Roughriders RB William Powell still scoring big for his mom

William Powell learned a lot from the three women in his home and he's still taking heat from one of them.

The 31-year-old Saskatchewan Roughriders running back is still settling into his new home in Regina, but you can tell the transition to a new team is at least going decently well by the smile he's constantly wearing on his face.

To find out more about one of the biggest off-season signings in the CFL, CBC's Peter Mills spoke to Powell about the women who helped him achieve all-star status in the CFL, joining a team he used to dominate, and settling into the prairie life:

The Lone Star State

Powell was born in Houston and raised in the Dallas area in Duncanville, Texas. So where is home?

"I'd consider Dallas and Duncanville my hometown. Duncanville is a suburb of Dallas. I moved to Dallas at a young age and so I was raised there. That became my home and I've loved it ever since."

Growing up in a house of women

"Mother and two sisters — one older and one younger. You learn how to deal with women I guess," Powell said, laughing. "I had an older sister so I had women from an older perspective and women from a younger perspective. I learned how to respect women and how to treat women ... I loved it. It was fun.

"I'm very close [with my sisters]. They both make sure they visit some of the games every year and I go visit them in the off-season and them and their family and their kids. We always make sure we talk to each other a lot and we come to see each other whenever we can.

Sisters keep it real

"My older sister, she might have been the biggest sports and football fan in the family. She probably watched that stuff more than my mother or I would, even. 

"It's crazy, actually. Now, my younger sister she's like the biggest critic of all. Like, 'You could have did this, you could have did that'. She'll call me and let me know, like, what could have been better or if I capitalized as much as I could on each play. She watches every game, my other sister watches all the games, so whenever we're playing, they're watching."

Doing it for Darla

Powell's mother, Darla, died when he was in college. Despite the loss, he never forgot everything she taught him.

"She was a integral part in why I'm here today. She was my biggest fan, my biggest critic, and she pushed me to strive for higher. She taught me all the values that are still in me today. She she did a lot of the legwork to to get me to where I am today.

"She was definitely an educator to me, but she was [also] a teacher, she was a professor, she was a principal. She was a little bit of everything that has to do with education."

Lessons from mom

"Perseverance was a big thing with her. How far you can get with hard work and I saw that firsthand with her. She made it from the bottom to the top. So, not only did she teach me that, she showed me that. So, that was a big value that I learned from her.

"It hit us kind of hard [when she died] especially probably me and my younger sister being that we were both still in college. My older sister already had her family. I mean, of course it affected her greatly as well. But me and my younger sister both being in college and not knowing which direction that we were going to go after college, it kind of affected us hard because our mother did everything for us prior to that. Whenever we needed something, we could depend on her.

"After she passed, basically everything she taught us and other values she instilled in us became what we had to thrive off of and what we had to live off of and what we had to base our lives off of. That's a big part of who we are today and that helped us both be successful."

Touchdowns in her memory 

Powell said he never questioned where his path should take him after his mom died.

"She was my biggest fan and she wanted me to succeed in football. She told me at a young age that I had the talent, if I just put in the work that I was going to make it. So I just kept that in the back of my head and kept working hard and after she passed I was able to make it professional and make it to the NFL and make it to the CFL and have a long career. I'm still using those values today and the career still going strong."

Football is in the family

"She might have been more of a me-playing-football fan than a football fan in general, but she was definitely a football fan. We grew up in Dallas and we loved the Cowboys, so we would watch the Cowboys every Sunday whenever the whole family would get together, like Thanksgiving. The Cowboys always play on Thanksgiving so we would always be watching the Cowboys game."

Joining a team he dominated

While signing autographs at practice, a Roughriders fan thanked Powell for no longer dominating Saskatchewan as an Ottawa running back. 

In 2017, Powell rushed for a Redblacks' record 187 yards against the Riders. Last season, he came into Mosaic Stadium and rushed for 148 yards and two touchdowns to lead Ottawa to a 30-25 win.

So as someone who used to dominate the Riders, did his new teammates on defence give him grief?

"You know what," Powell said, laughing. " Actually it was more of an embrace I guess because everybody was like, 'Man, I'm so glad you're with us now and not against us. You killed us too much. So now go do it to them.'"

Settling into his new home

"I'm still learning like my go-tos right now, but [Regina] definitely has embraced me and showed me a lot of love. So it definitely feels like home. I just gotta get those go-to spots and I'm still looking for those right now. I'll get there," he said, laughing.

Making friends with birds at an airport

Powell also talked about some lighthearted topics, including an odd encounter with wildlife, why he doesn't love all chocolate equally, and whether he'd abandon his hometown NBA team for LeBron James.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

The Roughriders (2-3) take on the B.C. Lions (1-5) in Vancouver on Saturday, July 26. Kickoff is at 5 p.m. CST

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