Vancouver, BRITISH COLUMBIA » If Solomon Elimimian had his way, he’d be known in football circles as The Lion. And it has nothing to do with his current team, the B.C. Lions of the Canadian Football League.

The former University of Hawaii linebacker, who holds the school record for most career tackles, has found himself a home — or den, if you will — in Vancouver, and for the past year and half has become one of the CFL’s top-prowling big cats.

The former WAC co-defensive player of the year was last season’s CFL most outstanding rookie and this year is leading the league in tackles with 54 through his team’s first eight games.

So it all makes sense that this 6-foot, 225-pound middle linebacker and fan of the National Geographic Channel is lobbying his teammates to call him The Lion.

"Even before B.C. I envisioned myself as a lion on the prowl in the Sahara going hunting," said Elimimian, who played his last season with the Warriors in 2008.

"I like watching National Geographic and watching the hunting. When you play linebacker, you have to envision yourself as a predator and whoever has the ball is the prey. My thing is The Lion," Elimimian said.

The nickname is a work in progress with his teammates. Some of the training staff started calling him Simba recently after he brushed them off, saying, "Have you ever seen a lion get treatment?" But since arriving in B.C., his hunting capabilities have more than qualified him to don such a moniker.

"I don’t remember him hitting quite as hard in college as he’s hitting guys now," said Lions roommate Adam Leonard, who also roomed with Elimimian for three years in Hawaii. "Even though in college he was a beast on the field, he’s become even more physical here."

AFTER GETTING RELEASED by the Buffalo Bills in 2009, Elimimian, who graduated from Crenshaw High School and still calls Los Angeles home, took the year off to train, all the while hoping for a call from another NFL club.

That call never came.

What did come was a shout out from his brother Abraham, a former Warriors defensive back, to consider the CFL.

Elimimian attended a Lions free-agent camp in Los Angeles in the spring of 2010 and then, after being told by the B.C. brass to work himself into better shape, went to a second camp — this time in Las Vegas — and, while there, impressed Lions coach/GM Wally Buono enough to earn a contract.

"We had looked at tape on him before and (former Hawaii head coach) June Jones had recommended both Solomon and Adam," Buono said "When (Solomon) came to the workouts we liked his athleticism. You can see that he was a good football player.

"He’s a tremendously instinctive linebacker who has a character trait that few guys do. He’s very explosive on contact. That’s what separates the good linebackers from the rest."

Shortly after he got into the Lions’ training camp, Elimimian suffered a hamstring injury, which set him back a bit, but ultimately didn’t stop him from having what turned into a phenomenal first year playing football of the three-down variety.

It took him until about the sixth week of last season before he truly grasped the CFL’s nuances — notably the fact that receivers can hit the line of scrimmage at full speed at the snap of the ball — and he took over the starting role in the middle of the Lions defensive unit. Once he did, the Lions and The Lion were a perfect match.

Elimimian got six tackles against Calgary and went on to record 65 tackles in the final 11 games of the season.

And that was just his first year.

THIS YEAR, while his team hasn’t gotten off to such a slick start — the Lions are 2-6 — Elimimian has. He’s notched seven or more tackles in four of the Lions’ eight games and on Aug. 5 had a CFL defensive player of the week performance in which he had a career-best 12 tackles against Saskatchewan, plus a sack, to lead B.C. to its first win of the year.

"My whole life has been a blessing," Elimimian said. "Without God I definitely wouldn’t be here. That time after I got cut by Buffalo strengthened my faith. It helped me know that He’s going to see me through tough times and He has something for me. I couldn’t have imagined how things worked out for me.

"God had the right time at the right moment and on the right team."

Elimimian has led the Lions in tackles in five of eight games this year, and it’s plain to see he’s got a pretty good grip on what’s going on north of the 49th parallel.

"At the end of the day it’s football," said Elimimian, who plans on returning to Oahu after the season for the first time since graduating. "I always knew I could play anywhere given the right opportunity."