the Global players participating in the CFL's national combine this weekend. But from age eight until 18, the native of Milton Keynes, England, was heavily involved in kart racing, serving as a teammate with and/or competitor versus the likes of Max Verstappen, George Russell, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris, all current Formula One drivers.
In fact, Verstappen captured the 2021 F1 driver's title for Red Bull Racing while Leclerc won the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 20 for Mercedes. Oram-Jones was part of McLaren's young driver program, did simulator work with Red Bull and even secured racing advice from seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton after twice winning the Lewis Hamilton True Grit award.
"Absolutely, I think about what might've been every single day," said the articulate, well-spoken Oram-Jones. "I think most of the grids in Formula One are made up of guys I raced against or were teammates with.
"When I was teammates with Leclerc, for example, they sent him and I on the track to race one-on-one and I remember he won by a couple of tenths. Now I look at him and I'm like, 'You're Ferrari's No. 1 driver, you just won the Bahrain Grand Prix, and I was right there.' For sure I think, 'What if,' but at this point it's spilled milk under the bridge. I'm certainly doing all I can to make football my life-long dream and goal now and hopefully I can do a good job of it this weekend."
Oram-Jones gave up racing -- he'd been offered an F3 ride -- to attend Durham University in England to pursue a business and management degree.
"No regrets at all," he said. "I put my best foot forward in whatever I'm doing and if it works out, it works out.
"If not, I just put the other foot forward and see where it takes me."
Durham University unexpectedly led Oram-Jones to taking up American football.
"I picked up the game even though I had no plan of it at all," he said. "I was fortunate enough that running backs on scholarship at Durham took me under their wing."
Oram-Jones helped Durham University win the 2018 Universities and Colleges Sport national title. After earning his degree, Oram-Jones then headed to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., to work on his master's degree while also serving as a backup running back.
Then in the fall of 2020, Oram-Jones attended USC as a graduate transfer. He didn't see any action in 2021 as a senior but was named the Trojans' co-offensive service team player of the year.
And now he's hoping for an opportunity to play professionally in Canada. The CFL's 2022 Global draft is slated for May 3.
"It's been an interesting (journey)," Oram-Jones said. "I certainly try and paint it as positive as possible (but) there've definitely been many hard moments in my football journey.
"But I've been fortunate that when I've trained in the off-season, pros like LeSean McCoy and Frank Gore have taken me under their wing. Hopefully I'm selected by one of the Canadian teams and a coach will do the same thing. I can assure whoever that may be, I'll be the best study they've ever had."
Oram-Jones registered a 29-inch vertical jump and 18 reps in the 225-pound bench press Saturday. German receiver Robin Wilzeck had the top vertical (38 inches) among Global players while Noke Tago, a defensive lineman from Samoa who attended Oregon State, had a combine-best 30 reps in the bench.
But Oram-Jones was eagerly awaiting the one-on-one drills Sunday.
"That's is what I'm looking forward to the most," he said. "I can't wait."
Also on Sunday's schedule will be the 40-yard dash, the combine's premier individual event.
Receivers Gavin Cobb of Manitoba and Regina's Riley Boersma had the best vertical (40.5 inches each) while Bryant University running back Daniel Adeboboye was the top Canadian in the bench (28 reps).
Waterloo defensive back Tyrell Ford had a 36.5-inch vertical -- the same result he had last week at the University of Buffalo's pro day -- while his twin brother Tre Ford, the Warriors quarterback who was Canadian university football's top player last year, had a 35.5-inch effort. Tre Ford had 17 reps in the bench, two more than his brother.
And Canadian linebacker Tyrell Richards, who last played football in 2020 for Syracuse, had a 37.5-inch vertical and 19 reps in the bench.
Oram-Jones has spent time familiarizing himself with the nuances of Canadian football. Certainly, the longer, wide field gives players more room but Oram-Jones feels the yard off the line of scrimmage could help a running back.
"They (defensive linemen) are a yard back and that's a huge difference for a running back in terms of being able to reach your holes," he said. "I'm at USC playing on the scout team at practice and you have big (defensive) linemen and you might get hit while you're getting the handoff sometimes because they're right there.
"With the longer, wider field, it's a more pass-heavy league and at USC's pro day I was able to run my routes smoothly, no drops. I also ran a few routes from wide receiver as well."
Oram-Jones feels his time racing has helped him in football.
"As a driver, you're moving from Point A to Point B in the fastest way possible while avoiding anything that comes into your way," he said. "As a running back you're pretty much doing the same thing if you think about it.
"Football and racing are very similar in regards to reaction time, peripheral vision, depth perception, awareness of space, foreign objects and tracking several objects at one time, definitely."
Despite his racing background, Oram-Jones said he has no need for speed when he's driving in public. In fact, he makes a conscious effort to travel below the speed limit.
Unless he's approaching a roundabout, that is.
"If I come into it at 60 (kilometres an hour) I might just do the whole thing at 60," he said with a chuckle. "But I purposely drive slow in public because I know I can drive fast.
"When I'm driving, I see things a lot further down the road because as a race driver you're used to looking through corners and through cars while most people just look at the car ahead of them. But I'm like, 'Oh, that car six cars down broke way too early for this corner,' and people will be, 'What are you looking at? There's no way you can see that.' But I do."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 26, 2022.
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press
