From semi-pro football in Italy to Eskimos' stardom, Kendial Lawrence has taken his own path

Kendial Lawrence has been a perfect jack-of-all-trades for the Edmonton Eskimos this season, finding great success as a returner, a running back and a receiver. He's recorded tons of dazzlinghighlights and helped to spark both Edmonton's offence and special teams. This isn't unprecedented for him, as he had a tremendous high-profile college career with the Missouri Tigers, including rushing for 1,025 yards and 12 touchdowns in his senior year of 2012 and being named team MVP along the way. However, between his NCAA success and his rise to CFL stardom, Lawrence's gridiron journey took a detour to an unusual location: Milan, Italy.

After leaving Missouri, Lawrence was overlooked in the 2013 NFL draft, but his professional career still got off to a pretty good start when he signed with the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in April 2013. Lawrence was cut by the Cowboys in August, though, and although he wound up with the CFL's Hamilton Tiger-Cats in September, they released him in October after two games and "maybe two carries" in favour of Brandon Banks. His Ticats' career had potential, as he recorded nine kick returns for 195 yards, but it was so short it's not even recognized on his CFL.ca stats page. That led to him looking for football opportunities, and he wound up finding one in an uncommon spot, signing with Italy's Milano Rhinos in January 2014. Andrea Campagna, a commentator for Eurosport Italia, told 55-Yard Line Tuesday that Lawrence stood out in the Italian First Division because he succeeded despite poor offensive line play, a rarity for running backs:

"It was fun because the OL guys couldn't open holes, or maybe Kendial wouldn't trust them, so he was always scrambling around on the field creating a lot of excitement," Campagna said. "You know, 50-60 yards running in all directions to gain 15-20, things like that. With his speed and elusiveness he was, like most Americans, clearly above the Italian average and I don't remember so many imports with that kind of skill set, even though we had a few very good [ones] in the past with different skills."

That description of Lawrence's elusiveness will be familiar to those who have watched his spectacular returns this year. He's also shown that as a running back, with one particularly good example coming on a 61-yard rushing touchdown Aug. 23 against Toronto:

There's better blocking there than Campagna describes, but that play still involves Lawrence juking and weaving through an entire group of Toronto defenders, showing an elusiveness that's uncommon even in the CFL. In Italy, rushing moves like that may have stood out even more from the norm. Campagna played in the Italian league himself for the Parma Panthers, and he said Italian football's a long way from the professional atmosphere found in North America. Even though import players like Lawrence get paid, Campagna said they don't make much:

"Italian players are mostly true amateurs (in some teams they even pay to play, actually) but some, usually the ones in or around the National team, can get some money as a refund for expenses, especially if they don't play in the town they live in," he said. "With some little trickery (erm...) they can get something similar to a paycheck, but it's always a second income because they can't live out of it. Imports are the only (semi-)professional players on the roster and they get housing, most of the food, sometimes the use of a car and usually some money to spend, but don't think about big figures. They don't come over here to get rich but mostly to "live the dream" (that's what they say) of being professional football players as long as they can, adding a good experience of living in Europe. Usually they get involved in the team activities like recruiting in the schools and coaching with the junior teams, and many of them use their spare time to travel across Italy and Europe. So it can be a good experience, and most times it is."

It's rare to see a player go from that kind of semi-pro setup right to CFL stardom, but Lawrence is special. He led the Rhinos with 307 net rushing yards despite only playing in three of their 10 games, and his three rushing touchdowns were tied for the team lead. However, he didn't get a chance to show off his return ability, as a new Italian rule bans import players from participating on free kicks. Still, he did more than enough to shine in a limited sample size, and his lack of games wasn't from being benched. Campagna said Lawrence's low games played total is because he was often travelling for tryouts, first with the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs and then with the Eskimos (where he signed on June 24).

"Too bad he never really clicked in with the team because he was coming and going to/from North America for tryouts, first with the Chiefs in the NFL, then with the Eskimos, and then he signed," Campagna said. "My understanding is that this possibility was in his deal so it was not a bad thing from him (sometimes it happens, I mean guys just leaving without an explanation) but that was bad for the team because the two import spots are locked so the Rhinos didn't just lose him but couldn't replace him with another American player."

Milan's loss proved to be Edmonton's gain, though. Lawrence has been a phenomenal addition for the Eskimos on multiple fronts, and someone who's been key to their offensive and special-teams improvement this season. It's worked out for him, too; he's now found a CFL team willing to give him a shot, and one willing to try him in multiple roles. Lawrence's story is more proof that there's tons of football talent out there, and it can often be found in unusual spots. We don't often see players coming to the CFL from Italian football, but Lawrence's journey shows that there are some pretty great talents who wind up in unusual leagues. That's something CFL teams should keep their eyes on going forward.

You can follow Campagna on Twitter here. He also recommends John Grisham's novel, "Playing For Pizza," for those looking to learn more about Italian football.