BACKUP MASHUP
Elks have no clear No. 2 QB
There was a time following the Warren Moon-tim Wilkinson five-in-a-row Grey Cup quarterback combination and the Ricky Ray-jason Maas duo when Edmonton supplied quarterbacks to the entire Canadian Football League.
Matt Dunigan. Damon Allen. Tracy Ham. Nealon Greene.
One after the other U.S. talent scout Ray Newman kept finding them. They all took their turns as backups.
The Edmonton Elks, currently in training camp after the CFL shut down for the entire 2020 season, are certainly set at starting quarterback with Trevor Harris. But they do not have an experienced backup. And how is an Elks fan going to evaluate if they've maybe found one?
Because the coronavirus pandemic protocols are still in play, there are no fans in the stands at training camp. There will be no fan day. And there will be no pre-season games.
There's only one way to develop an experienced backup that could turn into a Dunigan, Allen, Ham or Greene. But this doesn't appear to be a season to do it.
With a compact 14-game schedule there likely won't be much opportunity to look at any of them unless, of course, Harris is injured. And that, this season, you have to figure, would be a disaster.
Maybe if that happens GM Brock Sunderland figures he has enough receiving talent and quality depth at other positions to make a trade for somebody else's No. 2
There are almost 100 players in this year's Elks training camp and only four of them are quarterbacks.
Technically one has previous CFL experience and he received it in Edmonton. But you probably don't remember him unless you had him confused for a running back because he did take off and run the ball more often than he passed it in two late-season cameo appearances.
U of Utah Utes product Troy Williams, who spent time in the Seattle Seahawks training camp in 2018, completed one pass in three attempts for Edmonton in 2019.
Most interesting, maybe, is Taylor Cornelius, a 6-foot-5 pivot from Oklahoma State, where he backed up NFL quarterback Mason Rudolph until his senior season.
As OSU'S starter he completed 59 per cent of his passes for 3,978 yards and 32 touchdowns and also ran for 406 yards and 10 more TDS.
But that's not what makes him interesting.
He comes to Edmonton from the XFL Tampa Bay Vipers, where he played for Elks head coach Jaime Elizondo — the TB offensive co-ordinator.
Cornelius completed 63 per cent of his passes for 858 yards and four TDS and ran for 114 yards before the XFL shut the season down after five games.
The most recent acquisition was Drew Anderson, signed June 29 on the eve of the weeklong pre-training camp quarantine.
Attending Murray State in Western Kentucky his senior year, the 6-foot-4 Californian completed 25 TD passes after previous stints at Diablo Valley College and the U of Buffalo. He went undrafted but joined the Arizona Cardinals for the 2019 season.
Williams likely was pencilled — and I do mean pencilled — into the No. 2 spot to start camp.
“Troy has exceptional arm talent and is very mobile. He can make plays on the run and when he breaks contain he can go 40 or 50 yards. The two guys behind him, Cornelius and Anderson, are big, they're tall and they have strong arms. It's a matter of slowing the game down for all of these guys. But I'm actually excited by the ability of all three of them,” said new head coach, offensive co-ordinator and quarterback coach Elizondo.
“Usually when you come into camp you have a good two, a drop off to the third guy and another drop off to the fourth guy.”
The question is if they have three second guys, three third guys or three fourth guys. Or if they'll sort themselves out into 2-3-4.
They were all first guys in college and the guy who shows he is closest to being able to do that in the CFL is going to go into the Aug. 7 opener as No. 2.
“It's going to be tough with the circumstances they're having to deal with but they all know it's pro football and they have to be ready when the opportunity presents itself,” said Elizondo.
“That's the gig of playing backup quarterback. When you get the opportunity, you better be ready.
“You can't waste that rep.”
That is also the case in getting the job as backup quarterback.
That's the gig of playing backup quarterback. When you get the opportunity, you better be ready.